The fifth national survey of America's largest Protestant churches was released early January by Leadership Network and the Hartford Institute for Religion Research. The Beck Group-sponsored survey revealed some interesting and in some cases, surprising trends, regarding today's megachurches over the last few years.
In a recent review, Christianity Today's Bob Smietana quoted Scott Thumma, survey co-author and professor of sociology of religion at Hartford Seminary. Thumma stated that the survey gave a nuanced look at the state of megachurches. The poll covered over 200 congregations with 1,800-plus attendees.
Smietana highlighted some salient statistics that have been further segmented into general themes from the accounts extracted below:
Attendance and Growth:
" Back in 2010, the typical megachurch sanctuary had 1,500 seats for worship. Today, that figure is down to 1,200 seats. But those seats are filling up more oftenmegachurches now average five services per weekend.
" Growth in numbers of megachurches has been prolific, rising from 23% in 2010 to 62% in 2015.
" Almost two-thirds (62%) of megachurches hold meetings in multiple locations, up from 46% in 2010.
" 82% of people attending megachurches came every week in 2015 a drop from 96% in 2005.
" Most of the churches in the survey (88%) reported growth in attendance from 2009 to 2014. About 1 in 10 (11%) reported declines.
" Newer megachurchesthose founded since 1990tended to grow faster than older churches, with an enormous average growth rate of 91 % over 5 years, compared with a growth rate of 39 % in churches founded before 1990.
" Members of older churches had higher average weekend worship attendance totals (3,766 vs. 3,369).
Giving:
" Giving has similarly slowed as well. Although in 2015, the number grew slightly to $4.7 million from $4.6 million in 2005, thats actually a decline, according to the report. At the same pace giving should currently be reporting a median of $6.5 million to maintain a commensurate giving level plus inflation, the report said.
" Congregations with a greater emphasis on global missions received more gifts towards missions, averaging $1,960 giving per capita, compared to other churches with only some emphasis at $1,249 giving per capita.
" Members of older churches gave more per capita ($1,865) than members of newer churches ($1,368), had a higher rate of member involvement (83% vs. 79%), and had higher average weekend worship attendance totals (3,766 vs. 3,369).
Age group factors:
" Younger megachurches also had more people under 35 (23%) than older churches (16%). Unsurprisingly, older churches tended to have more middle-aged worshipers ages 35 to 49 (44%) than newer churches (29%).
" Only about a third of younger megachurch members are single, compared with two-thirds of that age group in the national population, Thumma told CT. Attracting young adults seems to hang on intentionality. In congregations that dont emphasize engaging young adults, 13 % of attendees are 1834 years old. In congregations that make young adults a top priority, 20% of attendees are 1834.
Innovations:
" Innovation is on the decline. 54% of churches strongly agreed that they were willing to meet new challenges in 2010 compared to just 37% in 2015. The fact that older pastors are now more resistant to change is a potential cause. Only 1 in 4 churches (25%) with pastors aged 61 or older said they would describe their worship as innovative.
" Megachurches have a conflicted relationship with traditional worship elements. One in five (20%) features an organ during worship, down from 28% in 2010. About a third (35%) have choirs, down from 43% in 2010.
Pastoring:
" Pastor performance seems to peak once theyve been at a church for about 15 years. Nearly all megachurches (91%) where the pastor has been in place for 15 to 19 years claim to be spiritually vital and active.
" Those numbers start to drop if the pastor stays longer. Only three-quarters of megachurches (75%) with a pastor in place more than 20 years said the church is spiritually vital.
" More than 4 in 10 megachurch pastors (43%) said they do not have a good plan in place for succession.
Mission Awareness:
" Clarity of mission is a hallmark of megachurches: 79% have a clear purpose, compared with 41 % of all congregations.
" Less than half (43%) said the church has a clear mission and purpose.
Spiritual Activity and Vitality:
" More than half (51%) of those surveyed also strongly agree that their megachurch congregation is spiritually alive and vital, compared to 29% of all congregations.
" Members of older churches had a higher rate of member involvement (83% vs. 79%)
" Megachurches that were strongly intentional about maximizing the number and variety of small groups reported the most activity (77% high spiritual vitality), compared with those who were unsure about small groups (37% high spiritual vitality) or were not intentional about small groups (27% high spiritual vitality).
" Churches that placed no emphasis on holding members accountable for participation and faithful living reported two-thirds of their members (64%) were actively involved. By comparison, churches that believed accountability was an important and regular practice reported nearly all of their members (96%) were actively involved.
" More megachurches took Communion during every worship service in 2015 (57%) than in 2010 (51%).
Interactions with other Churches/ Ministries:
" About 22 % of megachurches were involved in worship services with other Christian groups in the past year, compared with 38 % in 2005. Ecumenical cooperation for educational or fellowship activities was also down (30% vs. 46%), as was ecumenical community service activities (46% vs. 61%).
Church size impacts:
" Megachurches said they were less likely to experience conflict than smaller congregations (43% vs. 38%), but are more likely to lose staff (12% vs. 5%) or donations (9% vs. 6%) when they do.
" Smaller congregations are reportedly more likely to lose members than megachurches (29% vs. 24%).
Thom Rainer for churchcentral.com recently noted that there are two major changes in the American church today. The first is a decentralization of facilities. Today, an ever-growing number of churches have multiple locations. Among megachurchesthose congregations with an average worship attendance of 2,000 or morethe move to the multisite model of operations has been dramatic: from 27% in 2010 to 62% today.
The second major trend identified by Rainer is a decentralization of leadership, where churches have tended to move away from the 'senior Pastor' model that casts the senior pastor as the overall leader. Instead, churches are now gravitating towards the lead Pastor model, where one pastor would be at the same level as the others but would still carry the lead Pastor or 'first among equals' mantle.
Perhaps the "decentralization of facilities" aspect is the weightier and more visible of the two trends. According to Peter Smith for the Pittsburg Post-Gazette, nearly two-thirds of largest churches now call more than one address home, further corroborating the observations of Rainer and the findings of the Hartford survey. The average large church had 3.5 campuses.
Smith offered some examples from Pittsburg: Franklin Park-based Orchard Hill Church rents the theater and other space at the August Wilson Center Downtown on Sundays, while the Plum-based Amplify Church uses a former nightclub on Smallman Street.
He also quoted Hartford Institute's Scott Thumma: "More congregations are opting not to build bigger buildings but to do multisite". With multiple campuses, Thumma added that a church "can maintain a smaller physical size, grow larger and ... grow faster than single-site megachurches" in the report which was also co-authored by Warren Bird of Leadership Network, a church-growth consultant.
Many of the churches transmit sermons via video from one site to the others. At Orchard Hill, Pastor Joel Haldeman does preach live on some Sundays, while at Amplify, Jason Howard preaches in person every Sunday at the Strip District campus, where he is the lead pastor.
Smith concludes that the multisite trend looks only to grow. One example would be Allegheny Center Alliance Church in the North Side. It has grown steadily over the decades as it has pursued strong urban and interracial commitments, and is now considering similar work in other locations.
"Were not doing it to increase our statistics," said pastor Rock Dillaman. "Were doing it because we sort of hit the wall in terms of our potential on two acres in the North Side... New locations would be "racially diverse, economically challenged, or both... It's just our whole DNA, our approach to ministry," he said.