- Title
- 'In the Goofy parking lot': growth churches as a novel religious form for late capitalism
- Creator
- Maddox, Marion
- Relation
- Social Compass Vol. 59, Issue 2, p. 146-158
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0037768612440954
- Publisher
- Sage Publications Ltd.
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2012
- Description
- Literature on megachurches (Protestant churches with attendance over 2000) concentrates on numbers at the expense of an associated, but more instructive, characteristic: an overriding commitment to growth. Churches of any size can adopt a growth-oriented theology, style and organisational structure. In such churches, the growth imperative is likely to apply not only to congregational membership but also to church buildings and collection receipts; to the television ministry and other forms of outreach; to the pastor’s book and CD sales; and to individual members’ businesses, incomes, houses and possessions. In each dimension of religious life, at both individual and corporate level, the gospel of growth demarcates a novel Christian form, attuned to the ethos of late capitalism.
- Subject
- capitalism; church growth; growth; megachurches; Ninian Smart; prosperity gospel; protestantism
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1059404
- Identifier
- uon:16595
- Identifier
- ISSN:0037-7686
- Language
- eng
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