Are Megachurches Part of the Problem—or the Solution? Rethinking Their Role in Small Church Decline

When one church grows by absorbing others, is the Body truly growing—or cannibalizing itself? It’s time to ask hard questions about megachurch expansion and small church extinction.

The Divide You Can’t Ignore

The American church landscape is undergoing a quiet shift.

Most churches in the U.S. are small. In fact, 70% average fewer than 100 in attendance. Yet more churchgoers now attend large churches than ever before. This numerical imbalance is shaping how ministry is done—and how smaller churches are increasingly overlooked.

This article isn’t an attack on megachurches. It’s a call to action. Without intentional strategy and biblical self-examination, large churches can unintentionally weaken the very fabric of the local church ecosystem.

What the Data Tells Us

• The median weekly attendance for U.S. churches dropped from 137 in 2000 to 65 in 2020.¹

• Though small churches are more numerous, megachurches (2,000+ attendance) attract a disproportionate number of worshipers.²

• Many rural, inner-city, and older neighborhood churches are shrinking—or closing.

These numbers reveal more than just preference shifts. They expose an ecosystem imbalance: large churches grow, while smaller ones slowly die—often without notice.

Is This Growth Real Growth?

Alan Hirsch describes the dominant mode of modern church growth as “switcher growth”—Christians moving from one church to another.³ Rarely is the growth driven by new believers.

This is echoed in my own research. In a study of two thriving congregations, conversion growth was present, but the majority of new members came from other churches. In other words, transfer—not transformation—drove the growth curve.

Other research agrees:

• Half of all churches see no new converts in a typical year.⁴

• A 2018 Lifeway survey found that 54% of pastors reported fewer than 10 new commitments to Christ that year.⁵

Behind the growth narrative is a hard truth: many churches are growing by absorbing people from smaller ones. That dynamic demands thoughtful reflection, especially by larger congregations.

Why Many Megachurches Don’t Engage in Revitalization

Although some large churches plant campuses or invest in digital ministry, few actively help revitalize smaller, struggling churches. Why?

1. It’s Not Scalable

Revitalization is slow, messy, and specific. It doesn’t fit within a fast-moving, systematized church structure.

2. It Doesn’t Build the Brand

Strengthening another church—especially one that’s not part of your network—may feel like a loss of momentum or identity.

3. It Feels Risky

Declining churches often carry baggage—conflict, debt, or outdated methods. Engaging with them takes spiritual maturity, not just administrative skill.

4. It Lacks Visible ROI

Revitalization bears long-term fruit, but rarely delivers quick wins. For some megachurch leaders, that may seem like an inefficient use of staff or budget.

These objections, however understandable, reflect a strategic drift from the relational, shepherding model of the New Testament.

The Hidden Dangers of the Megachurch Model

Large churches offer significant benefits—strong teaching, broad programming, and excellent logistics. But these strengths often carry quiet liabilities.

• Ministry Becomes Mechanized - Many megachurches operate like corporations—efficient, structured, and scheduled. But the cost is high: pastoral care, personal accountability, and relational ministry often get replaced with systems.

• People Get Lost in the Crowd - You can attend a megachurch for months/years without being known. This anonymity contributes to spiritual detachment, loneliness, and pastoral inaccessibility. You are often one of thousands.

• Harder Pathways to Serve - Ironically, large churches can be the hardest places to find a place to serve. Roles are highly structured. One young person told me they were never invited to serve in their large church, but after joining a smaller congregation, they were welcomed immediately into ministry.

• Discipleship Becomes Program-Driven - True discipleship requires life-on-life relationship. In megachurch settings, it often becomes class-based or curriculum-focused, which can substitute learning for transformation.

• Preaching Becomes Performative - With high production value and platform expectations, preaching can drift toward performance. The pulpit risks becoming a stage. Only certain people are allowed to preach because they add just that certain performative appeal.

• Spiritual Expression Becomes Homogenized - Megachurches often shape the culture of smaller churches around them—in worship style, music choices, and preaching voice—reducing the rich diversity of spiritual expression found in smaller, context-driven congregations.

A Better Way: Sending, Not Absorbing

One large church I studied resisted the typical expansion model. Instead of opening another satellite or recruiting more attenders, they did something radical: they sent 50–60 of their own members to help plant a new church in a neighboring town.

They released them—not as campus staff, but as a “revitalization” team. That new church became autonomous and embedded in its own community.

This example proves what’s possible when a church prioritizes multiplication over centralization.

How Megachurches Can Actually Help

Megachurches are uniquely equipped to assist with revitalization—if they choose to.

Here’s how:

✅ Support struggling churches by sharing leadership training, media help, and administrative consulting.

✅ Send revitalization teams, not just to plant new works, but to stabilize historic ones.

✅ Partner with existing ministries, like Hometown Hope Ministries, that specialize in identifying and serving vulnerable congregations.

✅ Challenge your members to consider attending and strengthening smaller churches—not just spectating in large ones.

✅ Rethink the scorecard—elevate faithfulness over flash, presence over platform, and impact over image.

Final Word: Will Large Churches Choose to Serve?

Megachurches are not the enemy of small churches. But without intentional humility and strategic investment, they can accelerate the decline of the broader Church.

If large churches continue to grow only through transfer, they become unintentional consumers in the Body of Christ. But if they reinvest in the health of others, they can become powerful advocates for long-term gospel presence.

The choice is not expansion or revitalization. It can be both. But that depends on whether faithfulness—not footprint—defines success.

Sources

1. Warren Bird and Scott Thumma, A New Decade of Megachurches: 2020 Report.

2. Lifeway Research, “Small Churches Continue Growing, But in Number, Not Size,” 2021.

3. Alan Hirsch, Slow Church, IVP, 2014, 50.

4. Dave Earley in Daniel R. Sanchez, Church Planting Movements in North America, 2007, 18.

5. Lifeway Research, “Most Churches See Few People Baptized Each Year,” 2019.