Superchurches And How They Grew

American Protestants are turning to one-stop spiritual shopping

Protestantism in the U.S. has always been the domain of small, cozy congregations with 100 to 300 members; Catholic parishes are often large, but few Protestant churches have ever reached the 1,000-member point. Now, rapidly and dramatically, that pattern is changing with the rise of superchurches that boast mammoth memberships and facilities to match. Forty-three Protestant congregations in the U.S. claim 5,000 or more Sunday worshipers, says John N. Vaughan of Missouri's Southwest Baptist University in his Church Growth Today newsletter. Moreover, 116 congregations in 28 states say their attendance jumped by 300 or more in just one year. Such centralization...

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