Warren Bird, Research Director for Leadership Network and co-author of 24 books on various aspects of church health and innovation, recently blogged about the global growth in and diversity of megachurches (congregations with an average weekend worship attendance of at least 2,000). Americans know about megachurches since they have grown rapidly in number over the last several decades. According to Scott Thumma and Dave Travis, (Beyond Megachurch Myths: What We Can Learn from America’s Largest Churches – 2007, p. 7) there is now a megachurch within a 90-minute drive of 80% of the US population.
While the number of megachurches continues to grow in America, Bird points out that this is not a uniquely American trend. Per his latest list, there are now 194 megachurches outside the US. Among these congregations:
- 80 have average weekly worship attendance of at least 1o,000
- 59 have average weekly worship attendance of at least 2o,000
- 29 have average weekly worship attendance of at least 3o,000
- 9 have average weekly worship attendance of at least 5o,000