Christian Churches Ranked Among America’s Largest and Fastest-Growing Congregations
Several Christian churches appeared on Outreach magazine’s lists of the largest and fastest-growing churches in America. Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, ranked fifth largest and 27th fastest growing. The report points to notable attendance and growth numbers while inviting further reflection beyond size alone.
- Southeast Christian Church ranked fifth among America’s largest churches.
- Seventeen Christian churches appeared across the two Outreach magazine lists.
- The Christian churches listed represented more than 110,000 in weekend worship attendance.
Mark A. Taylor
Congratulations to Southeast Christian Church, Louisville, Kentucky, the fifth largest church and the 27th fastest growing church in America. Southeast was one of 17 congregations in the fellowship of Christian churches included in the two lists, published by Outreach magazine in September.
The lists were based on self-reported February and March attendance weekend attendance averages in a research project involving more than 8,000 churches, according to Outreach. LifeWay Research conducted the study.
Largest Christian Churches on the Outreach List
Ten of the 100 largest churches in America are among the Christian churches, including two in the top 10. (The numbers here and in the second list indicate each congregation’s ranking in the list.)
- 5 Southeast Christian Church, Louisville, KY
- 9 Central Christian Church, Henderson, NV
- 16 Christ’s Church of the Valley, Peoria, AZ
- 37 Southland Christian Church, Nicholasville, KY
- 50 Shepherd of the Hills Church, Porter Ranch, CA
- 51 Real Life Ministries, Post Falls, ID
- 69 Central Christian Church of the East Valley, Mesa, AZ
- 88 Parkview Christian Church in Orland Park (IL)
- 94 Savannah Christian Church, Savannah, GA
- 99 Community Christian Church, Naperville, IL
Fastest-Growing Christian Churches on the Outreach List
According to Outreach, “Rankings for Fastest-Growing Churches are determined by factoring both percentage growth and numerical gain.” Among the 100 fastest-growing churches in America, 13 are from the Christian churches (* indicates the church appeared on both lists):
- 14 Real Life Christian Church, Clermont, FL
- 17 Parkview Christian Church in Orland Park (IL)*
- 26 Christ’s Church of the Valley, Peoria, AZ*
- 27 Southeast Christian Church, Louisville, KY*
- 34 Central Christian Church, Henderson, NV*
- 37 New Hope Church, Manuel, TX
- 55 The Crossing, Quincy, IL
- 57 Traders Point Christian Church, Indianapolis, IN
- 66 The Crossing, a Christian Church, Las Vegas, NV
- 74 Southland Christian Church, Nicholasville, KY*
- 78 Mountain Christian Church, Joppa, MD
- 87 White River Christian Church, Noblesville, IN
- 97 Community Christian Church, Naperville, IL*
The Christian churches in the largest list averaged more than 110,000 in weekend worship attendance. Those in the fastest-growing list grew by a total of close to 11,000 in weekend worship attendance. And while these numbers are worth noting for their sheer size alone, the Outreach report stimulates thoughts beyond size.
Watch this Web site for some further thoughts from me about all this.
Author: Mark A. Taylor
Mark A. Taylor, who served as Christian Standard editor from 2003 to 2017, retired in June 2017 after almost 41 years with Standard Publishing (Christian Standard Media).
