The term megachurch describes a group of very large Protestant congregations that share several distinctive characteristics and form a particular style of religious congregation. The research in this section aims to provide more accurate information about these large churches and track changes in their innovative congregations. In addition to the research summaries, you can learn more about the megachurch phenomenon and view the megachurch database.
Megachurch research reports
Hartford Institute faculty member Scott Thumma and Warren Bird of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) collaborate on ongoing studies of megachurches nationwide. They have performed national surveys of megachurches in 2000, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2015, and 2020. Additionally, they investigated the attitudes and interests of nearly 50,000 attendees of two dozen megachurches from 2007 to 2008. Both their PhD dissertations focused on this phenomenon, and they have authored several books, articles, and reports on the subject.
This site’s research focuses on very large Protestant Christian congregations in the United States, of which there are approximately 1800 at present. View our research findings below.
- Megachurch 2020: The Changing Reality in America’s Largest Churches – This research is a joint effort of Scott Thumma (Hartford) and Warren Bird (ECFA). View the summary report and detailed data and questionnaire.
- Recent Shifts in America’s Largest Protestant Churches: Megachurches 2015 Report – This research is a joint effort of Scott Thumma (Hartford) and Warren Bird (Leadership Network). View the summary report and detailed data and questionnaire.
- A New Decade of Megachurches: 2011 Profile of Large Attendance Churches in the United States – This research is a joint effort of Scott Thumma (Hartford) and Warren Bird (Leadership Network). View the summary report and detailed data and questionnaire.
- Not Who You Think They Are: A Profile of the People Who Attend America’s Megachurches (2009) – This research is a joint effort of Scott Thumma (Hartford), David Travis, and Warren Bird (Leadership Network). View the summary report and detailed data and questionnaire.
- Megachurches Today 2008: Changes in American Megachurches – This research is a joint effort of Scott Thumma (Hartford), David Travis, and Warren Bird (Leadership Network). View the summary report and detailed data.
- Megachurches Today 2005 – This research is a joint effort of Scott Thumma (Hartford), David Travis, and Warren Bird (Leadership Network). View the summary report and detailed data.
- Megachurches Today 2000 – A study of 153 megachurches from the Faith Communities Today project was conducted between 1999 and 2000 at Hartford Institute for Religion Research, with Scott Thumma as the primary investigator. Dr. John Vaughan of the Megachurch Research Institute assisted in collecting the 2000 information about megachurches. The Leadership Network and its representative, David Travis, alsosponsored and supported the research project. View the summary report.
What is a megachurch?
The term megachurch describes a group of very large Protestant congregations that share several distinctive characteristics and form a particular style of religious congregation. These churches generally have:
- 2000 or more persons in attendance at weekly worship, counting adults and children at all locations
- A charismatic, authoritative senior minister
- A very active, seven-day per week congregational community
- A multitude of diverse social and outreach ministries
- An intentional small group system or other structures of intimacy and accountability
- Innovative and often contemporary worship formats
- A complex differentiated organizational structure
Not all megachurches are identical and do not always resemble the nontraditional and seeker-friendly style of a church like Willow Creek Community Church. However, their large numbers of attendees shape their functioning in distinctive and often uniform ways.
Megachurches in the United States
The majority of megachurches (over 70%) are located in the southern Sun Belt of the United States, with the highest concentrations in California, Texas, Florida, and Georgia.
Most megachurches are in suburban areas of rapidly growing “sprawl cities” such as Los Angeles, Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, Orlando, Phoenix, and Seattle. Many of these large churches occupy prominent land tracts of 50 to 100 acres, often near major traffic thoroughfares.
Generally, these congregations have significant parking lots and sanctuaries that can accommodate the large numbers of worshipers they attract. However, the increasing use of multi-site campuses has decreased the average size of the primary sanctuary seating space. The average megachurch has a weekly attendance of 4092 persons.
Global megachurches
There are also significant numbers of megachurches worldwide, especially in Korea, Brazil, and several African countries, although no exact count exists for this phenomenon. Visit Warren Bird’s global megachurch list for more information on these. The largest megachurch in America averages 75,000 in attendance; however, many global churches are much larger, with several claiming over 250,000 attendees.
The rise of megachurches
Although very large congregations have existed throughout Christian history, there has been a rapid proliferation of churches with massive attendance since the 1970s. As such, some researchers suggest that this church form is a distinctive organizational response to cultural shifts and changes in societal patterns throughout the industrialized, urban, and suburban areas of the world.
Theology of megachurches
While size is the most immediately apparent characteristic of these congregations, the Protestant megachurches in the United States generally share many other traits. Virtually all these megachurches have a conservative theology, even those within mainline denominations. Many are nondenominational, but the majority are affiliated with a denomination. The groups in the table below account for 80% of all megachurches.
- Nondenominational 40%
- Southern Baptist 15%
- Baptist, unspecified 7%
- Assemblies of God 5%
- Christian 5%
- Calvary Chapel 4%
- United Methodist 2%
When surveyed in 2020, the labels that megachurches selected to fit their membership’s theological orientation best were as follows:
- Evangelical 65%
- Moderate 5%
- Missional 12%
- Charismatic 5%
- Pentecostal 7%
- Seeker 4%
- Fundamentalist 0.3%
- Progressive 2%
Megachurch pastors and congregations
Megachurches tend to grow to their great size within a very short period, usually in less than ten years, and under the tenure of a single senior pastor. Nearly all megachurch pastors are male, and almost all are viewed as having considerable personal charisma.
The senior minister often has an authoritative style of preaching and administration and is nearly always the singular dominant leader of the church. Supporting these senior pastors are teams of 5 to 25 associate ministers and often 100 or more full-time staff. In 2005, the 406 megachurches surveyed averaged 20 full-time paid ministerial staff members and 22 full-time paid program staff members. The average number of volunteer workers (giving five or more hours a week to the church) was 284.
Megachurches host a multitude of social, recreational, and aid ministries. Likewise, most employ intentional efforts to enhance congregational community, such as home fellowships and interest-based small group meetings. Contrary to expectations, these congregations promote intense personal commitment in a majority of their members but also contain a large percentage of anonymous spectators and marginal attendees.
Relatively few megachurches have been exceptionally large for longer than the tenure of their current minister. However, evidence suggests that these churches can remain vital following a shift in leadership from the founder to a successor. Approximately 30% of existing megachurches have senior leaders who were not the founders or pastors present during the church’s significant growth. Although some researchers argue that the era of megachurch proliferation is drawing to a close, the total number has increased from 350 in 1990 to 650 in 2000, and there will be over 1800 megachurches in the US by 2020. It seems clear that reports of the demise of the megachurch are greatly exaggerated.
Can a Catholic church be a megachurch?
At this time, the Institute only focuses its research on Protestant megachurches.
There are many very large Catholic churches, and if we extended our interest in megachurches from just the Protestant megachurches to very large Catholic congregations with attendance over 2000 on average weekly, we would add roughly 3000 additional Catholic churches to the 1200 or so that are over 2000 in attendance.
However, we have chosen not to include Catholic churches in our discussion of megachurches in the US. We do not solely use the 2000 persons in attendance numerical figure as the only characteristic to define a megachurch; instead, it is a host of characteristics that create a distinctive worship style and congregational dynamic.
Our studies and readings of worship and the congregational life of Catholic churches have not convinced us that most very large Catholic churches really function like Protestant megachurches. There are a few that we have come across that do. Still, most don’t have strong charismatic senior ministers, many associate pastors, large staff, a robust congregational identity that empowers hundreds to thousands of weekly volunteers, an identity that draws people from a very large area (sometimes an hour away or more) and across parish boundaries, a multitude of programs and ministries organized and maintained by members, high levels of commitment and giving by members, seven-day-a-week activities at the church, contemporary worship, state-of-the-art sound and projection systems, auxiliary support systems such as bookstores, coffee shops, etc., huge campuses of 30-100 acres, and other common megachurch characteristics.
Several studies that surveyed very large Catholic and Protestant megachurches show the dynamics to be very different. Therefore, we have limited the discussion of the Megachurch phenomenon on this site to Protestant churches.
Further megachurch reading
- Beyond Megachurch Myths by Scott Thumma and Dave Travis
- The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory – Megachurches In Modern American Society by Scott Thumma