Lakewood Church

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Lakewood Church

Lakewood Church is a non- denominational neo-charismatic megachurch in Houston , Texas, and the largest local church in the United States, attending 50,000 weekly services . The congregation is made up of equal numbers of whites, Afro-Americans, and Latin-Americans, and has over 350 employees and over 2,500 volunteers.

history

Interior view of Lakewood Church

The Church was founded by John Osteen (1921–1999), an ordained pastor of the Southern Baptist Convention who separated from the Southern Baptists in 1958 and turned to Pentecostalism . The Church was organized in 1959 in an old forage store on the outskirts of Houston. From the beginning the church was open to people of the most diverse religious origins, all ethnicities and all social backgrounds.

Joel Osteen preaches at Lakewood Church

John Osteen wrote about forty books and founded a television program, for which the church around 30 million annually US $ outputs. The weekly television programs were broadcast in over 100 countries in Osteen's time and can now be received by nearly 200 million households in the United States and on the God Channel in Europe .

Since the death of John Osteen in 1999, the Church has been led by his son Joel Osteen . The older children, Paul Osteen and Lisa Comes, and Dodie, John Osteen's widow, are also among the Church staff. The preacher responsible for the Latin American worship service, Marcos Witt , is a multiple winner of the Latin Grammy . Under the leadership of Joel Osteen, the number of worshipers quintupled in 2005.

In 2005 Lakewood Church moved into a new building, a converted sports stadium with 16,000 seats, which it has leased from the city of Houston for 30 years. The renovation is said to have cost $ 95 million.

In addition to the weekly services, Lakewood Church has sixteen different age and interest groups, each offering a variety of activities, courses, and volunteering. In 2017, the church had revenues of $ 89 million, and the senior pastor has not received a salary since 2005 because he can live on the income from his books.

criticism

Pastors of the church preach the gospel of prosperity , that is, that material wealth is a sign of God's favor or a “reward” for a Bible-based way of life. The conservative Bible teacher and pastor John F. MacArthur is therefore a harsh critic of the church, he accused Joel Osteen of twisting the gospel into the opposite with his statements.

Lakewood Church also came under fire in the wake of the storm surge caused by Hurricane Harvey 2017 . The church has been accused on social media of failing to open its gates to flood victims. Initially, Osteen explained on Facebook that Lakewood Church was unavailable due to the flood, prompting social media users to post photos and videos showing Lakewood Church and the unspoiled parking lot in front of it. As a result, the church announced on August 29, 2017 that it was now accepting those seeking help. The reason given for the delay was citing concerns that the church might have been flooded.

See also

Web links

Commons : Lakewood Church  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ CIO Insight: Megachurch Megatech
  2. ^ Stefan Wagner: Enterprise God. Focus, October 16, 2006
  3. ↑ Interview: Joel Osteen on the Future of America's Churches and Him Pastoring One
  4. ^ Lakewood Church: About Pastors Joel and Victoria
  5. ↑ Lakewood Church: Our Leadership Team ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lakewood.cc
  6. ↑ MSNBC: Nation's largest church opens in stadium
  7. ^ Marie-Astrid Langer: Jesus Christ, America's superstar. With pop music and video installations, “Megachurches” attract tens of thousands of believers . NZZ, Zurich July 27, 2019, p. 5
  8. ↑ John MacArthur, Gospel of Prosperity is “the worst kind of blasphemy,” May 23, 2010
  9. ↑ BloombergBusinnessweek, May 22, 2005
  10. ↑ a b Tara Fowler: Joel Osteen faces criticism on social media for closing Houston megachurch's doors amid Harvey. ABC News of August 28, 2017.
  11. ↑ http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-joel-osteen-megachurch-harvey-victims-20170830-story.html
  12. ↑ Kalhan Rosenblatt: Joel Osteen Says Social Media Created False Narrative 'About Lakewood Church. NBCnews .com dated August 30, 2017.

Coordinates: 29 ° 43 ′ 48 "  N , 95 ° 26 ′ 4"  W.