Did God bless the mega churches?

Even though the mega churches in Singapore have regularly been derided by more mainline denomination church goers as being unfaithful to the true gospel, instead preaching a message of health and wealth, we cannot deny the fact that many people have been attracted to the few mega churches that have sprung up from the 1990s onwards. The big 3, NCC, CHC and FCBC all boast attendances that number in the tens of thousands. So the question that we should ask ourselves, is this good for Christianity in Singapore, or not?

Although the messages preached from them are definitely suspect, we must acknowledge that the fundamentals of the gospel, which is the the divinity of Christ, his death on the cross and resurrection on the 3rd day, and that salvation is by grace alone, not by works, is being communicated by these churches. And isn’t that enough? Sure we can fault them for almost everything else that they say, but the fact remains that the key points are there. The key points necessary for salvation. And we can always be reminded by the story of the criminal being crucified next to Jesus that God and Jesus are not necessarily looking for someone who has great understanding in the faith to be saved. Rather, it is a very simple, pure faith that could be said to be evidence of someone being one of the elect.

Even if we argue that not everyone in these mega churches really understand the full gospel because of their focus on health and wealth, that statement in itself acknowledges that there are some in these mega churches that firstly, would not have been reached out to if not for these mega churches, and secondly, truly understand and believe the key points of the gospel. So we can say that these mega churches have managed to bring some people into the true Christian fold.

These people might be in the minority, but what does it matter? Didnt Jesus tell us that there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent? The key is that they are getting sinners to repent. They might not be very efficient about it, if we look at things from a percentage perspective, but when have we judged mainline churches by their efficiency in bringing people to Christ? Even if only 1 soul in the congregation can be called a true believer, what does it matter? 1 more soul is saved! How can we put a price tag on that? How can we say that this church is not doing the Lords work?

Even if we accuse their leaders of not preaching with a pure heart, which only God would know in the first place, Paul himself said that he did not care for what intention Christ was preached, and as long as Christ was preached, he rejoiced.

So the question that we should ask, did God actually bless these mega churches, because they are reaching out to people that would not have been reached out to by the efforts of mainline denomination churches? And what does it say about the mainline churches and their failure to reach out and connect with these people, in their culture?