“Celebrity” churches

There’s reports on the net that Chris Tomlin and Louie Giglio from the Passion Movement in the States are going to set up a church in Atlanta.

Man of Depravity suggests that this will become the fastest growing church in America.

I’ve heard Louie speak many times, and think both he & Chris are extremely anointed individuals. I’m sure that they’ve really spent time praying about this, and that God has put this call on them.

I do think this raises the question of “Celebrities” leading churches though. Will this become the fastest growing church because God will use it to bring about revival and lots of people will come to faith, or will it be because lots of people in other churches want to be at Chris & Louie’s church, and leave their current place of worship? Does it matter?

Church consumerism or “Church Hopping” seems to be on the increase, where people are constantly looking to get the best “service” they can. If the music/worship/teaching/ etc isn’t suiting them, they look for somewhere else. If a well known Christian celebrity comes to town, then that’s obviously the place to be!

Of course, in one sense, we are the one catholic and apostolic church, so where we actually worship probably doesn’t matter a huge amount as long as we’re in a place where we can worship God and grow in our relationship with Him, but some questions I have:

• What about the smaller, less famous churches who lose people to be at the next big thing? Do mega-churches with popular pastors/worship leaders find smaller churches are jealous at their perceived success, making unity difficult?
• Are mega-churches always successful?
• How difficult is it for leaders like Chris & Louie to keep focussed on Christ when they are seen as the celebrities?

I’ll post again when I’ve thought about those questions a bit more!