The Experience Megachurch: Lakewood, Hillsong, and The Pragmatics and Semiotics of “Inspiration”

Abstract

Megachurches, although differing in terms of denominational affiliation (or relative lack thereof), spatial logic, liturgy, teaching, and congregational demographics, share the common trait of size and are often fast-growing churches as well. This is particularly true of what might be called (following scholarship on the “experience economy”) the “experience megachurch”: those with a broad attractive appeal, large and growing congregations, and relative freedom from traditional Christian spatial-architectural constraints, rituals, and denominational histories. Such experience megachurches share an emphasis on offering their congregations an “inspiring” experience of the reality of God’s existence and presence in the church. Applying theories of pragmatics, semiotics, and bodily discipline, this article examines two experience megachurches (Lakewood in Houston, U.S.A., and Hillsong, headquartered in Sydney, Australia) to offer a taxonomy of megachurch praxis.