Megachurches

The term megachurch is the name given to a cluster of very large, Protestant congregations, that share several distinctive characteristics.  These churches generally have:

2000 or more persons in attendance at weekly worship
A charismatic, authoritative senior minister 
A very active 7 day a week congregational community
A multitude of social and outreach ministries, 
and a complex differentiated organizational structure

Read a more detailed description of megachurches

Megachurches are not identical and do not all resemble the nontraditional appearance and seeker form of Willow Creek Community Church.  However, their very large numbers of attendees does shape their functioning in unique and often  uniform ways.  Our latest research report highlights many of these characteristics.

If you are interested in megachurches, you might find this 2007 book co-authored by Hartford Institute professor, Scott Thumma, interesting.

Use the links in the left navigation to browse all of our resources on megachurches.