"Micromegachurch"

I woke up this morning to a heavy snowfall in Idaho Springs, Colorado, about 30 minutes west of Denver when the roads are dry. On a normal Sunday, I would have driven down to my friendly almost mega-church for services. Today that could have been deadly. So I looked out my window at the four historic church buildings that are each within a few hundred yards or less from my new second home.

Determined not to miss church despite the storm, I went to the Internet to find that only 1 of the 4 church buildings within walking distance to me now have Sunday services- the Catholics and their service was early so the priest can travel up the valley for another service in another historic town.

So I looked out my window again and was anguished at the thought that in a town of 2,000 people, no more than perhaps 100 are going to church in town regularly. Now maybe some, like me, are traveling east into Denver regularly for Sunday services and an occasional small group meeting on a weekday. More likely on a Sunday, they are traveling west to partake of the awesome recreational opportunities in the Colorado mountains.

In the 12-15 weeks I've been here this year since purchasing a small house with a great view, I've introduced Jesus to exactly nobody. I do have a return dinner invitation at the neighbor's tomorrow so I pray there will be an opening there. I would love nothing more than to see Jesus take over Idaho Springs again, as He apparently did 100 years ago when they built as more square feet of churches than saloons- and there were a lot of saloons.

My regular home is in the Dallas area, and we are members of what I consider to be one of the best megachurches, Gateway Church. The music is awesome, with numerous musicians who could probably be very successful in the secular world. The teaching from Pastor Robert Morris is the best I've encountered in many years of visiting churches in person and on the web.

So my thought is to bring the resources of well funded megachurches like Gateway to Idaho Springs and then thousands of other similar communities. At first I thought that would mean getting Gateway or a similar large church involved. Then I realized most of their resources are free on the web and, in theory, can be freely used in our "micromegachurch".

A micromegachurch is an organic or house church that relies heavily upon technology to bring in the excellent worship music and preaching of megachurches while being a local provider of the love of Jesus to its members and its community.

So the lead, unpaid pastor of a new micromegachurch's initial job would be to gather the sheep in front of a large screen somewhere to worship along with excellent worship videos and watch selected sermon series from the very best preachers. As the congregation grows, then the job is to delegate the work of the church to the membership as their gifts enable.

Here in Idaho Springs, the micromegachurch could probably start as a Saturday night Bible study and then morph into a Saturday night micromegachurch  Saturday night would allow us to avoid competition from other churches and recreational opportunities during the day Sunday.

The teaching of Robert Morris did a lot to show us the way on Biblical tithing. For years now we have tithed faithfully and been better for it- regardless of how the money is used on the other end. Now we love Gateway Church and believe they do their best to optimize the use of every dollar, however theirs is a very high overhead way of doing church.

I'm sure at this point I am hopelessly naive about operating a micromegachurch  but as an Economics graduate and a businessperson, I think this model might make a lot of fiscal and evangelical sense. Many seekers are probably like I was 25 years ago, ready to hear about Jesus but scared that the church is a pickpocket. Keeping our expenses way down will allow us to minister to people as they mature and understand that giving is for their benefit more than the benefit of the receiving church.

Eventually the members of a micromegachurch should grow to appreciate the benefits of Biblical tithing, and those funds coming in may threaten the nature of the church, so I  have 3 ideas when it comes to finances:

1. As per Matthew 6:4, donations will be routed through a third party service to make sure they are anonymous but still tax deductible. No plate passing during services.

2. The funds will be divided into four categories:

a. Offering forwarded to the churches whose materials we use- 25%
b. Outreach expenditures in our local community- 25%
c. Assistance to church members in need- 25%
d. Church expenses and reserve- 25%

3. Complete financial transparency- every donation (amount only), every offering to other churches, every outreach expense,. every dollar of assistance (no names attached) and every church expense will be posted on the web site soon after they happen.

I believe this or a similar structure will help alleviate seeker's fears that:

1. People are treated differently in church based upon their record of giving
2. Much of the money disappears to somewhere far away
3. That the church is a profit seeking enterprise for its leaders

So, I'm posting this on the very day this vision was put in my head in hopes of getting as much feedback as possible before actually attempting. Maybe someone is already doing this and I missed it searching the web.

I would love to see God glorified when one of these historic churches is put back into use as the home of a micromegachurch of Idaho Springs while other micromegachurches sprout in other communities.