Six flags over Jesus? Worshipers flock to megachurches

By Deborah Bruce

Does it seem as if megachurches are taking over the religious landscape these days?  Here in Louisville, Southeast Christian Church regularly draws 21,000 worshipers to services at three locations.  It’s hard to imagine anyone living in the area who doesn’t know at least one person who attends there.  And the press seems to pay a lot of attention to these 200-pound gorillas.  They’re hard to ignore.  Peter Smith, the reporter covering religion for the local paper, has discussed Southeast Christian three times since the beginning of the year.

What is a megachurch?  The term megachurch generally refers to any Protestant church with a sustained weekly worship attendance that averages at least 2,000 persons. Megachurches often have a huge sanctuary; multiple services in a contemporary style; an evangelical, conservative theology; a charismatic senior pastor; and a wide variety of ministries.  (Note 1)

How common are megachurches?  In the United States there are around 1,200 such congregations.  That’s out of about 330,000 congregations in this country.  Do the math:  Fewer than one percent of congregations today are megachurches.  Why do we pay so much attention to them?  One reason—because there are more of them today than in the past.  In 1970, only about 50 Protestant churches had worship attendance of at least 2,000.  (Note 2.)

How many people attend megachurches?  We also pay attention to megachurches because so many people worship there.  Although megachurches comprise just one percent of all churches, ten percent of all worshipers attend megachurches.  In Louisville, we have several megachurches that together draw more than 32,000 worshipers, giving the impression that “everyone” attends a megachurch.  (Note 3.)

Most congregations are small; most worshipers attend large congregations.  Sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it?  But it’s true.  There is a substantial gap between where the largest numbers of people worship and the size of the typical congregation.  This gap means that what a typical congregation looks like is remarkably different from what the typical worshiper experiences.  Most congregations are small—about six in ten congregations in this country have fewer than 125 people in worship.  But most worshipers attend large congregations—the largest ten percent of congregations attract half of all worshipers.

What is typical?  These facts show that “typical” means something very different when talking about worshipers than when talking about congregations. 

Note 1.  Hartford Institute for Religious Research; Beyond Megachurch Myths, Scott Thumma and Dave Travis (Jossey-Bass, 2007). 

Note 2. Insights into Religion

Note 3.  Searchable database of megachurches.

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