Top 50 Churches

Several of these "churches" God wouldn't view as a church... they may be the most influential, but what exactly are they influencing people to?

 

Huh? If they don't know who you are, your influence is questionable.

BTW, these were the 50 MOST influential - which implies influence far beyond our little towns and cities. </font>[/QUOTE]You have to be popular and known to be influential? What about all of the million dollar donations by private donors done anonymously every year? Their donations aren't influential?

If God uses our church in a way that doesn't self promote to win people to Christ, it's still influential.

 

Actually, Dr Bob's comment here makes sense. I'm involved with the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity. There are about 200 volunteers (not a lot), but we are well-known in the local community because of the Christian outreach that we perform.

A local church runs a mission. The church has about 300 members. But they're well-known, and have influenced thousands of people and brought many people to the Lord.

So, yes, when you influence the community, you generally become well-known in the community. Not as a purpose, but as a result. This is not a hard fast rle, but it's a very common occurrance.

On the other hand:

My cousin is a member of one of the churches on the list (I won't say which one, but it's a Reformed Church in America congregation). This church does receive some million dollar donations from time to time. The church is nationally known because if its famous pastor, and most of you will know the church only by that person. However, locally, the church is known less by the "famous face" and known mostly for its community outreach, including a 24 hour Christ-centered crisis intervention hotline, an outreach that sends bibles to inmates in local prisons, and an outreach that serves hundreds of thousands of meals to the homeless and hungry every year. Yet few outside the local circle are aware of anything else but a weekly televised service. Even though this church is not well-known for these outreaches, those outreaches have changed thousands of lives.

 

I can just imagine what the Apostle Paul would have thought had they published a "Most Influential Churches" in his day.

 

Actually, Dr Bob's comment here makes sense. I'm involved with the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity. There are about 200 volunteers (not a lot), but we are well-known in the local community because of the Christian outreach that we perform.

A local church runs a mission. The church has about 300 members. But they're well-known, and have influenced thousands of people and brought many people to the Lord.

So, yes, when you influence the community, you generally become well-known in the community. Not as a purpose, but as a result. This is not a hard fast rle, but it's a very common occurrance. </font>[/QUOTE]How does being well known in the community, prayer and anonymous giving coincide with Webster's definition of influence?

Influence
Noun
1. A power to affect persons or events especially power based on prestige etc: "used her parents' influence to get the job".

2. Causing something without any direct or apparent effort.

3. A cognitive factor that tends to have an effect on what you do; "her wishes had a great influence on his thinking".

4. The effect of one thing (or person) on another; "the influence of mechanical action".

5. One having power to influence another: "she was the most important influence in my life"; "he was a bad influence on the children".

 

webdog, I updated my presions post. I invite you to comment.

 

So your cousin's church is influential both because of the popularity and the "extra's" it provides. That's fine. I got from you and Dr. Bob that popularity within the community is essential to being influential, something I do not agree with. God can use one prayer from a child to influence thousands, we don't know.

 

No, I'm not saying that popularity is essential to being infuential. Rather, that one of the results in being influential is often becoming well-known.

While we say "size doesn't matter" or "populatiry doesn't matter", we tend to dismiss a church that simply because it is large or well-known, often presuming that a large or popular church "can't possibly" be truly Christ-centered. This mentality is often due to our own sinful vanity. I'm not saying that you or your church is guilty of this, not at all. I'm simply generalizing.

 

There are 2 churches on that list that I know about.

When we live in Irving, Tx we attended Fellowship church where Ed Young Jr is pastor. It is deffinately a big church.

When we lived in Va, we would listen to McClean Bible on the radio while getting ready and driving to our church.

Some on the list surprised me at first, then not so much after I thought about it. I just had to realize they didn't influence "me".

 

He Published it...

And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath. -I Thess. 1:7-10

Its not whether your church is well know, but what they are know for. Many churches are content to be right, but don't want anyone to know about it.

 

is there a verse about being fist and last or something like that?

 

Paul provided encouragement to fellow believers. He didn't go around polling other people to see what churches were most influential. Ridiculous.

 

I know of a church that has 50 regular attenders.....but its located in a town of about 80 people.

How's that for real influence? =)

 

Dr. Bob

I got asked about churches on the list last night. I just couldn't remember all of them.

So, thanks again.

 

The article mentioned, "Churches receiving the highest number of recommendations tend to be churches that offer conferences that share leadership, organizational, staffing and ministry principles, priorities and procedures with other church leaders."