Comment from Understand The Times:

Rick Warren's claim that the first church in Jerusalem was a "megachurch" five times bigger than Saddleback shows he either has a slim grip on reality, or that he is purposely twisting the truth in order to make his Peter Drucker church growth model fit with church history.

Further, Understand The Times goes on record to predict the time is coming soon when megachurches built on purpose driven seeker-friendly church growth methodology will be exposed as pseudo-Christian entertainment centers.

Smaller churches with pastors who teach the Bible as God's Word, warn about deception, and boldly proclaim the truth will be part of the remnant church. They will present the gospel of Jesus Christ clearly according to the Scriptures. In fact, these churches will be much like the early church. They follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and reject the doctrines of demons that pseudo-Christians accept.

February 11 - Warren: Megachurches, Multi-Site Venues Are Biblical

Article: Unbiblical Christianity

"Christianity for 2,000 years has had large churches, including the very first one," the Saddleback Church pastor said Wednesday during a four-day conference. "The first church in Jerusalem was five times bigger than Saddleback." Most Bible scholars say the first church grew from 120 to over 100,000 people within 20 years, Warren noted.

"So the very first church was a megachurch," he highlighted, as he accused those who say the megachurch era will die out of not knowing church history.

While many people believe megachurches are a modern phenomenon, Warren wants to emphasize that it's a 2,000-year-old idea.

Moreover, multi-site churches - which have begun to explode in recent years - are nothing new either. "They met in different courts," Warren underlined. "Notice: one church, multiple locations. One church, multiple venues. "That's a biblical concept," he stressed. Plus, it's better stewardship, he said.

Small groups are not an option, Warren stressed. They serve as the basic cells in the body of Christ. "One cell (a church body without small groups) that gets bigger and bigger; there's a word for that: it's called cancer. You don't want to be a cancer," he said. "A healthy body is made up of large group worship, small group fellowship."

Saddleback has more people in small group Bible study every week (some 32,000) than in worship attendance on weekends (some 22,000), he noted.