2022 Largest Participating Churches

The shape of the American megachurch is constantly shifting.
What are the churches at the forefront of the movement and how are they innovating?

Each year, the Lifeway Research team surveys churches, verifies the numbers, calculates the results and compiles the lists. In preparation for this annual report, we solicited participation from the churches that were featured in our previous reports. This is a self-reported survey, based on attendance averages, not membership. Churches that participated answered questions about their 2022 in-person, online and adult discipleship attendance averages for February and March (excluding Easter) as compared to their 2021 numbers.

In addition this year, to provide as complete of a list as possible for the Largest churches, we also drew numbers from the Hartford Institute for Religion Research (HIRR.Hartsem.edu ), which is not a survey, but is secondary research drawn from publicly available attendance data. We integrated that public data with the self-reported survey from Lifeway. Whenever the survey and the public data reported on the same church, we reported the church’s response in the survey.

Explore the Outreach 100 study and how your church can participate in the coming years »
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1
Life.Church
Life.Church Edmond, OK - Craig Groeschel
● Largest
2
Church of the Highlands
Church of the Highlands Birmingham, AL - Chris Hodges
● Largest
3
Lakewood Church
Lakewood Church Houston, TX - Joel Osteen
● Largest
4
Crossroads Church
Crossroads Church Cincinnati, OH - Brian Tome
● Largest
5
Christ's Church of the Valley
Christ's Church of the Valley Peoria, AZ - Ashley Wooldridge
● Fastest ● Largest
6
Saddleback Church
Saddleback Church Lake Forest, CA - Rick Warren
● Largest
7
Elevation Church
Elevation Church Matthews, NC - Steven Furtick
● Largest
8
Southeast Christian Church
Southeast Christian Church Louisville, KY - Kyle Idleman
● Largest ● Reproducing
9
Christ Fellowship Church
Christ Fellowship Church Palm Beach Gardens, FL - Todd Mullins
● Largest
10
North Point Ministries
North Point Ministries Alpharetta, GA - Andy Stanley
● Largest
11
Fellowship Church
Fellowship Church Grapevine, TX - Ed Young
● Largest
12
Central Church
Central Church Henderson, NV - Jud Wilhite
● Largest
13
Mount Zion Baptist Church
Mount Zion Baptist Church Nashville, TN - Joseph W. Walker III
● Largest
14
Gateway Church
Gateway Church Southlake, TX - Robert Morris
● Fastest ● Largest
15
Bayside Church
Bayside Church Roseville, CA - Ray Johnston
● Largest
16
Dream City Church
Dream City Church Phoenix, AZ - Luke Barnett
● Largest
17
LCBC Church
LCBC Church Manheim, PA - Jason Mitchell
● Largest
18
Woodlands Church
Woodlands Church The Woodlands, TX - Kerry Shook
● Largest
19
The Rock Church
The Rock Church San Diego, CA - Miles McPherson
● Largest
20
12Stone Church
12Stone Church Lawrenceville, GA - Kevin Myers
● Largest