1. Congregationally
2. Biggest Baptist Chapel
3. The most beautiful Baptist chapel in America
Just curious.
Thanks.
The biggest Baptist Church in America?
Discussion in 'Baptist History' started by Bro. Ruben, Jan 4, 2006.
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I think the largest Baptist Church in the U.S is Saddleback Church pastored by Ps Rick Warren. - Southern Baptist Convention.
http://www.saddleback.com/flash/default.htm -
The biggest I know if is First Baptist Jacksonville. It has been reported they have 26,000 members.
http://www.fbcjax.com/ -
PRAISE THE LORD!!! -
Believe Saddleback has 80,000 members, with about 40,000+ active. They had 35,000 MEMBERS (not just attenders) at their 25th anniversary service this year.
I was there for Easter. Think they were at about 30,000 then, but that was a lot of visitors and kids
Remember, SOME Baptist churches base their number on SUNDAY SCHOOL statistics, not baptized members. That is truly deceptive and dishonest when compared to other churches that report their membership as "their membership" and not a bunch of kids bussed in from Timbuktu . . -
Bro. James Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
The largest "Christian" group is not Baptist.
What is significant about the numbers?
The biggest=the soundest?
"...not of works, lest any man should boast." Eph. Ch. 2.
Selah,
Bro. James -
Thanks for the info Dr. Bob!!!
Bro. James: I did ask out of curiousity. You know, here in Saudi where I am right now, each time our attendance reaches about 20-25 we are already glad. We can't be more than that to avoid being noticed by the religious police and eventually may end up in jail.
How much more thinking of attending a church with 40 thousand members.
Nobody claims that the "largest" group is Baptist. Nor the biggest is the soundest. I wonder why the verse "...not of works, lest any man should boast." Eph. Ch. 2. must be included, too.
It was a question out of curiousity. That's all.
God bless you anyhow. -
Curiosity is not a bad thing.
Probably the most comprehensive database has been compiled by Scott Thumma of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research (although the institute admits its database is incomplete. In addition, the numbers are based on self reporting, which makes it less than sterling as a research tool.
However, given those caveats, I would refer you to the database, which, unfortunately, is not very user friendly. The figures are from March 2005 and are for average attendance. I have browsed it and noted several Baptist churches, including:
Houston Second Baptist Church, 18,000
Grapevine Fellowship, Grapevine, Texas, 16,000
Saddleback Valley Community Church, 15,000
Bellevue BC, Cordova, Tenn., 14,000
FBC Hammond, Ind., 12,000
FBC Orlando, Fla., 10,000
Brentwood Baptist, Houston, 8,000
FBC Houston, 8,000
Jacksonville, Fla., FBC, 7,200
Memorial BC, Killeen, Texas, 7,200
North Phoenix BC, 6,500
FBC Atlanta, 6,155
I may have missed some. The entire list is at:
MEGACHURCHES BY DENOMINATION -
Bro. James Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
Not trying to squelch curiosity in one sense, but I hasten to point out that Eve's curiosity developed into begile.
Someone pointed out already that the "stats" are skewed--which is the case for most any statistical statement. Unsolicited observation: the bigger the numbers, the more carnal, nominal, the church.
A Bible statistic: when Jesus was arrested in the garden, ALL of His disciples forsook Him and fled.
A statistical question: when Jesus was crucified, how many disciples were present?
Point to ponder: who is at the head of a "Megachurch"? What does the term "Rick Warren's Church mean?
Shalom,
Bro. James -
Pastor_Bob Well-Known Member
It is a sad and misleading practice, but many pastors who are into numbers actually count their extra-curricular ministries as a part of their attendance.
For example, if they had 15 at the county jail service and 35 at the nursing home service, they would add 50 to their total attendance and say "We had 125 attend our services this week." When in reality, they only had 75 actually come to church. -
Very True, Pastor Bob.
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Squire Robertsson AdministratorAdministrator
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Bro. James Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
Curiously, we have not heard much from the followers of Herbert W. Armstrong and Garner Ted since they died.
Many humans will faithfully follow something/ someone--usually not God. It is usually the self--Humanism. There are many who seem to be worshipping the Pontifex Maximus, others some defrocked vicar. There are millions who worship faith healers and others who have prayer clothes, and holy oil--for sale of course.
Beware the wolves dressed like sheep.
Selah,
Bro. James -
I think Saddleback is the largest.
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barring some glaring exceptions, any Church that's huge, is usually compromising the Gospel in some way, shape or fashion.
Just an opinion.
MH -
Would you say this about the early church in Acts? I recall it grew by the thousands in a matter of days.
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There are always problem with the comparison between large churches and small churches. There seems to be a presumption that, if a church is bigger than [insert subjective number here], it must therefore be compromising the gospel. Then, there's the issue of what exactly constitutes compromising the gospel. In most cases, it's not an issue of real compromise, it's an issue of that church simply having a specific mission or ministry that some who walk through the door might not nave any particular interest in. In some other instances, it's been my observation that condemnation of churches based on size is often the result of closet envy or covetousness.
My personal observation has been that whether a church is compromising the gospel os not is usually not tied into their size or popularity. But for some reason, the biggies that are tru compromisers are the ones we remember. -
I can't imagine pastoring a church of 40,000 people. There is no physical way the pastor could know everyone. My preference would be a church of about 150 - 300.
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Part of it is perception. It depends on where you live. I live in the OC, a semi-metropolitan, semi-suburban region of the country. Churches with memberships of 1200 or more are the norm. Yet in other regions of the US, they would be considered megachurches.
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We have around 200 for services on Sundays, which is were we get our count, not Sunday School. The other Baptist Church in town has around 30 members. They consider us to be a megachurch.
Just putting in my two cents.
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