Why is the most churched city in the United States still a mess?

Are we so heavenly-minded that we're no earthly-good?

I live in Charlotte, NC, which was once known as the most-churched city in the US. At one point, more people here went to church per capita than anywhere else. Even if that’s not true anymore, it still feels that way. Charlotte has dozens of multi-site megachurches. The biggest, Elevation, is well known, and several others are almost as large.

A few Sundays ago, I visited a megachurch. It isn’t one of the largest in town, but a couple thousand people were there. As I sat in the service, I started to wonder: If Charlotte has so many Christians, why is there still poverty? Why isn’t the murder rate zero? Why isn’t everyone happy, healthy, peaceful, and generous? Why are the drivers so bad? What’s missing?

How do churches get so big?

Part of the reason churches in Charlotte have grown is because of population shifts. More people are living in cities now than before. As people move from rural areas, their church habits change, and they might end up at a megachurch. Rural areas just can’t support the cost or infrastructure of a megachurch.

Big churches also grow because they can offer more. With more resources, they have engaging youth programs, fun children’s activities, and ministries for specific groups that smaller churches can’t provide. Growth speeds up as people leave smaller churches, maybe because they don’t have youth programs, and join a megachurch that serves both kids and parents.

These two reasons explain some of the growth of megachurches, but they mostly show how people move from smaller or rural churches to larger ones. There might be more going on, though.

A recent article in The Economist talked about the rise of megachurches. One reason for their growth is the Prosperity Gospel. This teaching holds that true believers will only succeed in life. This is a heresy. In its most extreme form, some even deny the death of Christ, saying God would never let Jesus fail. I’m glad he did, though, because that wasn’t the end of the story.

I get why this idea is appealing and why churches that teach the Prosperity Gospel might grow. But I also see how it can make people focus on themselves and be less likely to help others. In this view, if someone isn’t successful, it’s seen as their own fault.

It’s easy to blame churches that preach the Prosperity Gospel, but I don’t think that’s the whole story about why so many people go to church in Charlotte. Many big, growing churches here don’t teach that message. The one I visited didn’t. So there must be another reason.

The Economist article gives another reason for church growth: megachurches usually stay away from politics. In a world full of political arguments, it can feel good to find a place that avoids those topics and focuses on people “getting saved.”

Saved from what?

Before I go on, I want to be clear: you need to be saved, and so do I. Saved from what? From our sin. Because of our sin, we deserve not just death but eternal punishment. How can we be saved? We can’t do it ourselves. Only Jesus’ death and resurrection can save us. In his death, he paid the penalty we deserved, and his resurrection shows that God accepted his sacrifice. The Apostle Paul said it best:

The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23, NIV)

This is an important message people need to hear. If this is why some megachurches are growing, that’s a good thing.

I grew up, was baptized, and confirmed in a mainline church. But I never heard that I was a sinner who needed salvation; I learned that somewhere else. The decline and closure of mainline churches doesn’t surprise me. It seems people finally realized just showing up wasn’t enough.

But there’s a problem if the message of salvation ends there.

If we’re only concerned with saving people, we might ignore their other problems.

I once worked as a waiter. That experience taught me that everyone should wait tables at least once to develop empathy for people who earn tips. Sometimes, customers were difficult. Sometimes groups meant less money, like during prom season when students didn’t tip. The worst group was the annual religious conference.

If you’ve ever waited tables, you know that Christians can be tough customers. Many don’t drink alcohol, which means smaller bills and lower tips. People who drink often eat more and stay longer, but that’s not true for some Christians, so tips end up lower.

The worst part was when some people left a tract instead of a tip. One even looked like a $100 bill but was fake, trying to tell you about the riches in Jesus.

In some ways, I get it. The wait staff needs to be saved! This could be their last day on earth, and your last chance to share the Good News with them. How could you pass that up?

But, brother: I gotta pay my rent!

When Christians focus only on saving people, they can miss real-world needs.

If we’re only concerned with saving people, we might tolerate corrupt systems.

A few months ago, I went to a regional meeting of church leaders as a representative of our church. We showed up, handled our business, had some lunch, and then went our separate ways.

Meanwhile, while we met, ICE and Border Patrol were searching our city for people with darker skin and taking them away. We still don’t know where or how many. As a result, some people, including members of our churches, were hiding and scared. Still, nobody mentioned what was happening in our city.

At lunch, I sat with Hispanic pastors. They welcomed me and shared their fears and those of their congregations. No one else joined us or asked how they were doing. Others just walked by, ignoring them.

The meeting still did what it was supposed to do: install pastors and talk about new churches, all focused on saving more people. But the disconnect from what was happening in the city was shocking.

While focusing on saving souls, our church had the luxury of ignoring our government’s overreaching actions.

Saved for what?

So, while we all need salvation, as these examples show, stopping there means ongoing suffering persists in the world.

The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. (Matthew 26:11, NIV)

But the story doesn’t end there. We aren’t saved by what we do, but by faith. That faith should move us to act. James says it better than I can:

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. (James 2:14-17, NIV)

This verse is important in Protestant church history. Martin Luther reminded the church that we’re saved by faith, not by what we do. I’m grateful for that reminder. In fact, Luther’s commentary on Galatians is the only theology book that ever made me cry from joy.

Unfortunately, Luther seemed to stop his theology there. He even questioned whether the Book of James should be in the New Testament, mostly because of these verses and his belief that they went against justification by faith.

It took another Reformation theologian, John Calvin, to bring these ideas together. Calvin learned about justification by faith from Luther and left France, hoping to study with him. Fortunately (providentially) for us, he got sidetracked and ended up in Geneva, where he became a pastor and a major leader.

Calvin agreed with Luther that we’re saved by faith, but he didn’t see James’ call to live out our faith as a contradiction. Instead, he saw it as a result of faith. Calvin said that good works show you have faith. This idea matters: if your faith leads to good works, it changes how you live, from your family to how you help run your city, state, or country.

Keep preaching the Gospel, and sometimes use words.

If megachurches are growing because they preach the Gospel—that we need to be saved from our sins and only Jesus can do that—that’s a good start. But let’s also let our faith lead us to action and start making changes in our world out of gratitude for that salvation.

Or, as an old preacher used to say, “don’t be so heavenly minded that you’re no earthly good.”