Megacostalism, socialising, and prosperity gospel in the South African context
kgatle, mookgo solomon
There is a rising phenomenon of mega Pentecostal churches in South Africa and elsewhere on
the continent of Africa, which is conceptualised here as mega-costalism. The phenomenon
refers to churches with mega-church buildings that can attract large crowds in church
attendance. Previous studies have focused on the prosperity gospel and the socialising aspect
of membership in mega Pentecostal churches. This literature review on the mega Pentecostal
churches has some economic, sociological, and theological implications. Economically, the
larger the church is the more income in tithes and offerings can be received. Sociologically, the
church creates an opportunity for the sharing of common interests, socialising, and interaction
of the church members with one another. However, theologically (particularly in the discipline
of missiology), there is a need to research how megachurches can orientate their members on
discipleship-making, with some implications for fulfilling the mission of God. To fill this gap,
this article uses missional ecclesial imagination as a theoretical framework, to argue that the
primary purpose of the church goes beyond the aspect of socialising among members and a
prosperity gospel, towards the fulfilment of the mission of God. Therefore, the missional
ecclesial imagination is relevant for the orientation of megachurches towards the mission of
God. Data were collected by reviewing the literature on the mega Pentecostal churches in
Africa, the missional ecclesial imagination, the prosperity gospel, and the socialising among
church members.
↧