Reply to Do churches generate a lot of revenue from the LGBT community?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I don’t understand the mega church. To that PP, how do you all get your know each other? 
Do you do community outreach events?

My smaller Episcopal church ( approx 80-90 congregants at the service I attend does a lot in our community and helping others. That’s a big part of why we attend in addition to thrm being lgbt welcoming. [/quote]

Good question.  This is a major issue.  I will say — when I first started going to a megachurch, I hadn’t attended church in a VERY long time and I wasn’t even sure what I believed.  A personal crisis had brought me to the auditorium seats (it’s not really a pew after all). I would have described myself as an atheist or agnostic.   In that initial context, the lack of intimacy in a megachurch was OK, I could just kind of blend in with the wallpaper.  Nobody was running up to me afterwards and trying to figure out who this newcomer was.   That’s the way I wanted it.

But after attending for a few months, I started to feel like I was sitting in the middle of the ocean and not being able to drink any water.   There were people everywhere and I knew nobody.  That started to feel very strange, especially since I felt like I was getting more and more into the theology and Jesus.

My church has small groups that meet during the week — it is one half Bible study where we go over the sermon from the prior week but also one-half support group where we simply talk about the good, bad, and ugly things going on in our lives.  We are also in frequent touch during the week and we do service projects together.   I ended up joining one a few months in and it made a huge difference.   I could have that “small church” feeling with my group during the week but still the mega-church feeling on Sunday.  It has been the best of both worlds.

I can’t even describe how close I am with my small group — they really have become a second family.

I have also taken multiple foreign missionary trips.   The people I met on those trips have also become very good friends and people that I see on Sundays.  But my contact with them can be more sporadic at times.  The more regular contact is with my small group that meets every week.

I should also add — my church is very welcoming to newcomers.   There is a newcomers reception after every service, every service begins with a big welcome from the pastor to anyone new, people walking around with lanyards saying “talk to me if you are new” all that jazz.   I just didn’t avail myself of it.   [/quote]
I’m the PP you answered, thank you for sharing that with me. [/quote]

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