Word: superchurch
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...superchurch, a mall-size, high-profile house of worship, is the natural counterpart of the super-supermarket and the multiplex cinema. Brimming with self-confidence, these congregations -- many of them independent of established Protestant denominations -- have an increasing edge in the competitive marketplace of U.S. religion and an inexorable attraction for choosy consumers. Superchurches represent many denominational labels or no label, but nearly all are Evangelical, Fundamentalist, Charismatic or Pentecostalist, preaching a conservative theology...
Critics also grumble that superchurch clergy, astride their self-contained empires, are often completely independent of effective oversight from denominations or locally elected boards. Lyle Schaller of the Yokefellow Institute in Richmond, Ind., who counsels congregations, notes that a superchurch is guaranteed future trouble if it is built largely around a single star preacher, who will be leaving someday...
RELIGION Repent or not; the era of the superchurch is at hand...