Beyond the Ordinary: Six flags over Jesus? Worshipers flock to megachurches
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.
… 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.
So, we might reasonably ask if this article contradicts the article I posted yesterday about the growth of home churches, 'Simple Churches' Find A Foothold Across The U.S. The answer is no. My understanding is that there is an increase in the number of micro-churches and in the number of people attending megachurches. It is the mid-sized churches (and churches that are small through attrition) that are in decline. Niche congregations provide a sense of close community, and megachurches offer extensive programmatic opportunities. Mid-sized churches are often too big to be a close community and small to offer programs and services.
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