The
Hartford Institute for Religion Research website maintains a searchable
database of over 1200 American Protestant "megachurches," defined as churches with an average worship attendance of 2000 or more a Sunday. Just for fun, I did a little research on Presbyterian churches listed in the database and found the following bits of information:
- The list includes 40 Presbyterian churches from four denominations: 15 Presbyterian Church (USA) churches; 12 Presbyterian Church in America churches; 5 Korean Presbyterian Church in America churches; 4 Evangelical Presbyterian Church congregations. In addition, 3 Presbyterian churches were listed without any indication of denominational affiliation and one church is listed as a "Presbyterian" church affiliated with the Christian Reformed Church.
- The largest Presbyterian church in the database is Hope PC in Cordova, Tennessee, which has an average attendance of 7,330. It is an EPC congregation.
- The distinction of being the largest PC(USA) church in the database is shared by two congregations: Menlo Park PC, Menlo Park, California, and University PC, Seattle, Washington. They both number 3,200 worshippers per Sunday.
- Only two New York Presbyterian churches made the list: Redeemer PC (EPC), New York City, with 4,000 worshippers per Sunday and Korean PC (KPCA), Flushing, with 3,000 worshippers per Sunday.
- In its webpage entitled, "Megachurch Definition," the Hartford Institute notes that over 60% of America's megachurches are located in the southern "Sunbelt" region of the nation stretching from California to the Atlantic coast. Of the 40 Presbyterian churches in the database, 29 (72%) are located in that region.
If, by any chance, you are interested in more information on and insights into American megachurches, the Hartford Institute website contains a wealth of material to chew on.
