January 24, 2024
There is still time to complete Christian Standard's Annual Survey of Churches. This survey of 2023 data is designed for every Restoration Movement church (Independent Christian Churches and Churches of Christ)—from the largest to smallest—and takes only a few minutes to complete . . .
May 1, 2023
AVERAGE WEEKLY IN-PERSON WORSHIP ATTENDANCE Megachurches: 5,136 (22 churches) Emerging Megachurches: 1,367 (37 churches) Large Churches: 714 (49 churches) Medium Churches: 361 (61 churches) Small Churches: 159 (83 churches) Very Small Churches: 51 (118 churches) _ _ _ AVERAGE WEEKLY IN-PERSON + ONLINE WORSHIP ATTENDANCE Megachurches: 6,375 (36 churches) Emerging Megachurches: 1,393 (45 churches) Large Churches: 705 (44 churches) Medium Churches: 363 (57 churches) Small Churches: 161 (87 churches) Very Small Churches: 53 (101 churches) _ _ _ TOP 3 FASTEST-GROWING CHURCHES (2021-22)* Megachurches: 67.4%: Southbrook Christian Church, Miamisburg, OH 53.8%: Southeast Christian Church, Louisville, KY 53.7%: The Crossing, Quincy,
December 31, 2019
By Jerry Harris The January issue of Christian Standard focuses on the business side of church. Leaders make decisions every day about spending, staff, volunteers, fundraising, organizational structure, leader development, staff and volunteer education, debt, facility management, marketing, media, and online presence. Yet, despite all of that, it is rather amazing how little most church leaders know about business, finance, real estate, administration, or management. Many mainly rural and small churches are closing daily because they can no longer manage their own existence. Attendance and giving might be dwindling; the churches may no longer be able to pay for a
June 10, 2018
By Kent E. Fillinger “Is monthly attendance the new norm?” asked the headline of a recent article by Warren Bird, director of research at Leadership Network. The trend for several years is that regular churchgoers attend less frequently. Bird said his research shows the typical church reaches 1.8 times its average weekly attendance in a month. He said the average doesn’t change much regardless of the size of the church, age of the church, or age of the lead pastor. Therefore, a typical church can determine how many different people attend each month by multiplying the average weekend worship attendance
May 2, 2013
Some churches and church leaders avoid measuring ministries in the church out of fear or from a desire not to be held accountable. Are you afraid of discovering something you don”t want to know? By Kent E. Fillinger “The church is in a difficult time. But the church doesn”t understand it”s in a difficult time because it doesn”t know the truth about itself,”* said Dave Peterson, senior pastor of Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church in Houston, Texas. “Rich Stearns [president of World Vision] observes that a segment within the Christian culture seems to say, “˜We”re good people doing good things, and
September 13, 2009
 by Kent Fillinger/Ben Simms This is our first Medium-Sized Churches chart for churches that averaged 500-999 for worship. This listing of 66 churches includes church name, city, senior minister, Web site, average attendance for 2008, and number of baptisms. (This is not a complete listing of such churches; it is a listing of Medium-Sized Churches that participated in our survey.) The chart/pdf that is accessible below contains the entire 66-church listing. Click here to look at this chart of the 2008 MEDIUM-SIZED CHURCHES.     This listing is part of The 2008 Medium-Sized Church Report: Deluxe Edition, which is available as a
September 13, 2009
 Compiled by Ben Simms A COMPARISON: The combined attendance of the 66 medium-sized churches we surveyed, 46,392, is smaller than the combined attendance of the four largest megachurches. OUR NORTHERN NEIGHBORS: It”s been said a Canadian church of 500 should be considered a “megachurch.” Hats off to the two north-of-the-border churches on the list: Churchill Meadows Christian in Mississauga, Ontario, and Bow Valley Christian in Calgary, Alberta.  DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE: The combined megachurch attendance roughly equals the population of Cincinnati, Ohio, while the combined attendance of the medium-sized churches that participated in our survey is approximately the
September 9, 2009
By Mark A. Taylor Late last year when Kent Fillinger, Ben Simms, and I were planning our annual megachurch issue, Kent and Ben had a new idea. “Why don”t we do the same research with a group of smaller churches?” I thought that idea sounded interesting, and the result is the issue you”re holding in your hands. As is always true with projects of this kind, getting churches to send us their data is the most difficult part. For this issue, we invited churches in repeated printed and e-mailed announcements. Kent and Ben made several personal contacts. We fell short
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