Latin American Megachurches in a Changing Culture: An Integrative Review and an Exploration of Future Research Directions

Abstract

Several review articles about megachurch studies have been published recently concentrating their work on USA, Europe, and other parts of the world, with just a few references about Latin American megachurches. For that reason, this article aims to identify some of the characteristics of Latin American Evangelical megachurches by looking at relevant literature, especially that produced in the region, in Spanish and Portuguese, which is usually overlooked by researchers in the Global North. Since this research field is still limited in Latin America, areas where further work is necessary are identified. Three general catalysts for the emergence of megachurches in the region, church growth methodologies, Pentecostalization, and theologies of growth, serve as guides to organize the review process. The discussion shows that several potential areas of research in a variety of fields such as theology, ecclesiology, organizational theory, leadership, gender studies, and ethics, are proposed from the review.

Keywords

• megachurches
• church growth
• Pentecostalization
• prosperity theology
• dominion theology
• cell groups