The January Interim term at Calvin College
sees students take one class for three weeks, often at off-campus locales
such as South Africa, Scandinavia and Greece.
Students in Calvin sociologist Kevin Dougherty's Interim class are going
to church.
Hear the Results
"Opportunities and Challenges Facing Super-Sized
Congregations"
Tuesday, January 25
3:30 pm
Meeter Center Lecture Hall
The final presentation will highlight national research
on megachurches and profile students' findings from three area congregations:
Mars Hill Bible Church, Calvary Church and Resurrection Life Church.
Sponsored by the Calvin College Department of Sociology
and Social Work
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Dougherty is teaching "The Megachurch," a three-week study
of how the size of an outsized congregation impacts that congregation.
"As commonly defined by sociologists, the megachurch is a congregation
in which 2,000 (people) or more worship in a weekend," Dougherty
says.
Emerging in the 1970s, US. megachurches now number almost 800.
Most often found in southern and western states, they are predominately
suburban, white, Protestant, married, college-educated congregations.
The greater Grand Rapids area - "the northern buckle of the Bible
belt," says Dougherty is home to four congregations that fit the
megachurch formula, making the city an ample research field for the class.
The 16 students enrolled in "The Megachurch" have divided into
teams to gather research at Grand Rapids-area Calvary Church, Sunshine
Community Church, Resurrection Life Church and Mars Hill Church.
What his students will find in a megachurch, Dougherty believes, is an
organization tailored to the postmodern mindset, an organization that
provides a full range of services to its congregants.
Much like superstores that stock groceries on one aisle and hardware
on another, Dougherty says megachurches cater to the parishioner's every
emotional, spiritual and social need by preaching a gospel that combines
orthodoxy and therapy, while hosting a variety clubs.
Dougherty also is eager to see if the research his students do echoes
the alarms sounded by religion writers about the megachurch over 30 years
of this phenomenon's existence.
For one he wonders if congregation of 2,000 or more people might face
problems with congregational relationships, accountability and involvement.
Do they become inefficient. Is there a lack of accountability? Does discipleship
become more difficult? He hopes the answers to those questions and others
will become more clear after the research his class conducts is completed
and analyzed.
Dougherty's class has drawn not only sociology majors but students from
a range of disciplines, including religion, psychology and history.
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