Megachurches pulling mega numbers
The nation's largest megachurches are only increasing, The Houston Chronicle's "Houston Believe" blog reported last month.
... in 2010, the biggest 100 churches in the country averaged weekly attendance of 8,000 or more, compared to just 4,000 or more for the biggest 100 churches in 2000.Lakewood Church remained the biggest church in the country and grew more than four-fold, from 11,000 weekly attendees in 2000 to 44,800 last year....
According to Vaughn's research for Church Growth Today, the top 103 churches in the country bring in 1.2 million people to the pews each week.
The originating report is from John N. Vaughn, whose Church Growth Today study has some truly interesting raw numbers.
Shock of the day, or news of the obvious? We'd like to know what you think.
We don't need to slit our wrists over this - just keep welcoming their castoffs, who are the source of our growth.
I do agree that parish growth should be our focus.
Posted by Josh Thomas![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/nav-commenters.gif)
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April 10, 2011 4:31 PM
er YAY?
Posted by Ann Fontaine![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/nav-commenters.gif)
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April 10, 2011 4:54 PM
There are some facts within those statistics that show the weaknesses of the mega-church model.
Only 4 percent of them are shown as founded after the year 2000. Ninety-six percent were founded before the year 2000. If this were a successful model, many more should have been founded after the year 2000.
The usefulness of this model may have peaked and may be starting to fade.
It may be a generational thing -- perhaps the later church-going Gen X and Millenials are leaning towards smaller places of worship?
Second, 60 percent of these churches are shown still have their founding pastor as their primary leader. What happens when Dynamic Founder dies or retires? The Crystal Cathedral -- one of the first mega-churches -- is in very dire straits since its founder retired.
Third, the people joining the mega-churches would likely not be joining the Episcopalians even if no mega-churches existed.
The affiliations of the mega-churches given in the statistics are heavily tilted to charismatic, Pentecostal, etc.
These folks would likely not be comfortable with Episcopalian liturgy or theology.
Finally, these churches are concentrated in one city on the West Coast (LA), three cities in the deep South, one Midwestern city and New York City. It is obviously a church-building model that works only in very narrow segments of certain types of urban populations.
I would suggest that Episcopalians focus on parish growth and not worry about people who would never join the Episcopalians in the first place.
Posted by Robin![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/nav-commenters.gif)
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April 11, 2011 4:57 AM