End of my rope Posted April 1, 2004 Share Posted April 1, 2004 Church pays $5.5 million for 182 acres at intersection, poised to become 'megachurch' A headline in today's local paper. Now honestly. 5.5 million? Couldn't they help the poor or something with that money instead? I think that's ridiculous. I think some of these churches are getting WAY to big. I mean...$5.5 MILLION! That's a lot of money! What do ya'll think of them spending that to build another church? It's not like there isn't two on every corner here already! Link to post Share on other sites
moimeme Posted April 1, 2004 Share Posted April 1, 2004 I think all these new 'churches' are the next big growth industry. Too bad we can't buy stocks in them. Actually, I think all this is very creepy. I'm getting visions of brainwashing en masse per old sci fi scenarios. Link to post Share on other sites
UCFKevin Posted April 1, 2004 Share Posted April 1, 2004 The head of the church will put out a radio ad that simply says, "Join us," in a whisper. Link to post Share on other sites
tattoomytoe Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 they are like huge gymnasiums! they pop up like mcdonalds and are just as numerous! there is one in particular, that actually have the lanes changed to make entry and exit easier at this church(it's on a busy street), thayu have cops directing traffic, AND they have satallite parking with two transport buses!!!! oh and they just installed this message board, like at stadiums. it is ridiculous! and i think, wonder what good they could be doing with all that money. Link to post Share on other sites
Arabess Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 Maybe they plan to put up a private school for kids or even a ministy/bible school for adults. Some start their own radio station. They also have large libraries and book stores. I personally would like to see the funds directed to a better cause....but I'm not the one funding the church or making the call. I've had personal issues with the financial reasonings of the church for years. I still tithe at 10% a week though, old habit, but I now give to a local charity which I believe in. I agree with Moimeme. I DO think we will see a lot of churches spring up and eventually fill up. There is a lot of love and support among groups who befriend each other in the church. It's a great place to meet nice people and plan events around the family. People get concerned about world events and sometimes their priorities change, they look for answers and the church can provide them with a new a social structure. Link to post Share on other sites
Author End of my rope Posted April 2, 2004 Author Share Posted April 2, 2004 I suppose it's just hard for me to fathom them spending that kind of money just on land. They haven't even started building yet. How much more will that cost? Where I'm from churches are prevelent as well, but the biggest back home holds like 300 max, here they hold 1000+. I guess I just miss the simple life where you personally know EVERY person in your church on a first name basis. I guess I just miss Mayberry... Link to post Share on other sites
tattoomytoe Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 where are you in alabama? i grew up in huntsville, and was born in opelika. Link to post Share on other sites
Arabess Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 I agree Rope. Especially when money is collected from people who probably can't pay their rent this month. Instead of having a 'help program' they feed their greed. It's happened for centuries. If I remember correctly, Jesus got pretty pissed about the same thing. There are still smaller churches though where people DO all know each other and it's more personable. Some people prefer a larger church with lots of family/kid programs. (PS: The other advantage of a large church is it's not so obvious when you miss.....HAHA!). Link to post Share on other sites
jenny Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 i keep having visions of costco churches: giant holy water barrels; jugs and jugs of sacramental wine; 400 pack wafers...and candles taller than me. i'm trying to fantasize about giant dreidels chasing me instead. Link to post Share on other sites
quankanne Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 actually, jen, the "jugs and jugs of sacramental wine" sound pretty good to me, especially if it's what they use at one of the churches here in town! MMMMMMM! though I can't, for the life of me, picture a Costco featuring said jugs and jugs of wine being allowed to operate in this part of the Bible Belt!!! Must have been a pretty choice spot for that congregation to plunk down that kind of money on property ... but I agree that it sounds more like an image issue than a spiritual one. The big Baptist church here in town built a HUGE complex several years back -- the sanctuary seats something like 3,000. I guess their 1,000 seat "chapel" just wasn't big enough, though I find it kind of funny that our cathedral seats only about 450, maybe 600 can squeeze in when it's SRO. But, then again, there just arent' that many Catholics attending Mass at any given time on Sunday -- we have three churches offering a total of a dozen weekend liturgies and except for the priests and the language, it's all the same! (universality ... gotta love it) we got some 'Bama folks here? My in-laws live in the Lake Guntersville area. Pretty country ... looks almost like East Texas, except we don't got mountains here! Link to post Share on other sites
sonofhud Posted April 3, 2004 Share Posted April 3, 2004 My church is in the process of building a new sanctuary, new class rooms, and more parking which costs us like 3.3 million. Our church has really grown over the past few years though and we really needed it. We had no seats for people somtimes on Sundays and had to broadcast the service on closed circuit tv to people sitting in our gym. 5.5 million really isnt that much I guess, when building something like that. There is a church in my city the prolly cost over that....this place is enormous. DUnno why you would build a church so big....I like knowing everyone in my church myself so it kinda sucks to see the close knit feeling starting to fade. Link to post Share on other sites
saintfrancis Posted April 3, 2004 Share Posted April 3, 2004 Honestly it sends chills up my spine. Religion is supposed to be about doing good for your fellow man - not multi-million dollar real estate deals. That money could go to a LOT better use. Makes me sick. Link to post Share on other sites
morrigan Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 I can understand raising money for additions or rebuilding a new church (an arsonist recently burnt down a beautiful old Catholic church in my area). What I hate is the waste of money on all the glass and fanciness, like it is a mall of God, rather than a simple place for a group of people to share their beliefs. It would still be expensive to purchase land to build a simpler complex, but some of the money could be better used for charitable causes. Link to post Share on other sites
Author End of my rope Posted April 5, 2004 Author Share Posted April 5, 2004 where are you in alabama? i grew up in huntsville, and was born in opelika. I'm in Decatur. Isn't it a small world? Just a side note, the church that bought that land hasn't even began to build yet, how much more will that cost? And the church that bought it already has a HUGE church. It seats like 2000 people now! I just don't like churches that big. My church back home in West Virginia has a congregation of about 200 and that's HUGE there. Everyone knows everyone though and that's one of the things that I love about it. It's an 8 hour trip but I try to go home at least once a month to attend church... Link to post Share on other sites
quankanne Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 My church back home in West Virginia has a congregation of about 200 and that's HUGE there. Everyone knows everyone though and that's one of the things that I love about it. when it boils down to it, I think most people are looking for just that -- a place small enough where you can get to know the other folks you're worshipping with. A mega-sanctuary and grounds is nice to look at, but not very conducive to feeling close to others ... including God, IMHO. When we first move here and after I landed this job, I joined the cathedral parish, but moved to a smaller parish a couple of years ago when I realized that my non-Catholic husband felt less cowed by the community at the church run by a Franciscan order than he did at the cathedral. We have about 1/10 the number of parishioners and it's a predominantly Hispanic church, but he's fine with that whenever he does attend Mass with me! Right now we're in the midst of a building campaign for a sanctuary that seats 500 -- because it's a poorer parish, raising that $1 million-plus will take forever, but it's a good investment because we are growing by leaps and bounds and the building isn't going to be fancy (knowing the Franciscans, it'll be less eye candy and more earthy, lol). Link to post Share on other sites
moimeme Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 we are growing by leaps and bounds Interesting! Every Mass is full at the church I attend (infrequent though that be) - and it's a mix of ages for sure. It's the cathedral and seats something like 800. Link to post Share on other sites
quankanne Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 we've got a lot of families -- young ones and older ones -- at Peter Claver, and a lot of them are newly arrived (within the last 10 years) from Mexico. we opened up a chapel in the chancery the second or third year after I started working here, and there are beau-coup people attending the two Sunday Masses, most of them younger couples with kids! Most other families prefer the cathedral, which is the parent of the two communities I've just mentioned. a change of topic here, Moi, but who is your avatar of? Link to post Share on other sites
moimeme Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 In last night's shenanigans, Duke posted a link to that which he claimed was his favourite photo of me. I kept a copy and cut the head off to make an avatar. He had another choice few, too. It was pretty funny. Link to post Share on other sites
HokeyReligions Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 We have several mega-churches in Houston and surrounding areas. Huge state-of-the-art billboards and some have their own up-to-the-minute broadcast studios too. My husband does video projects sometimes for these churches. Actually 5.5 million does not sound like a lot for a new church. No one is going to give away their land just because it's a church that wants to build there, and the construction crews and contractors are not going to give away their labor, nor are the suppliers going to give away their bricks and wood and mortar, etc. just because its for a church. Most of the churches I went to when I was young didn't even have pews. It was one or two small rooms and a bunch of folding chairs and whatever the congregation could give or do themselves. Even if the congregation at a big church had enough people to volunteer to do the work, they would still have to buy the materials and rent the equipment and buy the land--and it would probably take forever to complete! That's why so many of them pop-up in strip-malls. Link to post Share on other sites
quankanne Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 my guess is that hefty pricetag is due to the property being in a prime location. And I wonder if the cost might be driven up some because it's a church that's going up in that spot -- I've had people tell me that they've had to go "undercover" to inquire about property because people either don't want to sell to the Catholic Church or drive up the price because it's the Catholic Church! the "take over a storefront property until we can afford our own property purchase" is real popular with the newer Catholic communities up here. Often they start up with less than 50 families, so it takes awhile to raise funds to get out of that rented storefront. Or a local Protestant church (also struggling to pay bills) will take pity on the fledgling community and will offer to share space if they agree to share costs of maintaining the property. Of course we have some churches that have gotten their starts in funeral homes or local clubhouses, that seems to make people from bigger dioceses go "huh?!! a funeral home???" Link to post Share on other sites
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