Articles for tag: Growing Churches

January 1, 2022

Megan Rawlings

Megan Rawlings

Delighting Dad

They were turning off the lights and beginning to lock the doors after worship at church this past Sunday. The crowd stuck around longer than usual because, well, I’m not really sure why, but I know it’s a sign of healthy and growing churches, so I was not upset. Anyway, my niece, Carter, knocked on the office door where I help count the offering so she could say goodbye before she made a trip with her parents to the next town over. “Bye, Mimi. I just really miss you,” she said. “Well, Bug, why don’t I come along so we

May 1, 2020

Kent E. Fillinger

Kent E. Fillinger

The Difference a Decade Makes

(See our related post, “2019 Fast Facts from Our Annual Survey of Churches.” Also, we have prepared a download that includes a complete listing of the 439 churches that participated in our survey; the download also spotlights the 10 fastest-growing churches in each category and those churches with the highest baptism ratios. Go here to ACCESS THE DOWNLOAD. _ _ _ By Kent Fillinger Twenty-two years ago marked the first time Christian Standard published a list of churches that averaged more than 1,000 in worship attendance. Sixteen years ago, I started analyzing the data and soon added an annual survey

October 24, 2018

Christian Standard

Fastest-Growing Church Listing Includes 8 from Our Fellowship (Plus News Briefs)

Eight churches from our fellowship made Outreach magazine’s listing of 100 fastest-growing churches. Those churches include: No. 11: Eastside Christian Church, Anaheim, Calif. (Gene Appel, senior pastor); attendance of 8,665; grew by 21 percent. (Eastside’s logo is pictured above.) No. 12: Crossroads Christian Church, Corona, Calif. (Chuck Booher, senior pastor); 5,617; 24 percent. No. 19: Mountain Christian Church, Joppa, Md. (Ben Cachiaras, lead pastor); 6,118; 19 percent. No. 55: Christ’s Church of the Valley, Peoria, Ariz. (Ashley Wooldridge, senior pastor); 29,025; 7 percent. No. 56: Traders Point Christian Church, Indianapolis (Aaron Brockett, lead pastor); 8,144; 9 percent. No. 75: 2|42

October 15, 2018

Christian Standard

What Makes the Fastest-Growing Churches Grow?

By Jim Nieman   How do you explain your church’s tremendous growth in 2017? That’s what we asked lead ministers of the fastest-growing churches in three attendance categories from Christian Standard’s annual survey of churches: churches of 1,000 or more (megachurches and emerging megachurches profiled in May), churches of 250 to 999 (large and medium churches—June), and churches 249 and fewer (small and very small churches—July). All three churches have one thing in common—new facilities—but that wasn’t the only explanation for their growth. We spoke with and/or emailed questions to: Aaron Brockett, lead pastor of Traders Point Christian Church (Whitestown,

June 19, 2017

Christian Standard

WHERE’S THE STEEPLE? “” 2|42 Community Church, Brighton, MI

By Justin Horey and Jennifer Johnson 2|42 Community Church (pronounced “Two Forty-Two”) didn”t mind being a portable church in its early years. In fact, lead pastor David Dummitt liked being portable. He found that the weekly set-up and tear-down made it easy to involve men, who sometimes struggle to find their place in a new church. Moreover, the lack of a building allowed 2|42 to invest more money into ministry and community outreach. During that time, Dummitt said, the number one question he heard from other pastors was, “When are you going to build?” Dummitt and his team didn”t want

May 4, 2015

Christian Standard

Megachurches and More: The 2014 Lists

Our annual megachurch listing is one of CHRISTIAN STANDARD”s most popular features. This year 347 churches participated, including 64 megachurches (those with 2,000 or more in weekly attendance) and 70 emerging megachurches (1,000 to 1,999). This chart also includes listings for scores of large churches (with average attendance of 500 to 999) and medium churches (250-499) Click here to view and download the 2014 Charts, or click on them individually: “¢Â 2014 Megachurches “¢Â 2014 Emerging Megachurches “¢Â 2014 Large Churches “¢Â 2014 Medium Churches As a bonus, we have searched through the lists to determine the average size of megachurches and emerging megachurches in

January 22, 2015

Michael C. Mack

Want to Grow? Decide to Reach the Lost.

Tim Harlow, senior minister at Parkview Christian Church in Orland Park, Illinois (which ranked No. 52 on Outreach magazine”s fastest-growing church list in 2013, and which now ranks as the 66th largest church in America), talked about the turning points for the church, which averaged 150 per weekend when he arrived in 1990 and now averages 7,510. “Since 1998 we have grown an average of 21 percent a year,” he told Outreach. “I firmly believe that the reason Parkview is on any of these lists is because God looked down on a group of dedicated leaders who made one single

October 17, 2013

Christian Standard

Multisite Done Right

By Ed Stetzer Multisite appears to be the new big thing. Multisite churches have been regarded as the cure for all of the church”s ills, the most evil plague on the body of Christ, and everything in between. Opinions of multisite churches run rampant, but facts are often ignored in evaluating what has undoubtedly become the new normal for large and growing churches””and even for some small churches. The number of multisite churches is growing rapidly. In the 1950s, there were just a few. In 2012, there were more than 5,000 different churches with two or more geographic campuses. Sixty-two

October 5, 2010

Mark A. Taylor

Christian churches

“Nondenominational” Wins the Day!

Christian Churches and the Growth of Nondenominational Congregations This article reflects on Marshall Leggett’s comments at the Congress of Elders about the strengths of independent Christian churches. It also notes the growing number of large and fast-growing churches identifying as nondenominational, including many congregations connected with the Christian churches. Marshall Leggett described Christian churches as “radically congregationally governed.” Outreach magazine’s lists showed many large and fast-growing churches identifying as nondenominational. The article argues that Christian churches may be well positioned for growth amid declining denominational loyalty. The north entrance of Savannah (Georgia) Christian Church By Mark A. Taylor “We in

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