For the past decade, Leadership Network and Hartford Institute for Religion Research have been collected and releasing research data about megachurches in America. They have just released the data from their fourth such study.

Some of the more prominent findings include:

• Average growth among megachurches as a whole is at 8% over the past five years.
• Megachurches continue to draw youthful, middle class, family-oriented people as 70% of attendees are under the age of 50.
• Nearly 50% of the megachurches in America are located in the southern states (Texas to Virginia).
• A dramatic decrease occurred in the number of churches claiming a specific denominational affiliation. Over half (54%) are nondenominational, however, 70% claim to be connected to a network, fellowship, association, or denomination.
• Not surprisingly, 80% of the churches are still led by the pastor under whose tenure the most dramatic growth occurred.
• These churches continue to be regional draws as only 60% of attendees live less than 15 minutes away from the church. 
• The gender balance in megachurches is closer than smaller churches (55% women, 45% men).
• On a whole, megachurches were not as affected by the recent economic downturn as media reports made it seem. While some were affected greatly, the percentage of churches reporting serious financial struggles decreased in the past five years.

These are just some of the highlights. For the full report, click here.  Megachurches are fascinating and worthy of research. The research also pushes against many stereotypes and misinformation about megachurches-- facts are our friends. 

I just returned from preaching this weekend at Woodlands Church (pictured here).  I saw much of this research reflected there-- more on that later.

 In the meantime, feel free to share your thoughts below.

I spent the last two days with Vineyard megachurch pastors and preached at First Baptist Atlanta on Sunday-- so I have megachurch on the brain, I guess.

What does the average megachurch look like? I came across this infographic that draws info from Forbes, Christian Post and Leadership Network.

A while back, I started sharing my experiences at different churches where I might speak. People seemed to find it interesting to learn about other churches and their practices. Before we started Grace Church, I would speak more frequently-- now it is about once a month.

Since, at times, I speak at churches from different traditions, I tend to do a little research before I go. So, I thought I would share a little with you-- perhaps it might be encouraging and educational. I have several churches in the queue and will share those over the coming weeks. If it gets boring, then I will stop. ;-)

This week, I was at James River Assembly is a church in Ozark, MO, just outside of Springfield. Planted in 1991, it has grown from 85 people to over 8000 attending each week on two campuses. I had the wonderful opportunity to spend time with pastor John Lindell, speaking to their Life Group leaders on Saturday, then preaching during the morning services on Sunday.

If James River Assembly is anything-- and it is many things-- it is hospitable. It's the only church I've ever had the privilege of being in to preach where they created my own parking space for me.

When I arrived, a host stayed with me almost the entire morning answering any questions or concerns I had. They were not just hospitable to me-- they also advertise their "Connect Center" where newcomers can get things squared away immediately upon arrival with the help of "Red Carpet Hosts" who are located everywhere. James River is a church that loves and shows hospitality.

John Lindell is a wonderful communicator and strong leader. He has a heart for those without Christ and has demonstrated remarkable leadership.

John is a committed expository preacher and a sincerely committed Pentecostal. This is not a total anomaly, but expository preaching is not as widely practiced inside Pentecostalism as within some Presbyterian denominations, for instance. This is one of the defining characteristics of the church-- they are serious about teaching through the scriptures. You can listen to John's preaching here.

James River is affiliated with the Assemblies of God. The AoG is a Pentecostal and evangelical denomination holding, among other things, the Divine inspiration of the Bible, the Trinity, the Deity of Christ, salvation through faith in Jesus Christ alone, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit as the believer's empowerment for witness and service, speaking in tongues as the evidence of that baptism, sanctification through the work of the Spirit, a church on mission, Divine healing for the sick available to believers, the return of Christ and a final judgment.

Most Pentecostal denominations are Evangelical, as is the Assemblies of God, and James River Assembly is certainly both Evangelical and Pentecostal. They are evangelicals in belief and practice, but also are distinctively Pentecostal.

As an expression of their belief, they regularly offer opportunities on Wednesday night to receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit as in the Pentecostal tradition (where the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is considered a distinct experience from conversion). This is probably the main doctrinal distinction between Pentecostals and most other evangelicals.

The Sunday morning service was a remarkable mix of high-energy music, prayer, and expectation of the preaching of God's Word. During the worship time, people were invited to come forward for prayer for healing and other needs.

In many ways, the church reminded me of my time at Harvest Bible Chapel (where James MacDonald serves as pastor). The Sunday morning services were similar-- strong God-centered worship followed by expository preaching.

The entire service from start to finish lasted about 1:15-1:20 minutes. I did not preach for 1 hour and ten minutes, as shocking as this may be to some! Interestingly, the service length is stated on the church website so guests will know exactly what to expect.

The Sunday I was at James River was the day that people could sign up for Life Groups. A lemonade stand was being used for Life Group registration.

As with many megachurches, James River has a very large atrium-- larger than the terminal at the Springfield airport. It was spacious, well lighted, and welcoming-- everything spoke to excellence and connection. Everything about it said, "We are glad you are here." Interestingly, you can see in the photo below the large banners in the atrium featured pictures of and quotes from church members, not just the pastor's pithy sayings or the church logo.

One interesting thing I noticed was their children's ministry area. At my church we have a table with a single person who makes sure the kids get registered properly. James River has a wing for the same purpose. They are reaching scores of young families. It was impressive to watch.

James River was a fascinating place. God is at work in powerful ways and I was so glad to be able to encourage them-- and to be encouraged by them.

Next up, Progressive Primitive Baptist Church, a small church that is part of an historically African American denomination with fascinating roots.

We are wrapping up our work this week on the Outreach Magazine/LifeWay Research Special Report on the 100 Largest and Fastest Growing churches. If you would like to report the growth your church has experienced this past year, you can download the submission form here.

We would love to hear from you even if your church has experienced some great growth. We do ask that only staff members of churches submit forms. If you are an enthusiastic member or volunteer leader of your church, feel free to let your staff know about the project and where to get the form.

If you are interested in knowing more, I wrote this post a few months ago to talk about the project and to explain why we think it is a good thing.

Look forward to hearing from you!

Below is an excerpt from my column in the latest issue from Outreach Magazine on the research we did for the 100 Largest & Fastest Growing Churches. It's always a list that generates a lot of discussion-- some of it gets heated. This article (co-written with Lizette Beard from our LifeWay Research team) seeks to address some of the concerns people raise about the list.

I had the chance to interview some of the pastors of the churches on this list and will be posting them in the coming days. For now, check out the article (reproduced in part here), and feel free to dialog in the comment section here at the blog.

AS I SEE IT: ED STETZER

Is It All About Ego?
And Other Common Misconceptions

My team has a love-hate relationship with this project of researching the 100 Largest and 100 Fastest-Growing U.S. Churches. They love "discovering" growing churches and learning from the churches whose commitment to reach people lands them on the lists year after year. Their favorite part is interviewing church leaders, hearing the stories of transformed communities and individual life change. They can't get enough of that stuff.

Then there are the rough days when they can't get past the gatekeepers, whose job it is to protect pastors from research companies wanting to conduct surveys. Or when they can't find out who in the church actually knows the attendance numbers. Or they can't seem to get someone to grasp the criteria of attendance not membership, weekend not weekly. And then there is the rare but very rude staff member. Fortunately, my team is familiar with what it takes to handle a sometimes difficult personality, so they have strategies in place.

But what bothers them the most is the lack of understanding about what this project is--a couple of lists that are simply meant to tell the story of how churches throughout the country are reaching people.

As you read this issue, we ask you not to miss the stories behind the lists because the real-life examples of what God is doing in and through the local church are the best part (see Page 60). We believe pastors and leaders of churches of all sizes can learn from these churches. We have. Their examples of innovation, creativity and risk taking--all to reach people and then give God the glory--have inspired each of us personally.

As we take a look at some of these churches, we're also sharing some of the more common criticisms and comparing them to what we've heard from these churches. Unfortunately, we know telling the stories won't dissuade all the critics. But we've learned that criticism actually does our research team and Outreach a favor by driving up the buzz and keeping us on our toes.

What about conversion growth?

Aren't these megachurches just swapping sheep and drawing in church hoppers?

I can honestly say that most of the pastors we talked to in this study are strategically focused on reaching out to those disconnected from faith and church and helping them learn about God. They seek to connect them to the community of believers....

Mike Bodine, senior leader at Central Christian Church (No. 11 Largest, No. 31 Fastest-Growing), describes what God is doing through the personal relationships Central Christian attendees are building in Las Vegas.

"It's a term we call one life--that every person at Central should have at least one life they're praying for and building an intentional relationship with," he explains. "And then they should be prepared to journey with that person and invite them to come hear a life-changing message of radical grace."

Las Vegas is experiencing a renewed spiritual hunger, Bodine says. In one weekend, Central Christian baptized 1,200 people.

"These are real stories of real people pulling back from the brink of suicide. Marriages are being restored, families being put back together, and people are becoming productive in society."

What about mobilization for service?

Aren't people at these churches just sitting and soaking?

On the contrary, some of the churches we talked to have made weekends of service an annual or twice-a-year activity. We heard stories of churches cleaning up foreclosed neighborhoods, sponsoring health clinics and stocking community food pantries. As a result, communities are seeing no-strings-attached compassion--the Church being the Church. (See PutYourFaithInAction.com for more information.) And many, perhaps most, of these churches are strategically and tangibly demonstrating the love of Christ to people with needs and hurts.

Christ's Church of the Valley in Covina, Calif. ( No. 57 Fastest-Growing, see Page 69) learned that the largest homeless population in Los Angeles County is single moms and started an after-school program

"We take these single moms who are trying to work two or three jobs just to make ends meet, and we go in with our teams to local schools," Senior Pastor Jeff Vines says. "Our goal was to have an after-school program in every elementary school in San Gabriel Valley."

"So while people have made a commitment to the ministry, at the same time there is a renewed passion for service," Vines says. "They come in to use their gifts, their talents and their abilities to make a difference in the world."

What about the churches that will never make the list?

Isn't it true that many healthy, growing churches will never qualify to be listed on some Largest or Fastest-Growing list?

Of course. I have been to some incredible churches and know great pastors who will never be on these lists. Not because they aren't reaching the lost, seeing life transformation or reaching out to their communities. I know churches that plant several churches a year. Since they give away people to the new plants, they barely "break even." Others are growing at a pace that eclipses (by percentage) those on these lists, but they don't yet meet the qualification for the Fastest-Growing list of at least 1,000 attendees. Still others are seeing steady growth, but they are in a geographic location or demographic situation where it's just harder and slower--but the ministry is still good, and it is blessed. There is nothing about these lists or this report that is ever meant to diminish or take away from the great work so many of these churches are doing. If a church doesn't make the list, I have to ask, "So what?"

Head over to Outreach Magazine to read the entire article. Feel free to give your thoughts in the comment section.

The Barna Group released the findings of a new study that showed "congregational size is related to the nature of a congregation's religious beliefs, religious behavior and demographic profile."

Specifically the study showed "statistically significant differences between churches of 100 or fewer adult attenders and churches of 1000 or more adult attenders." In fact, the only issue covered where no real difference existed was whether the person had prayed during the previous week. Here is some of the information from the article at Barna.org.

On all 9 of the belief statements tested, attenders of large churches were more likely than those engaged in a small or mid-sized congregation to give an orthodox biblical response - e.g., the Bible is totally accurate in all the principles it teaches, Satan is not merely symbolic but exists, Jesus led a sinless life, God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe, etc.

On seven of the eight behavioral measures, attenders of large churches were substantially more likely than those of small churches to be active. (These included behaviors such as attending church in the past week, reading the Bible in the past week, volunteering at their church in the past week, etc.) The average difference related to these seven behaviors was 17 percentage points.

It was also shown that larger churches were more likely to have college graduates, wealthy attenders, and attenders/members with children under 18. Adults in these Protestant mega-churches were also more likely to vote Republican.

Another interesting point was that House Churches were not following the trend of other small congregations.

The religious beliefs and behaviors of people who attend house churches, which average about 20 adults in attendance, are more similar to the results for large conventional churches (i.e., more than 500 adults) than they are to the outcomes among those who attend small conventional churches (i.e., less than 50 adults).

So head over to the Barna Group, read the report and come back here to discuss.

Megachurches are growing both in the number of churches qualifying as megachurches, and in the size of megachurches themselves. Back in 1992, if your attendance was 3,315 or higher, you got put in the "100 largest" list of churches in America. We just compiled the list for 2009 to be published this fall by Outreach Magazine, and the the cutoff for the "100 largest" was about double what it was in 1992.

So, when most people think of megachurches they not only think of mega-numbers, but also mega-sanctuaries. But you'd be surprised. While megachurch size (in number) has increased, sanctuaries have not grown in size. According to a national study co-authored by Warren Bird of Leadership Network, "Changes in American Megachurches", (see page 6), attendance in megachurches is growing but sanctuary size is the same. In fact, the average main sanctuary seating capacity in the typical American megachurch is only 1,400 (median), according to Warren's report.

That means only a few dozen churches can seat more than 5,000. Warren listed all the churches he believes have a seating capacity of 5,000 or more, and if you're curious, that list-in-progress can be downloaded here. Do you know of any U.S. church that got left out? Any thoughts or corrections to the numbers here? Please take a look and add a comment if you know of a church that's missing.

So, who would you know that needs to be on this list. Let us know and we can check and follow up.

My friends at Leadership Network surveyed 232 pastors of churches with an average weekend worship attendance of at least 2,000. Here are 10 things you might not know about megachurch pastors. Read the whole thing here, with some explanation, and then come back to discuss.

1. They think of themselves more as teachers and directional leaders than as pastors.
2. Preaching tops the list of things they do best.
3. They haven't always worked in churches.
4. Being an extrovert isn't mandatory.
5. Family stays at the top of mind when it comes to prayers.
6. They usually like the people they work with.
7. They believe their top gift is leadership.
8. They are actively involved in sports.
9. They find worship at their church helpful for personal spiritual growth.
10. They're not thinking about quitting.

Surprised? Concerned? Pleased?

I find that many people who are not currently in a mega church have certain ideas about the "kind" of people in such churches. An interesting new study by Warren Bird and Scott Thumma has been released via The Hartford Institute for Religious Research titled, Not Who You Think They Are: A Profile of The People Who Attend America's Megachurches. Below are the bullet points of the more prominent findings:

• Young and single adults are more likely to be in megachurches than in smaller churches.
• Nearly two-thirds of attenders have been at these churches 5 years or less.
• Many attenders come from other churches, but nearly a quarter haven't been in any church for a long time before coming to a megachurch.
• Attenders report a considerable increase in their involvement in church, in their spiritual growth, and in their needs being met.
• Forty-five percent of megachurch attenders never volunteer at the church.
• New people almost always come to the megachurch because family, friends or co-workers invited them.
• What first attracted attenders were the worship style, the senior pastor and the church's reputation.
• These same factors also influenced long-term attendance, as did the music/arts, social and community outreach and adult-oriented programs.
• Attenders can craft unique, customized spiritual experiences through the multitude of ministry choices and diverse avenues for involvement that megachurches offer.

This is a large document, and you would do well to download the entire report as a PDF.

Check it out and come back to discuss. Are you surprised about the findings? What are you experiencing in your church?

Here is a picture of our team looking for your attendance numbers for the Outreach Magazine/LifeWay Research Special Report that will be published in Fall 2009. If you are a church currently running over 1000 on weekend worship, please fill out this form and fax it to our offices (FAX # is on the form). We would love to hear from you!

The "Missional Tribe" is a new collaboration of friends with a passion for all things missional. They have quite a list of contributors and are focusing on grass roots idea sharing around the missional turn.

While in Chicago, Imbi Medri and Bill Kinnon (two of the co-founders of Missional Tribe) got David Fitch and me together to have a discussion about the missional church.

David is a professor at Nothern Seminary, a co-pastor / church planter at Life on the Vine, and the author of The Great Giveaway.

I was there teaching at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and we got together on a cold day in Chicago.

Check out the Missional Tribe site here and enjoy the video below:

Ed Stetzer & David Fitch - a missional conversation from Missional Tribe on Vimeo.

Last night at Gabe Lyons house, I had the chance to visit with Joe Vacanti, Director of High School ministries at The Chapel at CrossPoint. I have followed The Chapel for a couple of decades (see their history here). Their founding pastor (James Andrews) was an encourager and friend when I was a twenty-one-year-old church planter in Buffalo, NY. It was great to hear from Joe about some of the great things taking place in their church and the church plant they recently launched in Buffalo.

Just recently, The Chapel at CrossPoint planted a church near my old church in Buffalo. I was blessed to give some advice to Brek Cockrell and Jerry Gillis related to the planting of The Church at Elmwood. I keep up via the Internet and saw how they bought an old Catholic church in a neighborhood I have walked a hundred times while planting there two decades ago.

The Chapel is a non-denominational, multi-site church in Buffalo, New York that sees about 4,000 people gathering together on Sundays. The Chapel is currently meeting at two different campuses: CrossPoint in Getzville, NY, north of the city of Buffalo, and a second campus inside Regal Cinemas on Elmwood Ave in the city of Buffalo. LifeWay Research had a conversation with Daryl Largis, executive pastor at The Chapel to talk about their strategy that has led the church through a significant transition. You'll benefit from reading it.

LifeWay Research: Tell us about The Chapel.

Continue reading Megachurch Interview: Daryl Largis.

Have you ever wondered about the terminology of megachurch and gigachurch? I did-- and I asked around.

The first term that was widely used was actually "Superchurch." Elmer Towns was the most common user and popularizer of that term and most early megachurch research used that term.

Thanks to Warren Bird, Director of Research at Leadership Network, who wrote his Ph.D. on the megachurch phenomenon, I know the origin of the word "megachurch."

meg•a•church n. A church averaging 2,000 or more people in attendance during weekly worship gatherings.

Frequent readers of this blog will know of my appreciation for Francis Dubose as the first person to use the word "missional" in the manner we do today. My "Meanings of Missional" series spends much time with Dubose.

Well, quite to my surprise, his is the first printed reference to the word "megachurch." You can find that in Francis DuBose, How Churches Grow in an Urban World, Nashville, TN, USA: Broadman Press, 1978.

But, it was megachurch uber-researcher John Vaughn who first used the term to refer to churches over 2000 in weekly attendance. (The 2000-mark is the standard today thanks to John's influence.) And, he is the first to use it in a book title, Megachurches and America's Cities: How Churches Grow (1993).

Also, in 1991, Prepare Your Church for the Future (by Carl George with Warren Bird, Revell, 1991) helped popularize the word megachurch. The book was based on some popular training Carl had done with pastors from America's largest churches for the 3 prior years. That book quickly sold over 100,000 copies, which no doubt helped popularize the word

What about gigachurch?

gig•a•church n. A church averaging 10,000 or more people in attendance during weekly worship gatherings.

Well, actually, I first saw the term used by Missouri Synod Lutheran and World Magazine editor Gene Edward Veith in an article here.

Veith expressed great enthusiasm for his newly coined word, explaining:

I realize that I have just coined a new word--the giga-church--deriving from a parallel with computer technology, in which megabytes of memory grew exponentially into gigabytes. The word "gigachurch" for metastasizing megachurches deserves wide currency. Use it and let's see if it catches on. If you hear the word elsewhere, please report, and remember that you saw it first on the Cranach blog.

But, in his comment section, one of his astute readers pointed out that it was Bill Easum who first used the word. I emailed Bill to be sure and it was the case, and he confirmed it.

The first mention I could find was in a Washington Post story that explained:

Where megachurch refers to congregations with an average of 2,000 or more worshipers every weekend, gigachurch refers to those with 10,000 or more, said Texas-based church consultant Bill Easum...

Special note: most researchers who use the word "megachurch" don't like the term "gigachurch."

Come back later today for one more megachurch interview.

(The graphic about is a Wordle of my first post of megachurch week.)

Megachurch week stretched to two weeks. Perhaps it needs a new name-- Supersized Megachurch Week.

Well, megachurch "week" is not quite done. I will have two more posts, one later today and one tomorrow. Here is what we have covered so far:

Megachurch Week-- Looking at Research
Interview with Kerry Shook
Megachurches in Outreach Magazine
Interview with Perry Noble
Who's Who in Megachurch Research
Megachurch Interview: Joel Hunter
Warren Bird's Megachurch Dissertation on Megachurches as Spectator Religion
Megachurch Interview with Brady Cooper

Enough on megachurches (for now, at least).

First, for the Church of God pastors and church planters I spent the day with on Monday, click here for the presentations I mentioned. Thanks so much for having me share with you.

On to Catalyst...

If my flight has made it (always a question when flying the Delta-owned ASA airlines), I'm at the Catalyst Conference for the next few days.

Today

I will be speaking at the Catalyst Start Lab Wednesday afternoon. I will be doing a live interview via the internet Wednesday afternoon at plantingchannel.com/catalyst. You may also want to check out the New Thing Network's Discover the Dream workshop on PlantingChannel starting at 8:45am eastern time.

Friday

My main stage session will be around 1:45pm on Friday. I will be talking about our new book, Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and Churches that Reach Them. A copy of the sampler will be in each of the registration bags.

Throughout the Week

Of course, I'll be Twittering throughout so you can follow my updates and observations from Catalyst as it all goes down.

Also, be sure to see the LifeWay and International Mission Board exhibits while you are there... I will be hanging around both of them at different times.

See you at Catalyst.

Brady Cooper is the pastor of New Vision in Murfreesboro, TN. Brady and I recently met at The Standard, a restaurant in downtown Nashville and had a little too much fun.

Last week I mentioned Warren Bird's dissertation on megachurches, and today on the blog you can download the whole thing. Those interested in what's really happening inside megachurches will benefit from his dissertation which explores the stereotype of whether most people are only spectators at really big churches. This is particularly helpful as it explores "free rider theory."

Free rider, a term coined in 1965 by Mancur Olson, is used for those who do not contribute in the provision of a public good, but enjoy these goods anyway. In churches, these are the individuals who come and benefit, but do not yet commit. So even if they do make substantial financial contributions, the average level of commitment in the church is lowered and the whole becomes less effective. In other words, if any organization has too many "free riders," churches included, the organization will fail.

Bird analyzed national surveys for churches of all sizes for group involvement -- as a way of sorting between "spectating" and "involvement." Bird explains,

The question of whether megachurches encourage spectator religion can be addressed from many perspectives. The approach of this dissertation will be: first, the proposal of an answer (namely that the data do not support the view of megachurches as spectator religion); secondly, the presentation of social theory that might support that answer; and third, the testing of the social theory presented through quantitative analysis supported by qualitative interviews. The outcome, if the hypotheses are well constructed, if they are reliably and validly tested, and then if the findings are cogently presented, might contribute to the increase of knowledge and ultimately to the sway of public opinion. (pg. 56)

Bird concludes that people's involvement is the same or better in larger churches than in smaller churches. These findings were later cited and expanded upon in the book Beyond Megachurch Myths (2007) by Scott Thumma and Dave Travis, and also validated in the megachurch chapter of What Americans Really Believe (2008) by Rodney Stark.

The rapid growth of megachurches, in both size and number, has surfaced several
issues of interest to sociologists. "Megachurches have exploded," Drucker says, "because
they asked, 'What is value?' to a nonchurchgoer and came up with answers the older
churches had neglected" (Drucker 1998:169-170). What value are megachurches supplying that other churches are not? "The greatest value to the thousands who now throng the megachurches--both weekdays and Sundays--is a spiritual experience rather
than a ritual."

Perhaps the most interesting sections are chapter 1, which gives a history of the development of megachurches, and the appendix, which gives photos and commentary on many U.S. megachurches. You can download Warren's dissertation below.

I could be wrong, but I am guessing that Joel Hunter and I have some unusual connections:

1. We just co-taught a doctoral seminar at Reformed Seminary.
2. We have done a funeral together (my father-in-law).
3. We both think my mother-in-law is a very nice person. (Very nice. Really.)
4. He prayed at the DNC and I, well, was near Barak Obama once.

OK, the last one probably is not really a connection.

Joel and I recently had lunch in the parlor of Reformed Seminary in Orlando (with our friend Steve Childers) and talked gospel, kingdom, politics, and a bit about my mother-in-law (grin). Later on, one of our research team members interviewed Joel.

Joel Hunter has served as the senior pastor of Northland since 1985. During his tenure the church has grown from 200 to 12,000. Northland is "A Church Distributed," meaning the church is arranged around the relationships of the congregation and partner ministries, rather than around a physical church building.

The people of the church worship at multiple sites throughout Central Florida and serve their unique, local communities. The sites are all connected during the worship experience through a two-way video connection that allows different parts of the services to be distributed among the sites and gives congregants opportunities to interact with one another in real time.

Worshipers also participate at 1,500 smaller sites worldwide via Northland's innovative Webstream application.

All of this makes Northland one of the most technologically savvy churches in America. LifeWay Research was able to talk with Pastor Joel about Northland's strategy for making disciples.

LifeWay Research: Tell us about some of the exciting things happening at Northland.

Pastor Joel Hunter: Northland is in a huge transition. We worship in a new building with all of its capabilities that was specifically built more for the people who would never come inside of a building than it was for those who would gather within this particular building. It has been a watershed moment in our history.

We have had the philosophy of being a "distributed church" for about 10 years now. And what that has meant for us is we have not only worshipped concurrently with several sites in town, but we have worshipped concurrently with people online. Now as that develops we are growing tremendously with those who are worshipping with us online. Some of the online participants signed in with all of their information while others just observe. This part of our ministry has grown tremendously. Because of this growth we are beginning to do everything and design every program so that we are not just a big church with inside programs, but so that any site of any size anywhere can be a part of our programs because we want to focus on those people who gather of any size, but especially for the worshipping point, the home church, the organic church, or whatever you want to call it.

LWR: So what does all of this mean for Northland?

Pastor Hunter: It means that these people gather together because they need some help or want to be connected to a larger group in the church to worship, but they are going to do their own pastoral care, their own education, their own community service, all of that kind of stuff where thy are. And that fellowship is important. So for us the development has really birthed a vision of being able to-- plant churches is probably too big a term for us because the term church has so much western baggage to it-- but we are enabling small congregations to do evangelism and discipleship and service and worship together all over the world. And so that's the course that we are on right now. That is where everything is pointed here in our church.

It has tremendous benefits to our people's maturity because when you come to a church and you are constantly reminded that you are just getting filled up for the people who are not there inside the church with you, and everything we do as a church is to make us witnesses and servants to those who are not regularly in church programming. It really does give you a better handle on how and what it means to love God and love your neighbor as yourself.

LWR: How would you respond to the critical comments of those that believe worshipping online is forsaking the gathering together of believers?

Pastor Hunter: First of all, the ideal of online worship is that you would gather others to worship with you where you are. So the singular worshipper that just doesn't want to go into a church, although they are still valid, is not really our target. That is why we have never been on TV. The observance of a worship experience is not the goal.

LWR: What should people do that wish to worship with Northland online?

Pastor Hunter: People just go to the website and sign in to whichever service. Online worshippers can see who is worshipping with them at that moment. And if they like they can chat with others that are signed in for that worship service as well over i-chat. They also have the option to speak with ministers on duty and they also can participate in the worship experience. Whenever the congregation is addressed and asked for their favorite scripture, for example, those online can respond. As the technology develops we will literally be able to see on the walls of our church many of those who are worshipping with us so those people will be literally in the same room. So if Denis is worshipping from South Korea or Thor from Iceland--those are two regulars we have--we will be able to see their images all in the same room. It's this kind of togetherness that goes way beyond what you would think for technology.

For people my generation, I am 60 years old, it is a little bit more difficult to imagine that this is not a very cold and artificial experience, one that is rather mechanical. But for the people who are my kids' generation, they have lived off this sort of technology.

I have three sons. They have lived online since they can remember. They do life online. And the kids just coming up now, for them there is nothing artificial about it. My generation grew up in a theater style worship or life. The coming generations will all grow up where the screen is a connection or a window to the world. The screen is some degree of intimacy although it never replaces and should actually generate geographically based togetherness. And so that is what we are trying to do. We are trying to use a virtual community to create a local community so that people have actual physical fellow Christian relationships where they live so that they can care for one another and encourage one another in ministry.

LWR: Northland is doing a great job with bringing different geographical locations together for worship through the internet, but have you developed a way in which to help your online viewers/communities to continue the worship experience after the service through things such as small groups etc? Are you going to develop leaders for those internet congregations that are growing and possibly becoming another site of Northland? If so what qualifications would you expect to see in such a leader?

Pastor Hunter: It is in development right now. Because of the philosophy that we have we are probably not going to emphasize those larger congregations that are multi sites. Once you get past a 100 people you need a certain leader with a certain skill set and a certain gift mix to develop that big a group. And that big a group also carries with it its own expense and it carries its own rate of failure (the failure of church plants in the nation). So what we are going to concentrate on are leaders of small congregations. That is, you know, a dozen, 20. That anybody can take responsibility for if they have the ongoing support and reference to people who have been trained as pastors and can support them in that in that way.

For a long time here we have done small group leadership. We have virtually ordained small group leaders. They do some of the baptisms in our church, funerals, and some of the marriages so that it all doesn't have to go back to a large church leader for those sacerdotal functions.

Ultimately what we want to do is to take any group anywhere that has three or more and somebody wants to take spiritual responsibility for this group we want to take that person and mentor them and to provide resources for them. I am not talking about money but about communication. If a person in our own congregation decides to take on that spiritual leadership for a small group, they become a spiritual leader in every sense. This has already happened in our history. So we know it works. We cannot form a church but we can equip those that are coming to Christ to bring their friends together to form and a church and we can appoint a spiritual leader where they are to guide them

So that's essentially what is in the works right now for us.

LWR: What does virtual worship look like for those inside the church walls?

Pastor Hunter: At the beginning our of services we read off a personal welcome to those that are worshipping with us online and to the rest of the world. People inside the church are excited by this. Even if your 80 years old this is still fascinating that they are worshipping with you.

But the point is, we do have people who go out in short term missions. And we have hundreds of them, that develop this heart to be linked in worship and service to people in other parts of the world. And so they really want to pour our leadership and our resources into a church that will benefit them as well as benefit those who worship in a facility at a particular address.

LWR: Do you feel that virtual worship has opened up a whole new mission opportunity?

Pastor Hunter: Oh, absolutely. For example we have a girl who has volunteered to go all over the United States to visit people who are worshipping with us online. She is taking a video camera with her and getting their story so that we can get to know them and figure out how we can serve them better. The same thing happens in different parts of the world. If we are having people who are worshipping with us online on a regular basis we are trying to create a relationship with them. We also hope that we will have people from our church interested in visiting with them in their country and getting their story. We are not just sending mission teams to countries because we have heard that there are poor people there. We are going and assisting those that worship with us. We are asking them their needs. We go to support a Christian already there who is doing ministry and support them in their ministry. So this is greatly expanding our missions program and our mission's mentality.

LWR: How has Northland successfully moved your congregation to follow along reaching different generations, because you obviously you feel that you are reaching younger generations with internet worship?

Pastor Hunter: We are not trying to get rid of our 80 year old members or to change their style of worship. If they want to come to church and go to Sunday School they can still do that. We have not leapfrogged the traditional church. We have expanded the traditional church. We have a larger vision of what being the church means and that includes people who don't walk through the door. Elders used to say that "we'll take care of and love everybody the best we can who walks through our doors". The distributed church says, "We will take care and love everybody the best we can who will never walk through our doors," also. We do not try to convince people that are really content and growing that they now need to try virtual worship.

LWR: Pastor Hunter it seems that Northland is expanding the vision of the traditional church. What is your definition of church?

Pastor Hunter:The church is Christians coming together to worship and serve in order to expand the kingdom of God.

LWR: What advice would you give to pastors in smaller churches or struggling churches about growth and reaching people?

Pastor Hunter: Well, first of all there is a ton of information on stuff about things such as discipleship, growth, or church programs. A great deal of resources can be found online and they are free. So I would encourage them to take this stuff and to use it. But here is what I would say to any pastor and any church no matter how small and struggling because I was a pastor of a church that was small and struggling. You do two things.

First of all, you love your people enough not only to minister to their hurts, but to make them ministers to other people's hurts because that is when the church really starts to grow. You can only grow from those that are not yet included if you are talking about numbers. Your attention has to be as much on those who are not yet in your congregation as those who are in your congregation. If you only pay attention to those that have been in the congregation a long time, most of them have relationships already established within that congregation. If you pay attention to the new people that come in and teach them how to minister to others they have a relationship with then most of their relationships are outside the congregation. So in your congregation minister to the hurts of people and love them where they are. But teach them to be ministers also.

And then, secondly, just get involved as a church outside the church walls. Do community service. Do short term missions, whatever it takes to give yourself away. Because that is exactly what Christ did. God came in bodily form out of a very safe environment and he just went to where the need was. And whether that is in your town or that is in another country, what will happen is the church will grow when you go literally, physically to where the need is. That is the way this church grew and that is the way that lots of churches grow.

Fascinating stuff from Joel Hunter. Feel free to give your thoughts below. And, don't mention my mother-in-law in the comments!

And, be sure to visit the other post from MegaChurchWeek at the blog:
Megachurch Week-- Looking at Research
Interview with Kerry Shook
Megachurches in Outreach Magazine
Interview with Perry Noble
Who's Who in Megachurch Research

One final note: It looks like megachurch week got too big for just one week. So, we will end it here for this week-- but post more for next week, including interviews with more pastors and more research information.

Ed

Just under a year ago, I received a phone call from Warren Bird at Leadership Network. Warren was having a party and I was invited to join the fun.

It has been a long time since I have been invited to "parties." This one involved flying to Dallas, staying overnight, and meeting some new friends.

Warren had just finished his Ph.D. dissertation and the folks at Leadership Network threw him a soirée. We had dinner with toasts by Bob Buford at a fancy restaurant. (I don't mean to sound like a yokel here, but it was VERY fancy.)

In honor of Warren's dissertation (which I will share later this week) they brought together a who's who of megachurch research, including:

o Elmer Towns
o John Vaughan
o Carl George
o Bill Easum
o Scott Thumma
o Mark Chaves
o Samuel Chand
o Gary McIntosh

In addition, the fine folks from Leadership Network (Bob, Dave Travis, Linda Stanley, and Greg Ligon) were there.

You probably recognize many of the names, but I want to point out three of them who are most active in megachurch research. To do that, a short history may be helpful.

The first person who started listing megachurches was probably Elmer Towns, which he did as a column in Christian Life magazine. The editor indicated it grabbed people attention. He would list the largest Sunday Schools (since they had larger attendance than churches until the mid-60s) and later the largest churches. Among his many books on themes of church growth were America's Largest Sunday Schools (1969) and America's Largest Churches (1972).

He turned that mantle over to John Vaughn. John has devoted his life to studying megachurches. He speaks and consults on the subject. His organization is called Chruch Growth Today, and the tagline puts it well, "America's Megachurch Research Center... since 1985." (It is important to note that he also does research on international megachurches.)

When you are in a megachurch, there is a very good chance John has already been there... and a pretty good chance he has consulted with the church. Megachurches are a labor of love for John-- and this is his specialty. Be sure to visit his site. You can't really know megachurches without some of the resources on John's site. See Church Growth Today.

Warren Bird and Scott Thumma are also frequently engaged in megachurch research. I mentioned them earlier this week related to research they just released.

They recently completed an in-depth 12 church study that includes questionnaires from 25,000 megachurch attendees which they will begin releasing in February 2009. This data parallels other broad national data so we will be able to compare small evangelical churches to the large evangelical megachurches. The study will also have considerable information about where mega attendees are coming from and the depth of their spiritual life and personal practices.

Warren jokes that he attends a support group for people who can't resist stopping anytime he spots a big church. He usually co-publishes with others, co-authoring 21 books to date, many of them with megachurch pastors. Warren works for Leadership Network, which works with many megachurches and releases a lot of research on megachurches, all for free download. Check out leadnet.org/megachurch and leadnet.org/salary. He wrote his dissertation on megachurches that I will share soon.

Scott's interest is more academic as a seminary professor and researcher at the Hartford Institute. Scott has a very helpful web page here and a searchable database here. He co-authored a book with Dave Travis, Megachurch Myths, which is one of the most comprehensive analyses of the phenomenon.

If you want to know megachurches, hearing from these three is important.

And, if you are a megachurch, I would encourage you to submit your data to John Vaughn and the Hartford Institute.

I have had the chance to be in a few green rooms with Perry and he is a pretty interesting guy. First, he admitted to owning parachute pants in the 1980s here at the blog. Second, I would like to think I contributed to his personal development by encouraging him to update those glasses (he told me he has updated them, so that is good news). Third, there are few churches that would actually point to YouTube videos criticizing them, but they did (and, full confession, I watched the video twice).

Perry Noble is the founding and senior pastor of NewSpring Church in Anderson and Greenville, South Carolina. At just eight years old the church averages over 8,000 people during weekend services and is launching another campus in Florence, South Carolina this year to reach more people. NewSpring is also launching an "internet campus" in 2009. Perry will tell you their growth is the fruit of God's work through the clear preaching of the gospel. Someone else might want to clam it's the satanic influence of Guitar Hero. Knowing Perry and NewSpring church - I believe it is their passion to see men and women reached for the gospel.

LifeWay Research had the opportunity to talk with Perry about what's happening at NewSpring.

LifeWay Research: Perry can you tell us why you think New Spring is growing?

Pastor Perry Noble: I think there are a couple of things that our church is doing but first of all let me just say this. I don't think we are the perfect church at all. And ultimately it is just by God's grace that we are growing. I really don't know, but if I had to guess, two things pop out in my mind.

Number one, our main focus is Jesus Christ. We focus on the gospel. I preach salvation. I don't have time to get caught up in political agendas or Christian boycotts or start campaigning for some sort of moral agenda. I am called by God to preach and teach the gospel because the gospel changes lives. So I don't allow myself to get side tracked on what I would consider to be either non essential issues or controversial issues that haven't been solved for like 500 or 1000 years and never will be solved this side of heaven. I just want to tell people about who Jesus is because back in 1990 I was pretty much on my way to hell and Jesus changed my life. And I just think he can do it for everybody and he is still changing me, even today. Even though I am a Christian, he is still continuing to shape me.

Secondly, we have fought really hard to keep things very simple. I don't think that success in the church means you have more to do. I believe it means you have less to do. And so we don't allow programs to dictate every night of the week or whatever. We keep things really simple. Dr. Rainer and his book Simple Church was just a huge confirmation that we have got that right. We want to be very simple in everything we do. We want to be very strategic in everything we do. And so we just keep things lean and focus on Jesus.

LWR: You have been sharing God's word in some very interesting ways through your sermon series such as the "You Asked For It" series. How did this series come about?

Noble: Honestly, I listen to a lot of podcasts. I listened to Mark Driscoll and he did this series. He said he was reading through the book of 1 Corinthians and he realized that the book of 1 and 2 Corinthians was basically brought on by the Church in Corinth writing Paul a letter asking him a bunch of questions. And so he was like, "Well, I want to do that for my church." And so he had his church submit questions. And they went on the website and they voted and they did all that stuff. He did like a nine to ten week series based on the results of the internet survey. And so I was like "Wow, We should try that."

Mark Driscoll is in Seattle and New Spring is in Anderson, so I knew the questions were going to be completely different. I was right. The questions were different. In April we allowed people to write in their questions or submit them online. After they were submitted we categorized them into 18 categories. We then put these 18 categories on the website and allowed people to vote on which ones they most wanted to address. This step happened over the course of a month and there were over 4000 votes. We then picked the top six and those were the subjects of my sermons.

LWR: Are you always thinking outside of the box? What are some other areas that you are looking for to make your messages relevant to your people?

Noble: I think one of the things I am trying to do is trying to figure out how to cut down my message time. I preach for like 50 minutes to an hour. I would really like to cut it down. You know, when you consider the average sitcom is 22 minutes [once commercials are removed]. In those 22 minutes they completely develop characters, a plot and bring resolution to a conflict. I don't think I'll ever preach 22 minutes, but I am trying to cut my message time down.

The other thing I am trying to do is to make my messages memorable with a stage prop or something like that. I don't do that all the time because I don't want the tail to ever wag the dog, and I believe the gospel should be the central part of every message. Everything done in the message or in the service should be done to enhance the gospel. I don't ever want to say, "Here is a cool illustration. How can we revolve the gospel around it?" I always want to go, "This is the gospel. What can we do to really drill this in to somebody's mind?"

LWR: In recent years the church trend has been to start multi-sites or to plant churches. I think now we beginning to see a new trend in the form of internet campuses. New Spring is beginning a virtual campus in 2009. Tell us a bit about that journey.

Noble: Well, I am very excited because I just think that one of the things that the Church is going to have to do is accept that technology is here to stay.

I heard Rick Warren say one time - "I don't think God allowed us to have the internet so pornography can become the giant in the world. I think God allowed us to have the internet so we could reach the world." I believe this with all my heart.

You know, when Jesus is talking about end times in Matthew 24 and again in the gospel of Luke he says one of the signs of the times coming to an end is the gospel will be preached all over the world. Well, through the internet I can share Jesus in countries where I am technically not allowed to go. I can't go in there as a missionary. I can't go in there as a pastor. But I can go in there online and people will watch. And so I am really excited because the internet campus opens up a huge, huge, huge audience that otherwise I wouldn't have the privilege of telling them about Jesus. That is why I am more excited because at heart I am just an evangelist. I think it takes evangelism to the next level.

LWR: Which church/churches did you study for the development of your internet campus? Is New Spring modeling their internet ministry after any other church?

Noble: We studied Life Church pretty closely and asked the a lot of questions. Craig and those guys do it just as good as anybody out there. Tony Morgan is actually over a lot of our internet stuff and the development of it.

LWR: What advice would you give to churches in America? What elements would you say are a must in any church?

Noble: I would say two things. Number one, you must keep your focus on Jesus. Don't lose sight of the gospel. Don't lose sight of the fact that people are dying and going to go to hell unless they know Jesus. If the church loses the centrality and the urgency of that message, I think the church dies. And I think the reason that churches all over America today are closing their doors and shutting down is because they forget the gospel. They have forgotten that Jesus Christ died on a cross not so we could have a holy huddle or a stained glass fortress or us four and no more. He died on a cross so that we could reach the world. They have got sin in their lives. And because of that they are separated from God. They go to hell. That is not necessary. Jesus died on the cross to make forgiveness and redemption completely possible.

Number two, don't try to be anything except who God called you to be. Maybe God didn't call you to go multi-site. Maybe God called you to one location. You need to be completely content with that. Maybe God called you to go plant churches instead of doing video venues. You need to do that. Maybe God told you to do video venues and plant churches. You need to do that. You don't ever, every need to feel pressure because another church somewhere else in America or somewhere else in the world is doing something to think, "Oh, wow, we have got do that." Our call as a church is to do exactly what God called us to do. In the book of Revelation chapter two and chapter three Jesus gives seven different messages to seven different churches. If he wanted every church to be the same he would have just said, "All right. Here is my message to every church and it is just the same." But he addressed seven churches specifically and said, "Here is what is going on with you. Here is what is going on with you. Here is what is going on with you." I just think that each church has a unique DNA that it needs to focus on. The gospel should be central, but the strategy and the structure of the church should be completely open to the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

Perry's blog, perrynoble.com, is in my Google reader and is always an interesting read.

Watch and pray for Perry as I believe his influence will continue to grow.

We're moving through Megachurch Week here at the blog and I wanted to draw your attention to the article I wrote for Outreach Magazine called, Learning from America's Largest and Fastest Growing Churches.

As we talked with churches and gathered the information for the OUTREACH 100 Largest and Fastest-Growing Churches in America, we saw several dichotomies, including the one developing between small and large churches. If current trends continue, the number of medium-sized churches will continue to decrease, and the bulk of U.S. churches will tend to be very large or very small. While most churches have always been small, large churches getting larger...

While churches are getting larger, attendees are often not unified in one location as more megachurches add satellite sites...

While last year we highlighted a growing interest in churches on the lists becoming multicultural, this year we found a heightened interest in churches becoming multigenerational. As Baby Boomers age and the number of senior adults in America reaches record highs, leaders are recognizing the need to be a church for all ages...

Regardless of your church's size or shape, Christ calls each of us to seek out fresh ways to contextualize the Gospel for a dying world.

You can read the whole article at Sermon Central.

The folks at Outreach Magazine have created helpful landing pages which provide access to more information about the churches on the lists: FASTEST / LARGEST