Ministry News

Outreach Releases Annual Big & Growing Church Lists

Details: Friday, 18 September 2009 09:22

What do almost half of the country's largest churches have in common? They're nondenominational. And when it comes to those in the top echelon, they meet in multiple locations.

Though neither element is a surprise considering church-growth trends in recent years, they are among the highlights of Outreach magazine and LifeWay Research's latest annual list of the largest and fastest-growing churches in America. The study of more than 8,000 churches nationwide found 47 of the largest 100 are not affiliated with a denomination, while nine of the top 10 are multisite.

"Multiple sites are the new normal for fast-growing and large churches, " said Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research. "They're contemporary, aggressively evangelistic and evangelical, and they're moving beyond the 'big box' megachurch model. The best churches have very intentional systems to move people from sitting in rows to sitting in circles (in small groups) to going out and making a difference in the world."

So which churches topped the lists? Once again, Lakewood Church in Houston stands as the largest church in the nation, with more than 43,500 people showing up on the typical weekend. (Lifechurch.tv, based out of Edmond, Okla., was second with an average of 26,776 attending its 13 campuses.) Meanwhile, New Life Church in Conway, Ark., was dubbed the fastest-growing church, with a 61 percent increase in membership—representing 2,200 people—since last year. [usatoday.com, 9/17/09; christianpost.com, 9/17/09]

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Comments

+1 #10 Frank H 2009-09-24 00:15

SIZE MATTERS? Affiliated or NOT, these churches GROW by Christians leaving their small church for the BIG ONES. Notice the research did not state how they grew, no surprise there, keep up with the myth.

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0 #9 Colleen Rouse 2009-09-21 13:51

Why is it that when size of the church is mentioned there seems to be the typical responses. It is not the size that matters, that is definitely true. The comments that interest me are the ones that lump mega-churches in the light & fluffy category. I think that we are missing something here!

Instead of criticizing or defending why aren't we celebrating church growth! As a pastor myself, I love to see the Body of Christ growing. We are not in a competition we are a part of a commission and a great one at that!

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+1 #8 peggy 2009-09-21 06:47

Any size church where the presence of God is is where I would be. Large or small. A Godly pastor is what I want not one that seeks to please man.

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-1 #7 mark tan 2009-09-19 15:33

mega churces are good for resources, manpower, and as an encouragment to church members that we aren't alone in this world... however i believe cell groups have a place that megachurches should never underestimate... the ability to multiply faster, more personal because there arent so many people, not to mention they dont have to make a big deal out of small things like the color of the floor carpet and etc...

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+2 #6 DR Marietta Brown 2009-09-18 10:11

Its not the size of a Church but the fruits in the lives of the Pastors, staff, leaders and members. We are a small Church with a small budget, see what we do for our Community by faith. The city has 37,000 , many people in dire poverty, with 450 Churchs.www.houserest,.org

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+4 #5 DR Marietta Brown 2009-09-18 10:03

It is not how many attend a Church but the quality of the lives of the people and how much of the light of Jesus Christ and the Word of God shines from there lives. that attend. Numbers are not important.When you are looking for a apple, you dont go to purchase them from a store that has a lot of apple trees., you look for a store that has a good ripe apple, you look for the quality of the apple.

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+9 #4 campbe33 2009-09-18 08:59

It's not the size or rate of growth that matters. It's are they sticking to biblical teaching or are they teaching the watered down version of scripture they seems to be so commonplace nowadays. I think churches that teach the watered down version will grow faster, because they are teaching things that make church more acceptable to the vast majority instead of the whole truth of scripture. Churches that really stick to teaching what all scripture is about, whether it offends some or not are not going to have the growth spurts, because a lot of people don't want to hear the real truth. They just want to hear the lovey dovey warm & fluffy stuff.

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+9 #3 BethW 2009-09-18 07:14

I remember an godly older minister (several of them actually) who has since gone home to be with the Lord said that the Lord dealt with him not to "count" the people. While we want to reach multitudes for Jesus...we can get into the flesh pretty quickly by getting into pride as to our numbers and who is the biggest and best.

When we stand before Jesus all He will want to know is if we were faithful to do what He told us to do with whatever ministry He gave us.

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