church relevance

CONNECT   SUBSCRIBE  

KentShaffer.com AcreScout LifeChurch.tv Center for Church Communication Compassion Bloggers

America’s Largest and Most Influential Churches :: Is Size Linked to Influence?

July 17, 2006 | 11 comments | Church, Ministry, Research & Culture

Is a church’s influence over other churches related to its size? You decide.

Below you will find a list of the 20 largest American churches according to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research’s study of megachurches. Also listed are all of the churches ranked in the top 50 most influential church’s for The Church Report’s 2005 and 2006 surveys.

[Keep in mind that these attendance numbers are off but do provide reasonably accurate rankings.]

  1. Lakewood Church (Houston, TX) :: 30,000 average attendance
    #5 Most Influential Church in 2006
    #5 Most Influential Church in 2005
  2. Saddleback Church (Lake Forest, CA) :: 22,000
    #2 in 2006
    #1 in 2005
  3. Willow Creek Community Church (South Barrington, IL) :: 20,000
    #1 in 2006
    #2 in 2005
  4. Fellowship Church (Grapevine, TX) :: 19,500
    #4 in 2006
    #4 in 2005
  5. Southeast Christian Church (Louisville, KY) :: 18,757
    #6 in 2006
    #50 in 2005
  6. The Potter’s House (Dallas, TX) :: 18,500
    #8 in 2006
    #8 in 2005
  7. Calvary Chapel (Ft. Lauderdale) :: 18,000
    #40 in 2006
    #40 in 2005
  8. New Birth Missionary Baptist (Lithonia, GA) :: 18,000
    #32 in 2006
    #30 in 2005
  9. Crenshaw Christian Center (Los Angeles, CA) :: 17,000
  10. Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa (Santa Ana, CA) :: 16,500
  11. Second Baptist Church (Houston, TX) :: 16,000
    #33 in 2005
  12. Church of the Harvest (Los Angeles, CA) :: 15,000
  13. Harvest Christian Fellowship (Riverside, CA) :: 15,000
    #33 in 2006
    #39 in 2005
  14. North Point Community Church (Alpharetta, GA) :: 15,000
    #3 in 2006
    #3 in 2005
  15. Prestonwood Baptist Church (Plano, TX) :: 15,000
  16. West Angeles Church of God in Christ (Los Angeles, CA) :: 15,000
    #34 in 2005
  17. World Changers Church International (College Park, GA) :: 15,000
  18. Calvary Chapel (Albuquerque, NM) :: 14,000
  19. LifeChurch.tv (Edmond, OK) :: 14,000
    #7 in 2006
    #15 in 2005
  20. Windsor Village United Methodist Church (Houston, TX) :: 13,498
    #49 in 2006
    #43 in 2005

Other churches that are not in the top 20 largest American churches but are ranked as one of the 50 most influential churches for 2005 or 2006 are as follows:

As to the question of if a church’s influence over other churches is related to its size, the answer is “yes” and “no.” It does make sense for churches to look to larger churches as benchmarks and inspiration for what is achievable. However, I believe that much of this list is about which churches have built the most awareness and have made learning from them the most accessible. Congregation size, pastoral recognition, and the offering of valuable conferences all help build awareness and, ultimately, influence for a church. I believe that something can be learned from almost every church, but we can only learn from churches that we are aware of and that are open to sharing their knowledge with other churches.

So what churches that didn’t make this list influence your church?

Comments

There are 11 comments for this post.

  1. Dewaine on July 17, 2006 1:38 pm

    Kent,

    Two churches that I would list as influential are Restoration Ministries, in the Charleston-Metro, SC area, and Maryville Pentecostal Holiness Church in Georgetown, SC.

    RM averages 100+ in Sunday morning attendance and is continually growing. They are well-known in the area for their strong community outreach, and the leadership is bent on building real, relevant leaders to impact the world.

    Maryville’s attendance is also about 100+ as well. They have currently help to establish multiple churches in the coastal South Carolina area, and are working on more. Although they may be considered small, the leaders that come out of that church are influencing as well.

    These are just a few in the state of South Carolina that I know.

    Dewaine

  2. mark howell on July 17, 2006 6:47 pm

    Kent, do you know where the attendance figures came from? Fellowship of The Woodlands is averaging around 14,000.

    mark

  3. Kent Shaffer on July 17, 2006 7:03 pm

    Mark,

    The attendance figures came from the Hartford Institue for Religion Research (http://hirr.hartsem.edu/org/faith_megachurches.html). Their database shows most information having been updated in early 2006. However, there are many attendance errors. I have heard higher numbers for quite a few of the churches listed above, but the only place I have found to report numbers for almost all churches averaging over 2,000 in attendance has been the Hartford Institute. To be fair, I used their numbers.

    I wish these numbers were exact.

    Thank you for the update on FOTW’s attendance. I thought they were running larger than 8,000.

    -Kent

  4. 9rules Featured » Blog Archive » Ask a Minister on July 17, 2006 8:45 pm

    [...] I immediately thought about the article I just read questioning America’s largest churches and whether size is linked to influence? People choose to believe things for different reasons. Their beliefs directly affect their decisions and their ability to be influenced. [...]

  5. Ben Gray on July 17, 2006 8:53 pm

    Very interesting post! The “yes” and “no” answer you gave was disappointing but accurate, I think. I was hoping for a pat answer but obviously in situations like this there are no absolute answers.

  6. Rick on July 18, 2006 8:42 pm

    Kent,

    How about NorthRidge Church in Plymouth MI. Here’s a once old-fashioned 75 year old that was only running 1000 in 1990 and now is hitting the 10,000 mark on weekends. Check out http://www.ChurchDare.com. It’s reflective of God’s blessing and top leadership.

  7. Mary on July 19, 2006 8:07 am

    Yes. I do think that the size of the church attendance is reflective of it’s influence (Whether good or bad). The size is merely a reflection of people wanting to be where other people are…like popularity and fitting into the “in croud”. Many people are going where they get what they want to hear.

    Some of these churches, not all, are teaching just a “Feel Good” message and NOT the gospel nor the full WORD OF GOD. For 2 Timothy 4:3 tells us, “For a time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers, ant they will turn their ears away fro the truth, and be turned to fables.”

    But we are called to “Be diligent to present yourself approved by God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their message will spread like cancer.” 2 Timothy 2:15

  8. Lee Nokleby on August 29, 2006 10:23 pm

    I would like to see the top 100 churches, that come closest to match their attendance to the city population, such as the Sumpiton AL. Church of God. We need to see more on what the church is doing in very small cities. Thank You
    Lee Nokleby

  9. Daniel Wynalda on October 3, 2006 9:54 pm

    How about Calvary Church, Grand Rapids MI?

    Regular attendance is about 6000 on an average week. It spawned Mars Hill Bible Church just a few years ago (now with 10000 people and listed on the most influential)? How can the church that plants one of the most influential not be listed?

    Also, Calvary Church is home to a large diversity of christian publishing moguls. It has a large representation of staff and management of Zondervan/Harper Collins, Family Bookstores, Kregel Bookstores and regularly plants churches.

    Finally, this church adopts COUNTRIES as a mission field rather than missionaries. The church has invested millions overseas in unreached and or closed areas including building churches in Ukraine, India, Bosnia and Liberia. There are others that can’t be listed here for safety reasons.

  10. Kent Shaffer on October 3, 2006 10:14 pm

    Daniel,

    I can think of a few churches I was surprised didn’t make the list too. The top 50 most influential churches are calculated each year by surveying over one thousand of the largest churches to ask them which churches have most influenced their own church. They are definitely some interesting results.

    -Kent

  11. Lee Nokleby on November 19, 2006 5:59 pm

    I would like to see some churches like Sumiton Al. Church of God be reconized, as it nearly reaches the citys population. or Mound City Church of God for their missions giving per member. By percentage there are so many other churches that are way ahead in members , when you consider the population of the city or town. Just a thought .
    Lee Nokleby

Write a Comment