I grew up in a large church (where my mom was on staff), and my closest friends in high school attended another large church nearby. I have a megachurch pastor in the family. I have seen behind the curtain.
Then during college, I served on staff at two small, rural churches. Today my wife is on staff at our mid-size suburban church. I have to say that, at the end of the day, I really prefer these smaller churches.
Ruth Tucker also prefers smaller churches. Her book Left Behind in a Megachurch World is billed in the subtitle–”How God works through ordinary churches”–as a tribute to the small church, which she calls the “left behind” church. Really the book accomplishes two things. First, it systematically deconstructs the theology, ethos, and appeal of the megachurch movement. Second, it demonstrates through Tucker’s reflections on her own experience, theological insights, and spotlights on successful small ministries that “smaller churches bear the greatest mantle for Christlikeness” (from the back cover copy).
As you might deduce from this last line, Tucker’s book is not an evenhanded treatment of the relative strengths and weaknesses of mega and small church ministries. She blames megachurches for much that ails American Christianity today. “Evangelicals have been swept away by culture,” she says at one point, “and megachurches are leading the way.” Thus the tone of the book, when it addresses the large church, is somewhere between antagonistic and dismissive. And it addresses the large church a lot.
I might actually recommend Left Behind in a Megachurch World to pastors or members of mid-size to large churches. As a commentary on the excesses and blind spots of glamorous ministries, it is incisive and successful. The primary strength of the book seems to me to be its clarity of insight into how mega ministry has become the prevailing model in America today, and what the implications of that trend may be.
But if you find yourself already antagonistic toward larger ministry, you might steer clear of this volume. The adversarial tone might fan an unhealthy flame. If, on the other hand, you find yourself yearning for a thoughtful defense of small-church ministry, this may be the book for you.
