Despite Lakewood and Potter’s House, America Is Not Home to the Largest Megachurches

The largest megachurches in the world are all in Asia and Africa, according to a new study released by Leadership Network. 

Yoido Full Gospel Church in South Korea has the most attendees with 480,000, followed by Nigeria’s Deeper Christian Ministry and Onnuri Community Church, each with 75,000. This particular list does not list any United States churches.  

“Accurate data allows us to see the larger picture of what God seems to be doing. For starters, you’ll observe that the world’s biggest churches are not in the United States (and further, the United States did not even start the trend of megachurches),” Leadership Network’s Warren Bird writes.  

“You’ll also see which countries have the newer growth of larger churches (and as this list grows, I’m convinced that we’ll document that there are far more megachurches outside the United States than in it). As one example, India today has more believers than at any time in its 4,000-year history, and as my list populates, I suspect we’ll find a growing number of megachurches there. You can explore everything from average pastor age to the likelihood level of Pentecostal/charismatic theology in these large churches,” he says.  

Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church has an average of 43,500, which would rank it in the top 20 most populous churches in the world, according to a Hartford Institute on Religion compilation.  

Andy Stanley’s Northpoint Community in Atlanta averages 30,629 attendees, which would land it in the top 30 churches worldwide.