Interesting Trivia about Megachurch Pastors

Megachurch pastors are a rare breed. They represent 0.3% of North America’s churches but  they draw almost 10% of weekly Protestant worshippers. Leadership Network recently conducted  a survey of 232 megachurch pastors. The following are a few of the study’s initial findings:

• 20% of the churches became "megachurches" since 2006, as defined by attendance of 2,000 or  more adults and children on a typical weekend.
• 6% of megachurch pastors are currently under age 40.
• 10% have a church board of 20 or more people!
• 14% say that more than 50% of their church's newest members came to faith in Christ through  the ministry of their church.
• 96% are in their first marriage.
• 53% grew up either unchurched (22%) or in a non-evangelical church (31%)
• 7% indicated they plan to retire at age 90 or higher, which we interpret to mean "never"!

These are just a handful of the many interesting findings in the full report which releases  next week. The pastors surveyed represent a wide range of ages and denominational  traditions, and serve in megachurch congregations from 38 different states and a handful of  countries—including four from Canada. From Pastor to Teacher: Leadership Network's 2009  Large-Church Senior Pastor will be available on July 14th at leadnet.org/megachurches.        

In the meantime, if you don’t already receive Advance, our free twice monthly e-newsletter you can subscribe or view past issues here. Advance  offers trends and resources and highlights current innovations in today's church.

Warren Bird, Ph.D., is Research Director at Leadership Network, and co-author of 21 books on various aspects of church health and innovation.

Comments

[Scott Couchenour]

Interesting insights & stats.