The South is known as the Bible Belt of America and Texas is known to be the most Christian state in the country. There are at least, 1283 churches in the state of Texas. Texas is the state with the most megachurches; there are at least 174 in the state. Houston and Dallas together have at least 54 megachurches. According to a 2010 survey the Dallas area holds 8 of the country’s 100 largest churches and these churches are known as megachurches. A megachurch is a Christian church that has 2,000 or more people in attendance during their average weekend services.
The modern day Christian church, including a number of Dallas megachurch, is so different than what they used to look and feel like even 15 years ago. In the past to go to Church was meant to only be an experience of understanding the Word through the pastor and connecting with God. Most churches had, some still do, have hymnal music and church was a place you went to and got out of as quickly as possible. A lot of churches now have contemporary Christian music played by worship teams and sometimes this can feel more like a concert because of the production quality.
Church in 2018 is meant to not just be a building or a Sunday forced to go to weekly experience. The modern day Christian church is meant to be about the community. There are events that want to bring in the world around the church that may be non-believers’, where as in the past churches weren’t exactly inclusive to “outsiders,” this is just one of a number of encouraging trends.
When you were growing up church may have been strictly at 9 or 11 am on Sunday morning with no other times for service during the week. Modern day churches have Saturday night service which is a great casual atmosphere and allows people to have a family or rest day on Sunday. Some churches even have Wednesday night weekly services also for going deeper into the Word and what the Pastor preached about the previous Sunday.
Modern day churches have bookstores that not only carry books, but art, jewelry, movies, music and clothing. You can get your Bible study workbook along with a present for any number of people in your life all in the same trip. You will also find cafes or sometimes restaurants in churches too. These are great places to have meetings during the week, a comfortable relaxed place to do work or somewhere you can pop in to just to have a meal.
Streaming and the modern-day church have allowed people to become pajama church goers. It isn’t that this is a bad thing, people who maybe love a church that is hours away from them or even states away are able to still attend church via the church website or YouTube. A lot of Dallas megachurches also have satellite locations that are 20 plus minutes from the original location so that people don’t have to travel as far to get their physical church experience.
Even though most modern Christian churches are going the way of megachurches it doesn’t have to feel like you are lost in the shuffle. There are groups within megachurches to make big churches feel a lot smaller because of the groups being small. You can also look for volunteer opportunities that will allow you to serve within the church and that will allow the church to not feel so overwhelming to you. By getting involved in volunteering, serving or getting into a group you will feel more a part of the church and get to know it better.
