Outreach Magazine Releases Its Annual List of 100 Largest and Fastest Growing Churches.
- Posted by: Todd
- Posted on: Tue, October 09, 2007
- Viewed 61
- (3) comments so far
America’s 100 Largest Churches
America’s 100 Fastest Growing Churches
Ministry Today has some insights that I think are interesting to share…
For those with an aversion to ranking congregations, there are still some valuable points to be gleaned from the study. Ed Stetzer of LifeWay Research, who partnered with Outreach for this year’s report, noted the following trends:
From “mega” to “giga”: There are more megachurches now than ever, and they continue to grow—so much that Outreach now categorizes congregations of more than 10,000 people as “gigachurches.” Thirty-six of the top 100 fell in this category, while No. 100 on the list of largest churches still has an attendance of more than 6,000.
Go forth and multiply: Going multi-site is becoming the norm among churches. In 1990, there were only 10 multi-site Protestant churches in the entire country; today 16 percent of all churches are currently considering expanding to an additional site. In addition, 25 percent of all megachurches today meet on multiple sites (that’s five times what it was in 2000). Among multi-site churches, 60 percent plan on adding another site in the next year.
Mega-mixture: With Hispanic and Asian populations on the rise in this country, so are the number—and size—of the churches predominantly made up of those segments of society. Obviously, most megachurches have a representation of both Hispanics and Asians within their congregation. Yet judging by the number of Hispanic churches on the fastest-growing list, it’s clear that churches exclusively reaching these cultures are experiencing growth.
Though not particularly trend-related, I found a few other stats from this report both fascinating and telling.
From 2006 to 2007, the average growth of the churches on the fastest-growing list was 1,385 attendees.
Seventy-one percent of churches on the “biggie” list reported an increase in congregation size within the last year, while only 19 percent reported a decline.
Of the 100 largest churches on this year’s list, 47 were non-denominational.
So… what do you think of the lists? Any surprises?
Outreach Magazine has just released its 2007 list of largest and fastest growing churches. As many of you know, I'm not a big 'list' guy; but I always find these two lists interesting to look at each year. Here's a link to each...
Comments
if you want a Globally Recognized Avatar (the images next to your profile) get them here. Once you sign up, they will displayed on any website that supports them.
Leonard on Tue, October 09, 2007
I know a couple of these churches and I can say there is a lot of people who are coming to know Christ in them. AWESOME!
Kent on Tue, October 09, 2007
Unfortunately, Outreach magazine published the wrong rankings for the Fastest-Growing U.S. Churches list.
Read more here:
http://churchrelevance.com/breaking-news-outreach-magazine-publishes-the-wrong-list
Peter Hamm on Wed, October 10, 2007
I’m looking to get on the list of the 100 “coolest” churches… When are they publishing that one?
Page 1 of 1 pages
Post a Comment