Alabama Megachurch Builds $26 Million Entertainment Center with Bowling Alley, Night Club | Christian News Network

“Jesus said “Go ye into all the world and entertain people” at least that’s what some Churches seem to think the Great Commission is all about. I hope this has some spiritual impact on those attending but the likelihood of that is not great.” Admin

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A megachurch in Alabama recently held an open house to celebrate the opening of its $26 million dollar, six-dome entertainment center, which some are stating is far from biblical Christianity and the example of the early Church.

Faith Chapel Christian Center in Wylam, near Birmingham, completed the project on it 137-acre campus last year, all of which was funded by the tithes and offerings of its more than 6,400 members. The facility is located in a depressed area where a number of residents are low-income.

“We believe we can really meet the needs of the community,” leader Michael Moore, author of the book Rich is Not a Bad Word, told AL.com. “It will bridge people from the world to the Kingdom.”

According to reports, the facility features—among other amenities—a 12-lane bowling alley, a basketball court, a fitness center, a banquet hall and cafe, a teen dance club, and an adult alcohol and smoke-free night club.“

People may not want to come to a church, but they’ll come to a bowling alley,” Moore explained. “People have needs other than spiritual needs. There’s a need for safe, clean, uplifting, family-oriented entertainment.”

He said that the open house held in July served in part to announce the six-dome structure, called “The Bridge,” to the community, and to “inspire” other churches nationwide to build similar facilities.“

Now we want the world to know,” Moore explained. “Our church wants to be an inspiration.”Connect with Christian News“We want kids to walk in and have a wow moment and think, ‘A church can do that?’” added spokeswoman Antoinette Mays. “

We want this to be an inspiration for little kids, for other pastors to say ‘Hey, we can do his too! ‘ It’s a place where people will come and be ministered to.”

But not everyone is supportive of the endeavor in the context of being presented as the purpose or function of the Church. Pastor David Whitney of Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Pasadena, Maryland told Christian News Network that using entertainment to draw the lost is an unbiblical means of evangelism.“

I think it would be a misuse [of funds],” he commented. “Mainstream Christianity in America is already oriented at entertainment being its primary focus. … To take evangelism and to say, ‘Well, evangelism also has to be entertaining’—which it sounds like what they’re doing—that we’re not going to be able to evangelize unless we entertain them, [is a gross error].”