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Thursday October 9, 2008 ~ 5 Comments
The first term that was widely used was actually "Superchurch." Elmer Towns was the most common user and popularizer of that term and most early megachurch research used that term. Thanks to Warren Bird, Director of Research at Leadership Network, who wrote his Ph.D. on the megachurch phenomenon, I know the origin of the word "megachurch." meg•a•church n. A church averaging 2,000 or more people in attendance during weekly worship gatherings. Frequent readers of this blog will know of my appreciation for Francis Dubose as the first person to use the word "missional" in the manner we do today. My "Meanings of Missional" series spends much time with Dubose. Well, quite to my surprise, his is the first printed reference to the word "megachurch." You can find that in Francis DuBose, How Churches Grow in an Urban World, Nashville, TN, USA: Broadman Press, 1978. But, it was megachurch uber-researcher John Vaughn who first used the term to refer to churches over 2000 in weekly attendance. (The 2000-mark is the standard today thanks to John's influence.) And, he is the first to use it in a book title, Megachurches and America's Cities: How Churches Grow (1993). Also, in 1991, Prepare Your Church for the Future (by Carl George with Warren Bird, Revell, 1991) helped popularize the word megachurch. The book was based on some popular training Carl had done with pastors from America's largest churches for the 3 prior years. That book quickly sold over 100,000 copies, which no doubt helped popularize the word What about gigachurch? gig•a•church n. A church averaging 10,000 or more people in attendance during weekly worship gatherings. Well, actually, I first saw the term used by Missouri Synod Lutheran and World Magazine editor Gene Edward Veith in an article here. Veith expressed great enthusiasm for his newly coined word, explaining: I realize that I have just coined a new word--the giga-church--deriving from a parallel with computer technology, in which megabytes of memory grew exponentially into gigabytes. The word "gigachurch" for metastasizing megachurches deserves wide currency. Use it and let's see if it catches on. If you hear the word elsewhere, please report, and remember that you saw it first on the Cranach blog. But, in his comment section, one of his astute readers pointed out that it was Bill Easum who first used the word. I emailed Bill to be sure and it was the case, and he confirmed it. The first mention I could find was in a Washington Post story that explained: Where megachurch refers to congregations with an average of 2,000 or more worshipers every weekend, gigachurch refers to those with 10,000 or more, said Texas-based church consultant Bill Easum... Special note: most researchers who use the word "megachurch" don't like the term "gigachurch." Come back later today for one more megachurch interview. (The graphic about is a Wordle of my first post of megachurch week.) Posted on October 9, 2008 at 7:09 AM ~ 5 Comments Tagged with: church growth, gigachurch, megachurch, terminology 5 CommentsLeave a comment |
  
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Ed, thanks so much for this post. I think knowing the origins of where things come from is often valuable. Didn't know the origin of these terms; I really appreciate you sharing it with us.
Hey Ed!
I can't wait to hear the gigachurch pastors reminisce about the good old days...back when they were just a struggling megachurch and everything was just so much more intimate...those days had their challenges with only seven paid staff pastors...but their were so many good times that those hard times just seem to fade from memory...
Don't forget Paul Hiebert's contribution, published by Carl George in Prepare Your Church for the Future in 1991.
metachurch
"The name Meta-Church, then is quite distinct from megachurch. This new label allows for greater numbers, but its deepest focus is on change: pastors' changing their minds about how ministry is to be done, and churches' changing their organizational form in order to be free from size constraints...Because its potential scale of operation so far exceeds these other classes of churches, it should have its own name, whatever its size." (pp 51-52)
Good times, Fox, in those old days.
Origin of the term "gigachurch." - LYNN MARIAN, former editor of Outreach Magazine, was actually the first person to use the term. In the July isssue, when I shared my annual lists of both America's 100 Largest and 100 Fastest Growing Churches with Outreach, Bill Easum wrote his the intro and final article for the magazine. I noticed the term "gigachurch" in his article. In discussion with Lynn, two years later (the 3rd and final year I shared my lists with Outreach), I asked her about the term in the article. She told me that, as editor, she inserted the term and other content into Bill's article since she thought it would enhanse his article. So here we have a case where an editorial insertion actually created a new church growth term. Now you know...the rest of the story.