As far as I know, the "mega-church" phenomenon is limited mostly to America. According to Wikipedia, the virus has also spread to South Korea.

"A megachurch is a term used (primarily in the United States) to describe a Protestant church having 2,000 or more persons in average weekend attendance."

There are over 1,300 of these in the USA.

Do these even exist in Canada, Australia, England, Germany, South America?

So this doesn't count then?



Nor this

Just off the top of my head I would say NZ, Australia and Nigeria for a start.. 2000 pretty small for mega status, thing is that groups this big and this rich occur they are targets for hostile takeovers and splits.. What's the saying? "we don't steal sheep, we just grow grass.." and fleece them no doubt.
Check out this line of mega:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillsong_Church

AFAIK, not ever here. Nor in Japan for that matter.
Other than that I don't know.

Also, why is the definition limited to Protestant churches?

I live near a couple mega churches in Canada and I also just heard on the radio that there are 30 or 40 (can't remember the exact number) in the country. The radio program defined it the same way, as having 2,000 weekend attendees. I've been to both of the local big ones and I can understand the draw. You can have some anonymity while having access to many different types of support groups, children's programs, social services etc.

Personally I'm ambivalent to large churches, turned off by high paid pastors and the external gloss that you see on the people, the building and the presentations, but simultaneously appreciating the higher level of security with children's programs (at least at one of the local ones), for example, and the breadth of services that can only be afforded to churches with so many resources in both $ and man power.


(edited for accuracy)

You often see churches overflowing in Vietnam. I don't know if it amounts to 2000 though. Probably more down to the strict controls over building more churches, so there aren't enough for the people who want to go.

I work a few hundred metres from Hillsong, and one of my employees is a 'team leader' there. They've managed to swing it so that a new metro line being developed through the area will have a stop outside their door. They've got some pull with the pollies, funnily enough.

The biggest church in Germany is the Cologne Cathedral. A very beautiful building with about 1200 seats + standing room for another 2800 people. So about 4000 people fit in. About 20.000 people visit it per day. But of course thats the tourists and not necessarily believers praying there.

Thomas Eshuis wrote:AFAIK, not ever here. Nor in Japan for that matter.
Other than that I don't know.

Also, why is the definition limited to Protestant churches?

The nearest got to an American styled mega church was Johan Maasbach World Missionary which is now been carried on by his son David who appears weekly on a small commercial channel. Evangelical protestants who took over an old 1950's cinema called the Capitol in the Hague.

Back in the '60's they did pull in a couple of thousand. Billy Graham also visited him.

Now it has gone very quiet with only few people attending. Like all good evangelical organisations it imploded. Certain members drew up a "black book" about all the frailties of Johan and his son including innumerable affaires with female worshippers.

I don't know of any of these institutions in the UK, but then I don't know much about church type people. My experience is that Christianity here anyway is mainly personal and uncool, CofE "oo well er God er doesn't really er like this and that er (grandfatherly smile-frown) but OK, fine er would you like some er cake and perhaps you could spare er a penny or two for the er church roof? Sorry, sorry, no, er I quite understand that you have to pay Tilly's ballet class fees...well, whenever you can er manage it then..? Wonderful...will we er see you at church this week? Ah yes, I perfectly understand that you er need to have a lie in on Sunday er...well hope to see you soon!" type of thing. I gather Afro-Caribbean gospel type affairs are a bit more enthusiastic, but I've never come across anything which would class as a mega church. I googled, and all I found was a piece by a sky pilot explaining how massive congregations are detrimental to the people involved.

I've heard Vatican City is home to a couple of large-ish churches.

Scot Dutchy wrote:

Thomas Eshuis wrote:AFAIK, not ever here. Nor in Japan for that matter.
Other than that I don't know.

Also, why is the definition limited to Protestant churches?

The nearest got to an American styled mega church was Johan Maasbach World Missionary which is now been carried on by his son David who appears weekly on a small commercial channel.

Ah that slick tosser. Can't stand him.

Thomas Eshuis wrote:

Scot Dutchy wrote:

Thomas Eshuis wrote:AFAIK, not ever here. Nor in Japan for that matter.
Other than that I don't know.

Also, why is the definition limited to Protestant churches?

The nearest got to an American styled mega church was Johan Maasbach World Missionary which is now been carried on by his son David who appears weekly on a small commercial channel.

Ah that slick tosser. Can't stand him.

Never watch SBS.

They are fucked though.

Oh we have some pretty big cathedrals here in the UK, I live just a 30 minute train ride from two of them in Liverpool. The Anglican cathedral is a behemoth of a building, it's frequently cited as being the most massive free-standing building in Europe, and it's easy to understand why when you get up close and personal with it. Chances are this is one of the few buildings on the planet that could survive a direct hit from a Hiroshima-sized atomic bomb. It's the world's fifth largest cathedral, the bell tower is 331 feet tall, and building it completely exhausted the local sandstone quarries. It also boasts the UK's largest pipe organ. There's something like 60,000 tons of rock in that building, and it's not only about the size of a battleship, it would cost as much as a battleship to rebuild it if it ever came tumbling down. Another of the "mine's bigger than yours" statistics centres on the peal of bells -the highest working peal of bells in the world, and the heaviest in the world ... hopefully held in place securely, because the last thing you want is 31½ tons of bells crashing down on you from 220 feet up ...

A short way up the road is the Roman Catholic cathedral, nicknamed "Paddy's Wigwam" because of its interesting shape. Originally, the architect Sir Edward Lutyens designed a massive piece of one-upmanship that would have made the Vatican look impoverished, but the cost of building that proved too much even for Liverpool, a city with a history of paying for architectural extravagance on a colossal scale. The alternative, present day design was not without its own problems, being something of an architectural adventure, and it quickly developed a reputation for being a high-maintenance building until alterations were made in the 1990s. It's built on top of the only surviving part of Lutyens' original design, the crypt, which, hilariously, plays host each year to the Liverpool Beer Festival, something I imagine would never happen in a fundie megachurch.

Whilst entertaining this tangential diversion, anyone wanting to attend the 2014 Liverpool Beer Festival can find out more here.

As for capacity, I reckon both buildings could house around 5,000 people each, though the Roman Catholic cathedral is a little cramped if you fill it with that many people. The Anglican cathedral, on the other hand, is so enormous that you could probably fit a medium sized aircraft carrier inside it, and consequently probably qualifies as a 'megachurch' on the basis of mass and volume alone.

I don't think it is the size of the church as the size of the congregation.

I have seen both in Liverpool. Shortly after Paddy's Wigwam was completed.



Neither impressed. The Anglian whatever it was it just a monstrosity, vulgar and tasteless. Paddy's Wigwam is just that. In a game of one-upmanship they both represent what all is bad about religion.

Churches do make great nightclubs, been to a few that have been converted into them and they must be able to give a 1000 or so in them

Largest church in the Netherlands apparently holds 2850 seats. It's in Opheusden no less. (Opheusden is tiny)

List of largest Dutch churches (Nine with seatnumber > 2000 )

mindhack wrote:Largest church in the Netherlands apparently holds 2850 seats. It's in Opheusden no less. (Opheusden is tiny)

List of largest Dutch churches (Nine with seatnumber > 2000 )

The bit I found interesting was why were they so large. Most were from the Dutch Reformed Reformed Church (de Gereformeerde Kerk). Concentrations of congregations in the bible-belt and few preachers available.

No where does it state how full they are or how many are still churches. Too sensitive.

Here in South Africa there are a few that probably qualify, there is Rema church which is based in Johannesburg I think, and here in Durban we have the sickening cliche of the "Jesus Dome", built by Durban Christian Centre.