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Many on this forum might remember me stating that my wife is involved with a women�s group of mothers who stay at home. This group is part of a local Evangelical Mega Church. My wife sent me an email recently to help me understand why so many people join that Church. Not too long ago I made a post in which my wife was telling me that in the auditorium of the Church the pastor asked how many people came from the Baptist Church to please raise their hands. A few did, then he asked this and that Church and few raised their hands. Finally, he ask how many where Ex-Catholics and about 80 percent raised their hands. This number must have been close to a thousand. Not to bad for the small city I live in. Anyway, here is a typical email (I edited to keep the names a secret) that is sent out requesting help for a couple. There are many groups in this Mega Church that as their mission helps out various parishioners. Here is that email: Hello All,
Barring pastor Mark and a few homeschoolers, I believe you all know me, Frany B; Rob B�s wife.
I am writing on behalf of a friend of mine and sister in Christ to us all who has asked me to put this plea out for help. She does not have access to the Internet. Her name is Kelly V. and she serves on the MOPS steering team as do I. She is also the mother of a sweet and gentle little two year old boy named Nikki.
Her dilemma is with her pregnancy of 34 weeks. The weight of her growing little girl is pressing on her arteries and nerves when she stands or sits. She has become in danger of developing clots. The only thing to alleviate that possibility is doctor ordered bed rest and as much of it as she can get. They have decided to take the baby early at 37 weeks to reduce Kelly's risk of this serious complication. She does not want to exercise the option of taking the baby now as she would be in intensive care and most likely have medical problems down the line to boot.
As you can imagine, bed rest is very hard to do with a two year old in the house.
So for the next three weeks during the weekdays mostly, Kelly needs people who are willing to watch Nikki at least 4 hours at a time so she can get off her feet.
A little about Nikki. It would be best for Nikki if he could stay home, even share his toys with a new friend or two. But Kelly is willing for Nikki to go on outings or to other people's homes as well. (I think It would be best for Nikki if he met a new person before going away with them.)
I have stayed at the V�s home a couple of times so Kelly could rest and Nikki is a delightful little guy. He loves fire trucks and between his recent birthday and Christmas, has acquired an entire fleet which I am sure he would be delighted to share. He makes friends easily and gave me no problems while under my care.
You are all the leaders at Calvary that I know. I am sending this to you in the hopes that you will have a better combined knowledge of the people/ministries who can help Kelly in her hour of need. We have asked the members of MOPS once already but had no one step up. Understandably, mothers of the very young are not exactly the most available for this kind of volunteering. The good thing is that this is only for three weeks. I pray that this email would reach the eyes of those who can step forward and help.
Kelly's home phone is xxx-xxxx. Anyone who can help her is asked to call her and work out the details. One time or a regular time each week, every little bit gives Kelly more time with her feet off the ground. Young adults who are good with kids would have a great time with Nikki.
Thank you for your time! This couldn't happen at a worse time for Kelly. She feels so much like she is imposing during the holidays, but has no choice. Her mom just underwent major surgery so even she can't run in to the rescue.
Kelly does have someone coming to Florida to help after little Christina is born. It's just right now that she really needs the help.
Sincerely,
Frany B. BTW, my wife and I just had a baby recently. For the next two weeks this group is providing meals for us every night. I can really see how this kind of fellowship is attractive to people. I do want to add that our little Church helps out other parishoners a lot. For example, they through my wife and I a baby shower for our first son. Perhaps other large BCC's might need some work in this area. Hopefully this thread will start a dialog.
Last edited by Ray S.; 12/31/06 11:07 PM.
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Dear Ray,
After reading this, I have to make a couple comments. I find it laudable that these people are extending themselves and that they are trying o encourage the faith through fellowship. In a way we need to imitate and do this more. The other comment I have to bring up and came to mind while reading this, this is how not only most evangelicals cultivate new members, but if you intensify this a little bit groups such as the Mormons use this also with aim of ensnaring new converts. I hate to sound cynical, but we should examine this and temper it to our ways and traditions and do it out of genuinely living the gospel and showing it forth as a witness by our life. I hope this makes some sense.
In IC XC,
Father Anthony+
Everyone baptized into Christ should pass progressively through all the stages of Christ's own life, for in baptism he receives the power so to progress, and through the commandments he can discover and learn how to accomplish such progression. - Saint Gregory of Sinai
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Yes Father it does make sense. My reasons for posting this stuff is to share information on what seems to be working with these groups. For some reason our people are leaving our Churches because they are not finding something in our Churches.
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I think one of the reasons they leave is that they do not want to be heald accountable. All to often in these mega-churches, the accountability is not there. It is an awful lot of fluffy-feel good. Just my own $.02 worth 
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Dear Ray,
After reading this, I have to make a couple comments. I find it laudable that these people are extending themselves and that they are trying o encourage the faith through fellowship. In a way we need to imitate and do this more. The other comment I have to bring up and came to mind while reading this, this is how not only most evangelicals cultivate new members, but if you intensify this a little bit groups such as the Mormons use this also with aim of ensnaring new converts. I hate to sound cynical, but we should examine this and temper it to our ways and traditions and do it out of genuinely living the gospel and showing it forth as a witness by our life. I hope this makes some sense.
In IC XC,
Father Anthony+ Bless, Father Anthony, It does make much sense to me. Many evangelical Christians are living proof that Christianity is alive and well...they do a lot to help people including those within their own congregations and that is very important. Years ago (1970's)when I was a young woman with two small children and a baby I broke my ankle and knee accidentally. We lived up North far from relatives so it wasn't easy to get help and we couldn't afford to have my husband miss too much work. I called our parish and told them my situation. They simply said: "We don't do that sort of thing here." That was it...not even a referral at that time. Fortunately I got a friend of a friend to help out for a while until my mother-in-law could arrange to fly to help us out until I could get around better. I know things are surely better now in that parish (which is no longer ours) ...but maybe we should all take another look at Matthew 25 and 26 and our own accountability to help those in need. "They will know they are Christians by their love." Happy New Year, In Christ, Mary Jo
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Dear friends,
My grandmother is 84 years old. She has been Catholic all of her life, but she is going to a Baptist church now. Why? Because the Baptists come and give her a ride to church (She lives in another state, or else I would bring her to my church).
Sometimes, we cannot even get people rides. Not trying to be cynical or critical, merely pointing out a real life situation.
Lance
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you know, I know a person who needed a ride to a certain eastern christian church, the organization he contacted (they were his peer-group) listed someone on their website that said they would come pick up people if they needed rides. Now, this person wants to make friends and the guy on the phone said they no longer picked up people for church? Grrr.................
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To learn more about the "Mega-Churches" which are taking away so many Catholics you might want to listen to Steve Smiths testimony. Steve Smith was recently on EWTNs Journey Home program. Steve left the Catholic Church to join the Willow Creek Independent Evangelical Church. [ willowcreek.org] He provides some deep insights into why over 70% of Willow Creeks members were Ex-Catholics. He stated you might just think that Willow Creek is just one Church why care. Well Steve states that there are over 5,000 Churches which are modeled from Willow Creek. I did a quick Google search on the website of Willow Creek and found this interesting link to a book: The God I Thought I Knew: My Experiences Growing Up Catholic [ seeds.willowcreek.org] Here is Steve's Smith Story. [ ewtn.com] This is a link to a Real Player [ real.com] audio file. So, you need Real Player installed to listen to it.
Last edited by Ray S.; 01/02/07 11:48 AM.
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Regarding giving people rides to Churches. In our little Church many parishoners give other parishoners rides to Church. Sorry, but I like to brag about our little Church. 
Last edited by Ray S.; 01/02/07 11:51 AM.
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One side note on Steves interview. A caller asked what can the Catholic Church do to keep its members from leaving and going to these "Churches". Steve said simply teach the Fundamentals of the Faith to the Parishoners. It may sound "old fashion" Steve said, but it works.
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People have free will. If they know or don't care that they're leaving the body of Christ - abandoning their salvation through their baptism and the eucharist - and joining a church which rejects christian tradition, then we maybe should be a bit sad but we of course should respect their choice and wish them the best.
But if they're leaving out of ignorance, then shame on the us for not educating them.
As for the rides and other charitable works of these churches, these are wonderful things. It seems that establishing these kinds of programs should be easy. A parish listserv could go up where the pastor or clergy could send out requests for help or for ride requests.
And every single evangelical church in my area seems has a van, so there's no reason even a small parish can't have one if necessary. Money for the van lease, plus motorpool, should only be a few hundred dollars a month.
Of course, this all supposes that the parishoners' idea of Christian lives is more than going to church for an hour a week and throwing a dollar into the basket. But in my experience, as long as you don't overburden people and you show them worthy goals, people will generally give the as much as needed.
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Having laid up all their hope and expectation in Heaven,
these two Saints have treasured up for themselves a kind of wealth not to be despoiled.
Freely did they receive; freely do they give out healing unto those with maladies.
True to the Gospel�s hest, neither gold nor silver did they acquire;
And unto men and unto to beasts they show benefactions and kindnesses;
That they might be truly obedient to Christ through every means,
And so with boldness might intercede with Him in our souls� behalf.
Last edited by MarkosC; 01/02/07 04:19 PM.
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We also have a "mega-church" in our area and they do the same services. Many of the people who go there are so hungry for attention and many volunteer; the spirit gets contagious (like the proverbial yeast).
This is one of the things which really struck me when we had our archeparchial survey which you may have read about. Outside of Liturgical services, our association with our brothers and sisters in our parishes is miniscule compared to the programs of the megachurches.
I understand that this is one of the facets that the rejuvenated Parish Councils are asked to address.
Good food for thought Ray. Thanks for posting.
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I don't think most people see this as a problem. If the statistics are correct (just assume for a minute) and we have lost hundreds of thousands of people in last ~10 years. Let�s also assume that the information given to my wife and from the interview that Steve gave is correct that over 70% of the parishioners are Ex-Catholics. Then it�s easy to further assume that a large number Byzantine Catholics may have left the Church to join Mega-Evangelical Churches.
If this is correct and the Church continues to hemorrhage parishioners then this is a big problem. This brings me to my point that I don�t see people in the Church hierarchy and laity taking this problem seriously. Either BCC�s are ignorant of what is going on or they don�t see these Churches as a threat.
I see this as a two part failure. The first is the lack of instruction in the faith and second lack of fellowship between parishioners. The first part is something that only the hierarchy can address. The second part is something that only the laity can address. But no one is going to address either if they don�t view it as a problem.
So, is part of the rapid decline of BCC�s contributed to the growth of Mega-Evangelical Churches? If it is, then how is this being addressed?
Last edited by Ray S.; 01/03/07 12:22 AM.
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There was a good effort the in the Pittsburgh Archeparchy to start local parish Bethany Ministries. Its mission is to visit the bereaved, the sick and to help out as needed. A few parishes started it, ours was one of them.
The problem is lack of volunteers. We supposedly had six people, but we are down to two active participants. But more importantly we have helped the people that we visited to feel like they still belong to the church, even if they can't attend Liturgy. Before it was like they were separated, even divorced (to use a more emphatic term) from the parish.
With more lay people taking part we could visit those who left our church years ago, those who feel they no longer belong because of divorce or personal disputes.
In another thread it was mentioned how Christmas carolling has died out; this is another important form of home visitation.
If Pastors could try to restore the blessing of homes this would also help to bring the Church and family back as required to keep the parish healthy.
The biggest obstacle that I found in home visitation is that a mental wall has been established. What I mean is that the Church building and its activities are segregated from a family's home. People only seem to belong to a parish on Sunday morning; he rest of the week they don't even think of the Church.The good news is once you cross the moat which separates the two you rebuild a healthy relationship and the Church and Home are bridged.
The Pgh. Archeparchial Revitalization Committee IS now aware of the problem and with its very limited resources is trying to do something about it. But you know how slow the church moves; especially when it has to rely on volunteers.
Fr Deacon Paul
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I was reading a post from an Ex-Catholic on a Protestant forum. His post I think hit right at home for this discussion. Here is that post: I still get envelopes from a parish I haven't attended in 12 years. I wonder if they even care enough about me and my family to notice that we aren't members anymore. LOL Or is it just about the cash? Here is another response from another Ex-Catholic When the church is full on Christmas and Easter then that is the number of parishioners.
When people leave then they are still considered RC as they like to boast about the numbers.
RCism has always been a numbers game. Interesting isn't it?
Last edited by Ray S.; 01/03/07 01:12 PM.
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