If Americans need help in participating in civil society, Barack Obama suggests perhaps they can learn from megachurches:

Which is why this may need to start by just looking for opportunities for people to once again become a part of a society of joiners. Create more organizations from elementary school all the way through adulthood, that bring people together to do something. I’ll give you an example: at a time when organized religion all over America is struggling and in some denominations collapsing, mega churches are actually growing in leaps and bounds. In some cases, really quickly. And while I’m sure there are many reasons for this, one of the reasons is that mega churches understand that belonging precedes belief. If you show up at one of these churches, they don’t start off peppering you with questions about whether you’ve accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. They don’t quiz you on the Bible. They invite you in, introduce you around, give you something to eat, tell you all about the activities and groups you can be a part of from the young adult social club to the ballroom dance group to the men’s choir which for those of you not familiar that’s where they put folks whose voices aren’t quite good enough to be in the main choir. But who are allowed to perform maybe once every fourth Sunday. The point is,

Megachurches — I’m sorry, brother? Are you in — you know what I’m saying is true. (Laughter).

The point is megachurches are built around ‘let’s get you if here, doing stuff, meeting people, and showing you how you can participate and be active.’ It is about agency and relationships, it is not about theology or handouts. And they’re trying to create a big tent where lots of different people can feel comfortable. Once that happens, then they can have a deeper conversation about faith in a way that folks aren’t spooked by. What megachurches are doing is also a good argument for localism. Lots of us obsess about our press, social media, obsesses with what’s happening in Washington and I understand that because it can be crazy.

A lot of our best work will happen from the bottom up instead of the top-down. If we’re going to get better at pluralism, it’s going to happen in the neighborhoods, in the communities where we spend our time, and in the schools where our kids develop the skills and learn how to negotiate and work together across differences. Now, at this point you may be thinking, “All that sounds pretty good, but pluralism depends on everyone following a certain set of rules, that’s what you say, Obama.

Megachurches as we often think of them today emerged in an era when civic engagement declined. Even as Bowling Alone provided a persuasive argument about less involvement in civic groups, megachurches grew across the United States. But, there are all sorts of questions one might pose to the argument made above:

1. Are megachurches effective in getting attendees to participate in programs or activities? Does the low barrier of entry to visit lead to increased or deeper participation?
2. Is there something uniquely religious about megachurches or are they just another kind of organization that others could mimic? In other words, what other models of moving people toward civic action exist alongside megachurches?
3. Do megachurches bring people together? It is one thing to attend a congregation; it is another to go beyond what people might be willing to do outside church or cross particular boundaries? Are megachurches effective at doing this compared to other kinds of congregations or kinds of organizations?

Or perhaps megachurches work well as an example here because (1) they are known and (2) they are successful (i.e., they are growing).

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