WNY churches on frontpage of Buffalo News

Post by **_mattrose** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 4:54 pm

Western New York and my denomination (Wesleyan) in particular made frontpage of the Sunday Buffalo News this week. I know many are skeptical of church growth/mega churches (and sometimes rightfully so), but I know the 2 Wesleyan pastor's mentioned and they are God-fearing individuals and great Bible based teachers.

http://www.buffalonews.com/editoria...306/1036471.asp

Interesting article about the growing mega-churches in WNY with some good quotes from the pastor's from my denomination:

Pastor Karl (Eastern Hills Wesleyan)
"Does church have to be dry and yawning and you can't wait for it to be over?"

Pastor Greg (Hamburg Wesleyan)
"People ought to be able to worship God using music they're comfortable with and they enjoy."

The article gives some statistics...
"In the Buffalo-Niagara region, among several denominations, only the Wesleyan church made any sizable gain in adherents between 1990 and 2000. The denomination's presence grew from 2,687 people to more than 15,000."

And tries to explain why some of these churches are growing...
"Mazur acknowledged that megachurches are winning over young people with their aggressive outreach programs, and Catholic parishes need to do a better job ministering to teenagers. He also attributed some of the growth in megachurches to their emphasis on the moral certitude of the Bible."