Amanda Ollerer Professor Smith RLST 245 10 March 2014 IHRTLUHC Technology Creating A Community My first encounter with a Megachurch was when I was in middle school and watched Laguna Beach. Typical, I know, a girl watching Laguna Beach, but one of the stars, Christina Schuller’s, recently married now Sinclair’s, father was a TV pastor. I remember watching this episode and wondering what kind of church has the pastor wearing a headset and his face plastered on a plethora of television screens all over the place. I’d like to think I’m from a relatively big city and knew what a bug church looks like, a suburb five minutes outside of Chicago, but this was very confusing to me, something I have never experienced before. Another experience I had was I would flip through the television and notice some church service was on. Being a young child, I always flipped to the next channel as quickly as possible and never thought about what was going on. Now looking back, my church was never on television, so why did I think it was so normal to see other churches on television. It was not until I was older when I finally figured out this is a growing trend. The first megachurch was recored to be in the 1950s, but with the advancement products such as televisions and the internet, megachurches are becoming more popular(Megachurch). As technology keeps improving, the accessibility and easy access of these megachurches and their products are improving which causes them to become more popular across the country creating a community that Bellah would be satisfied with. To begin with, there are more of these churches popping up all across the country. Although there is not many megachurches, roughly less than less than one percent of churches in America are megachurches, about ten percent of churchgoers attend megachurches(Rainer). This
means that these churches are becoming more popular because more people are attending services at megachurches. Bellah says, “They (Individuals) are not automatically involved in social relationships that impose obligations not of their choosing, and social institutions that are not the product of the voluntary choice of the individuals,” (167). Here, Bellah is arguing how people choose what they want to be involved in. They do not attend these megachurches because they have to or feel obligated to, but rather because they enjoy them, creating a community where people are happy to be where they are. One of the major contributors to the success of megachurches is the television. In a large setting, like that of these churches, the pastor is out of sight, or he might be somewhere very far off into the distance that can hardly be visible. With televisions placed all around the church, it causes images of the pastor to be extremely close and can easily be seen, making these churches much more conducive to it’s members(See Figure 1). Without this advancement in technology, megachurches would be much less popular because people enjoy being able to see who they are listening to, and if they cannot see it, they will become agitated, creating an uneasy community. The advancement in technology creates a popular environment and an enjoyable community. Another way these churches are accessible is that they have apps that are on the go. There are countless apps, many of which are free, that help one stay connected. When you search a megachurch, such as Life Church, in Apple’s app store, one can see what is on the calendar for today, message someone from the church, watch videos, listen to music, read the Bible, and so much more. These apps are put in place to make these enormous churches feel more like a close knit community(See Figure 2). Without the advancements of technology, these apps would not exist and this sense of community would not be built. Without the sense of community, these churches would not be as successful as they are. A major aspect of religion is community. The
ways these apps connect members of these megachurch to each other is a way to build this community within such a large group of people. Looking at one app in particular, “Jesus Life Together,� it offers many different features within the app that will get someone closer to Jesus. There is a setting that gives push notifications that give off alerts throughout that day as a prayer reminder, reminding you when to pray. There is also a feature to see where other users of this app are located in proximity to yourself. This allows someone to connect with them, giving off the feeling of being in the same community. Being a member in a large megachurches, it is important to still feel like there is still a connection to the community, and this app does that. This technology feature allows members to connect with one another to build this community. Megachurches also succeed in accessibility because most of them have podcasts(See Figure 3). A podcast is either music that has or talks that have the ability to be downloaded onto a device so the listener can listen to the music or talk whenever they want. This is beneficial in creating a successful megachurch because if one of the members cannot make it to the service, they can download it and listen to it when they have free time. They can also listen to it repeatedly if they really enjoyed a service. The advancement in technology to be able to have podcasts increases the likability of megachurches because they can have the services on the go, and take them anywhere, allowing it’s members to feel like they are apart of this community wherever and whenever they want. Similar to this is having a megachurch put their services on Youtube after they have been completed(See Figure 4). This also allows members to listen to what they missed, but also they can see what they missed too. They can see what the priest was doing, who he was talking to, his jesters and so on. Allowing the members to physically view the service after it has been
completed gives the member the feeling of being involved, like they were physically there, without being there. Without the advancements of podcasts and Youtube, the members of these megachurches would not feel as included into the church community. These technological advances are bringing everyone together, forming a community. When someone is home sick and cannot make the service, within these megachurches they have the option of watching the service on a live-stream(See Figure 5). As people get older, it is harder and harder for them to get out of their houses, even if it is just for one service on the weekends. With having the service live-streamed, it gives them the option to watch it just like they would if they were there. The can still feel included, without being in the church. With this advancement in technology, even people who are not physically in the vicinity of the church can still feel like they are apart of the community. Having the services available on live-streams and Youtube allows one to partake in this church virtually. Aside from being at church, going virtual is the next best thing. One can have all the benefits of going to church, without having to leave the comfort of their own home. Whatever reason one might have for not going to church, there is a simple solution without missing out on anything, causing the members to continuously feel involved in this community and never feeling left out. Within these megachurches, blogs are often used as another method to keep everyone feeling connected into the community. The blogs have a wide range of topics from summer activities for children to overcoming diabetes. These blog topics might seem small and unimportant, but what else would one expect from a church. Church is a place where people can share things they have found, things they believe in and information they would like to give to their fellow churchgoers. These churches might be big, but they want to have the same
information about the community as a regular church would have. They have the same kind of community as a normal sized church, but they just have very different ways of going about sharing this type of information. Having blogs allows people to see what is new, and what people want them to know about their community, causing the members of megachurches to feel connected. Blogs, live-streams, Youtube, podcasts and apps are also ways to express ones religion. Everyone is religions in a slightly different way. In Bellah’s book, he talks about how one woman has a self proclaimed religion, “Sheilaism.” This a a woman who does not conform to one specific faith, and has created a name for the faith she follows. Bellah also continues to explain how, “This (Sheilaism) suggests the logical possibility of over 220 million America religions,” (221). With everyone having a slightly different version of religion to follow, it is no surprise that there are so many apps and ways to connect and follow religions. To the members of megachurches, they used these different tools to express their faith. Everyone is different, so everyone in the community has a different way to connect, but the benefit of these megachurches using all these different tools is that it connects as many people in as many ways as possible. Using whichever app, listening to live-streams, Youtube or podcasts, is the choice someone makes. Like Sheilaism, a member of a megachurch is allowed to take whichever one of those previously mentions features and use them and apply them in their faith. Sheila takes different aspects of religion that she believes in and applies it to her religion. These members of megachurches are doing similar things, taking whichever tool they believe in and applying it to their owe religion to create their own form of religion that works best for them. Technology within these churches also give their members recourses that can be helpful(See Figure 6). On their website, they have recourses for individuals, families or even
small groups. This is a way for these members to feel a personal attachment within their church. They put their time into going to church, and they are getting something physically beneficial out of it. Without the internet, and it’s technological advancements, these resources would not be accessible to it’s members. These resources allow the members of megachurches to feel like people are looking out for them and helping them, like they would find in a community. In America, Americans reliance on technology is extremely high. While out to dinner, most likely there will be a couple on a date with one, if not both, cell phones on the table. Chances are they will pick up their phones at least a few times during the meal. It could be argued that one might be checking the time, but even then, how many times can someone check the time. College students sit on their computers taking notes while constantly checking Facebook. America has become dependent on these things, forming an addiction to technology. Technology is not always bad. Cell phones keeps us connected to people. Apps keeps us informed. Email allows us to keep up with work while on the go, and these laptops allow us to write papers and stay connected. Without these things, we would lose this connection and be uninformed on important topics. Although we are addicted to technology, it is not a bad addition. It keeps us in the now, never missing a beat, connecting people to the rest of the world. This is creating a community in itself, just like these megachurches are doing. Bellah would view this technology as a part of ones Self. It is their way to express their beliefs. He believes that innovation needs to take in traditional aspects, maintaining what is right, but still come up on something fresh. Working this technology into the expression of religion is a way it does that. The original aspects of religion are still intact, but the tools used to expressed religion are new and fresh.
Without the advancement of technology, these megachurches would not be as successful as they are. They would not have the power to make every member of this large group feel like it is a community. The advancements with technology helped these megachurches create the kind of community they want to have. Although they might be very large, with the help of technology, they are trying to create a compact community, that Bellah would be proud of, accessible to every member.
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References Bellah, R., Madsen, R., Sullivan, W., Swidler, A., & Tipton, S. (1985). Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life. London, England: University of California Press. Megachurch. (2014, January 1). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megachurch Rainer, T. (2012, September 19). Seven updated trends on megachurches in america. Retrieved from http://www.christianpost.com/news/seven-updated-trends-on-megachurchesin-america-81860/