MEGACHURCH ATTENDERS:

1
MEGACHURCH ATTENDERS
Why They Come and Why Some Stay

The first release of findings from a
25,000-attender survey of a representative
sample of U.S. megachurches Scott Thumma
(Hartford Institute) Warren Bird (Leadership
Network)
2
A megachurch is any Protestant Christian
congregation with a sustained average weekly
attendance of 2,000 persons or more in its
worship services. 
3
Field Study of U.S. Megachurches 2008
Research took place from January to August 2008
On-site visit for first-hand observation,
interviews and focus groups (352 in groups
124 individual interviews) Staff survey
(718 completed, 75 response rate) Ex-attender
surveys (60 returned out of approximately 400)
Participation in 2008 Survey of North
America's Largest Churches (Summary report
on flashdrive, 400 churches) All-congregation
attender survey (all services all campuses
on one weekend, 24,900 respondents out of
47,516 attenders, 58 response rate)
4
Comparison Data U. S. Congregational Life
Survey (USCLS)

• Random national survey of congregations of
  all sizes and traditions
• Done in 2001 (redone in 2008, released later this
  year)
• Number of attenders 122,404 people of
  churches with average attendance of 186
• Primary investigators Cynthia Woolever and
  Deborah Bruce, Presbyterian Church, USA
  research office.
• Project Website www.USCongregations.org

5
A comparison of megachurch attender findings
with the random sample USCLS results
6
2008 Field Study megachurch sample 60.5
female USCLS 61.4 female from churches of
all sizes   US population 51 female  
Average age of attenders 40 years old USCLS
50 years average (2002) US population 44
years average
52 college graduate, post-grad work or
degree USCLS 38 college graduate or
higher US population 23 college graduate or
higher
7
53 married 31 single 16 separated, divorced,
widowed, other USCLS 66 married 16
single 18 separated, divorced, widowed, other
38 married couples with kids, 21 couples no
kids, 16 single alone, 16 several adults
same household, 9 single parent with
kids   USCLS 41 Married couples with kids, 28
couples no kids, 14 single alone, 10 several
adults same household, 6 single parent with kids
8
Megachurch Attenders 39 under 50,000 35
50-99,000 26 100,000 or more USCLS
2001 52 under 50,000 33
50-99,000 15 100,000 or more
9
Length of attendance
10
Frequency of worship
11
Level of financial giving
12
Personal devotional practice
13
Previous church connections
14
Volunteering
15
Church home
16
Why They Come to a Megachurch
17
What first attracted them to the church?
18
What brought them to the church
19
How many they invited in the past year
20
Newer attenders use the web more
21
How they moved fromspectator to participant
22
Positive participation change in last two years
23
Why Some of Them Stay at a Megachurch
24
What keeps them attracted to the church now?
25
Spiritual needs are being met
26
Growing faith over past year
27
Increased giving over previous church
28
Involved in diverse groups
29
Number of groups involved in
30
A sense of belonging
31
Encouragement to get involved
32
Encouraged to find and use their gifts
33
Encouraged to serve the wider community
34
Strong effort to train them as leaders
35
Why They Come

• They come mostly in the front door (worship)
• They come mostly at the invitation of friend
  or family compared to walk-ins or media ads
• An impressive amount of those already attending
  said they invited at least one person to church
  last year
• The pull of worship is the strongest to a
  newcomer, followed by pastor and church
  reputation
• The newer they are the more likely they are to
  check out your churchs website before they come
• Size, style of worship, choice of ministries,
  multiple paths to getting their spiritual needs
  met.

36
Why Some of Them Stay
Not all stay revolving front and back doors
challenge for megachurches even more than most
churches. Senior Pastor becomes more
important.but so does social/community outreach
adult programs Friends and Family got them in,
got them connected, got them involved a
continuous bridge into the life of the
church Involvement in small groups (of all
sorts) sense of belonging Encouraged to find
and use gifts, trained, and a place to
serve Spiritual needs met grow in faith
increased giving
37
What your church could do to increase retention
With visitors and newer attenders Use family
and friends to be bridge into church, into
participation, and into involvement Treat them
as active participants get them
involved With all attenders Develop
individuals gifts and callings Offer multiple
avenues options for involvement Make
Christianity costly demand more of
them Partner with other organizations to
increase diversity of ways to be involved
38
(No Transcript)