ARTICLES Black Mega-Churches in the Internet Age: Exploring Theological Teachings and Social Outreach Efforts Pamela P. Martin & Tuere A. Bowles & LaTrese Adkins & Monica T. Leach # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011 Abstract The research on Black mega-churches has been limited at best. To date, little is known about theological teachings of Black mega-churches. Other primary characteristics of Black mega-churches are even less understood, e.g., how these institutions promote their theological teachings online. Consequently, in this study, Black mega-church websites constitute a data source for examining links between theological teachings and community needs. Specifically, this qualitative study of Internet-mediated research examines the websites of 12 Black mega-churches via content analyses of sermons and information regarding various outreach programs found on their web pages. Results indicate four broad theological themes: honoring the Holy Spirit, heavenly minded, Biblical principles, and social legacy. The findings reveal that these themes were related to the social outreach efforts of the 12 Black mega-churches. Research implications for future studies of Black mega-churches are discussed. Keywords African Americans . Mega-churches . Theology . Social outreach efforts J Afr Am St DOI 10.1007/s12111-011-9181-2 P. P. Martin(*) Department of Psychology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA e-mail: pamela_martin@ncsu.edu T. A. Bowles Leadership, Policy and Adult and Higher Education, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA e-mail: tuere_bowles@ncsu.edu L. Adkins Beloved Community Consulting Group, Dallas, TX, USA e-mail: latrese.adkins@gmail.com M. T. Leach Social Work, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA e-mail: monica_leach@ncsu.edu