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    100 Largest Churches Report Released

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    100 Largest Churches Report Released

    In case you're interested... Kent Shaffer at ChurchRelevance.com has a breakdown of the list.  Or you can pay Outeach Magazine $4.95 to download their report.  (You can go look up the link if you want to do that!)

    Largest church:  Lakewood.  Although they show the exact same number as last year; and have actually decreased in size over the past four years.

    2nd largest:  LifeChurch.tv at 27k; up 6k from last year.  Up 10k from four years ago.

    Willow in at #3; up 900.

    North Point at #4; up 770

    Fellowship Church at #7; but down 1,500 in weekend attendance from last year.

    At #12; staunch fundamentalist church First Baptist Hammond; up 4k in the last 4 years

    At #14; Thomas Road is up nearly 6k from four years ago when Jerry died.

    At #16; Eddie Long's at 13k; down 9k from 22k just four years ago.

    Any thoughts?

     

    Comments

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    1. Peter Hamm on Mon, September 28, 2009

      I think this is starting to show a couple things.

      1. I’d like to know about some of the remarkable growth stories, how many of them are multi-sites! I know lifechurch.tv is. And they are EVERYWHERE these days!

      2. There’s always an annual exchange of prisoners, I think this is probably most a problem in older mega-churches in bigger towns.

      And neither one of those things is really showing “church health”... Is it…

    2. Jerry on Mon, September 28, 2009

      I echo Peter’s observation about church health.

      A much more telling report would:
      1.) show how individuals within the church have grown in their relationship with Christ - their willingness to be conformed to His image and,

      2.) show how much of a positive impact these churches have on their communities i.e. feeding the homeless/jobless, providing for the shut-ins, being God’s hands and heart to the community (whatever that looks like in their particular region and economic conditions).

    3. Peter Hamm on Mon, September 28, 2009

      Jerry,

      Good observation, some of that can be actually measured using the REVEAL study that Willow Creek has created it. We took part and have been helped a LOT by it!

      Peter

    4. lynne marian on Mon, September 28, 2009

      No one is saying that church growth or church size is the most important thing. Obviously church health, evangelism, spiritual formation and missional impact are critical metrics for any church - this report is simply about the numbers. These churches aren’t necessarily, “better” they are just “bigger.”  For me, the list even provides some accountability, as these megas naturally become subject to the examination that their growth/size begs. It also helps us ask the important, “why” questions - why are they big? What are they doing right? What factors are influencing their growth? What can I learn from what God is doing there.  Let’s not think this is about some kind of competition—it’s just interesting, that’s all.

    5. Oliver on Mon, September 28, 2009

      the church has got to stop playing these games with programs and advertising, its like we are running a business, the service is the entertainment, the programs are events people attend, the sermons are water down lame spiritual twinkies, and everybody leaves they leave the way they came, they are still racists, they are still walking around in denial, and then when they get caught they cry on tv and make excuses.  The church is in such a state that I don’t think the institutional church is the church anymore at all.  It is some kind of country club, or some kind sick program.  When will the church simply be the church?  no numbers game, no big programs or building? but caring for people!

    6. CS on Mon, September 28, 2009

      I know this may sound antagonistic, but I would like to see a survey for how many people depart from these megachurches each year and to where they go. 

      Here’s why: when you have a huge church where they will repeatedly boast of occasions where a few thousand people at a time get baptized or several hundred, “coming to Christ,” on a single weekend, yet their attendance grew by just a few hundred over the course of the year, the mathematics don’t add up in the end.  Either the same set of people are getting repeatedly baptized, or they have tons of people coming in and going out at the same time.

      What’s causing them to leave?  Where are they going?  How often does this happen?


      CS

    7. Richard Young on Mon, September 28, 2009

      The list of the 100 largest is so flawed as to be ineffective. Where is Phoenix First with Tommy Barnett, or The Potter’s House with Bishop T.D. Jakes or some Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa with Chuck Smith or Harvest with Greg Laurie. If you publish a list of the largest 100, it should be substantially correct. It is always possible there may be churches who have grown quickly that few have heard of. But the churches I mentioned have been nationally known for a long time, all well over a decade. This issue needs to be addressed or Outreach will have no credibility on this issue. Dr. John Vaughan’s list appears much more correct.

    8. Frank on Mon, September 28, 2009

      The modern American church is guilty of measuring the wrong things (the 3 b’s - buildings, budgets, and the number of behinds in the seats.) The suggestion that because a church is bigger it must be doing something “right” is not always correct. Some churches might simply be putting on a good show and thereby leading people away from healthier congregations where they could actually grow. Instead, let’s focus on faithfully teaching the word of God and watching God changed lives as a result. Let’s honor the churches who are humbly fulfilling that divine mission - be they large or small. Remember, all of the churches planted by the apostle Paul were small and all churches for the first three centuries were little house churches, yet many of them were very exceedingly precious in God’s sight and could no doubt have taught today’s mega churches many important lessons. Yes, the real thing is more difficult to measure than the 3 b’s, but that’s ok because it is God, not us, who we are accountable to.

    9. Jeff R on Mon, September 28, 2009

      Richard raises a good point. This year’s list is disappointing. It is really more like a top 150 list with 50 churches missing. Several of the very largest churches are clearly not there. I understand that Outreach simply publishes based on the reports they receive back, but the list would be much more accurate if they would make extra efforts to obtain info from large churches on past lists that are clearly still very large. That said, I enjoy reading the top 100 list. It enables others to locate and observe churches that are effective in reaching people.

    10. rbud on Tue, September 29, 2009

      Interesting, I suppose. For myself, I generally prefer quality over quantity. I agree with Frank, bigger is not necessarily better. This kind of thing reminds me of the old story about two football teams. Pre-game, in the locker room, both teams prayed for God’s leadership and strength, and for a win. After the prayer, both coaches told his team, “Boys, we’re going to win today. God is on our side.”

      Well, one team lost. So, on whose side was God?

      Wrong question. It’s not about on whose side is God, it’s about who is on God’s side. Surveys like this ask wrong questions and make wrong assumptions. We tend to fall into the trap of believing that because they are bigger that God must be on their side. In fact, they are bigger because they have the best equipment, the best program designers, the most entertaining speech writers, the strongest social fabric. They may very well be on God’s side, but surveys like this will never prove it.

    11. Steve Long on Mon, October 05, 2009

      Dom’t count your army King David.

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