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There is indeed a very real danger that when the purpose of the church becomes fund raising, the mission of the church suffers.

I do not belong to these "megas" as my faith itself I guess is the biggest mega (Catholicism).  I would hope that we are not falling into that trap, and as far as I can see we have not. But too many chruches that for one reason or another I came to respect, have fallen into the trap.

While each parish in the Catholic system has a degree of autonomy, there has been a lot of criticism about the vatican (the seat of the largest mega church).  So far, they seem to be staying on the message (after falling far afield of it for many years).  While the Church has been recentlyt slammed for scandals outside of money (rightly so), it appears to have grown past its days of money and power and is trying to stay on message.

The individual parrishes can be large or small.  I prefer the small ones only because there everyone knows everyone else.  But I do business with some of the larger ones, and so far, at least in my area, they appear to not have fallen prey to the lure of greed.  I cannot say that for all Catholic parrishes.

And indeed, many of the protestant ones seem to not know how to grow big.  Without falling prey to the lure.  Some seem to stray close to the edge but draw back.  The one I am most familiar with being Jerry Falwells ministry.  Through the force of his peronality, I think they drew back in time.  Now that he is gone, I do not know what their fate will be, I do not agree with a lot of his preachings (and given the church is still a reflection of his, the current preachings of Liberty), but I do admire the man/Church.

Of the one you referenced, I know nothing.  I can only hope that their new found bounty is used as they have declared and that the money does not corrupt them.

I am no fan of the Rick Warren types of Seeker Friendly Megachurches.  I think you're not too far off in the idea that it's all about being in business. 

My husband, a Pastor, is against fundraising so we never put our church thru them. He doesn't believe it's biblical. Yet we had the most financially stable church out there.  We had more money than we knew what to do with and the congregants were lower middle class, for the most part.  Right now there's enough money to buy land and a building cash (the church is still renting).   

 He especially doesn't like the idea of Christians going to pagans to get money in the name of God.  So no bake sales, no yard sales, etc.   What kind of a message does that send?  God isn't able to supply our needs so we have to go to non believers?  How ludicrious. 

Around here in our neck of the woods there was a rash of church buglaries.  Alot of money was stolen from a whole mess of area churches.  There is a reward offered for anyone giving information to catch the thieves but so far they've gotten away with it. 

We never ever left money in our church.  It always went home that Sunday after church with a deacon after it was counted by a few of the members for accountability sake.  Never had a problem and was never robbed.   So we shake our heads when we hear such things. 

What megachurches do is provide a service.  It's sort of like a drive thru fast food place.    It's really not healthy for you but it will do the job of filling an empty place for the moment.  The big megachurches offer no accountability and no personal discipleship.  You can come and go and nobody really knows who you are week after week.  You're off the hook but at the same time you can say you attend church thinking that will save you a spot in heaven as you put your money in the plate that goes around.  For the most part, I think it offers nothing more than false security. 

I've been to these churches and am amused at the mass exit by the whole rear of the church as the Pastor goes into his final prayer at the end.  Why bother?  Do they think they are fooling God? 

Thank you. That settles it. I had my ideas based on what I read and you confirmed my suspicions. Not that such a business is bad (selling useful goods and services is not a sin) but it does remove the organisation from faith.

I agree with your husband. It's not biblical and it sends a weird message.

As I said we acknowledge that very problem by making jokes and by keeping the two jobs (cleric and finance dude) separate.

I like the comparison with a drive thru. It's not only fast food (as a replacement for real food) but also very impersonal (you talk to a statue of a clown).

There cannot be a real community if the congregants don't know each other. How do you help each other if your only common point of reference is the pastor? It also makes the pastor very powerful as the arbiter of all interaction.

exactly and it's not supposed to be about that.  It's supposed to be about a body of believers helping each other by edifiying and discipling one another.  We are to be fellow soldiers fighting shoulder to shoulder the spiritual warfare that's going on all around us.  How can we do that when we come in and out once a week for 45 minutes to an hour and then leave without getting to know the people? 

The early church showed us the way.  They communed with each other by eating, worshipping and fellowshipping in each other's homes in small communites.  They were able to help each other stand up in the faith when they fell.  They helped each other physically, emotionally and spiritually.  If they strayed away they were pulled back  by the bond of comittment they had for one another. That was the model for us but sad to say we've gone far away from that and because of it these large churches are nothing but large buildings filled with strangers that come and go. 

It reminds me of a woodstove fire.  When you have a log that tries to go it alone by pulling itself away from the bundle of logs it quickly dies out.  The megachurches are filled with solitary logs with no connection with each other.