The new Outreach magazine is out with its annual list of the top ten largest churches in the U. S.

Topping the chart (church and pastor)

1. Lakewood Church, Houston, Texas, Joel Osteen, (43,500)

2. North Point Community Church, Alpharetta, Ga., Andy Stanley (24,325)

3. Second Baptist Church, Houston, Texas, Ed Young Sr. (24,041)

4. Willow Creek Community Church, South Barrington, Ill., Bill Hybels (24,000)

5. Southeast Christian Church, Louisville, Ky., Dave Stone (19,230)

According to their press release, more than a million people attend the 100 mega- megachurches’ 384 worship sites (which range from sports stadiums to prisons and apartment buildings). Nearly half the list of 100 are non-denominational churches and most are South and Midwest.

There are lots of other details like that but… the larger question is not really answered in the documentation on how more and more people are turning up at the massive complexes with multiple ministries.

Ed Stetzer, of LifeWay Research, which did the statistics for Outreach, says:

It is increasingly difficult to discern what “church attendance” is. Does it consist of the people gathered in seats in one room on Sunday morning; the people watching via video in a nearby location; those meeting with 25 others in a home streaming from another state, or individuals watching the stream on a monitor alone?

I asked Stetzer more about online worship. He describes it as a great way to get biblical teaching to “people who wouldn’t have access or initial interest in going to a church to hear it.”

Read More: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/post/2010/09/church-megachurch-evangelical/1