FIVE DIFFERENT TYPES OF CHURCHES

I spoke of people opting in or out of the institutional church, but I have yet to talk about the types of churches that are out there.  Some you might have heard of, others not, and you might have attended one or more of these.  Sit back, calm down, grab some tea or warm milk, and get ready to think.

1  The Mega Church- This is pretty simple, this church is huge!  The average congregation is somewhere around 10000.  This is not new; Amy Semple McPherson was considered to be the grandmother of the movement in the early half of the 20th century. These churches tend to preach more of a name it and claim it gospel relying mostly on show rather than traditional preaching.  People will also know a mega church by its non-traditional amenities.  Some have pools, health spas, and even movie houses.  The preachers themselves could also fill a pool with the dollars they collect from the congregants.

2  The boutique church- At the opposite end sits the boutique church.  Congregants number much fewer here.  Boutique churches, like mega churches, have something that looks OK on paper, they often or should I say always cater to a very specific population, E.G college students who don't wish the formality of a traditional church.  Demographics of this particular type skew younger or non-traditional. 

3 The fringe church- This one's a little controversial in the sense that these ones go to extremes to preach their message e.g. the Westboro Baptist church or The Snake Handlers of Alabama.

4 The Educational church- This one tends not only to preach, but to teach.  They tend to rely on making the Bible easier to understand to the average person.  Depending on the pastor's way of preaching you may feel like a second grader in a classroom, or they might just get you thinking.

5 The Formal church- This is the true definition of traditional, they believe in the Bible, and aren't afraid to shun more modern ways of going about sermons.  They often skew more conservative and older in demographics, but the fact that they have done this for more than a hundred years really works.

Gillie