Church and Stats

Everything you ever wanted to know about megachurches, and then some!

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Number of megachurches in California, Texas, and Florida as of 2001: 289

Percentage of megachurches that cite the Bible and personal experience as most important authority in their congregation’s worship and teaching: 80.4

Percentage of megachurches that cite human reasoning and understanding as most important authority in their congregation’s worship and teaching: 0

Percentage of megachurches in or around a city of 50,000-250,000+: 88.8

Percentage of megachurches that claim they are in need of more space for parking: 64.6

Percentage of megachurches that emphasize abstaining from premarital sex a “great deal” or “quite a bit”: 81.7

Percentage of senior pastors of megachurches who are male: 99.3

Percentage of megachurches that operate a Christian elementary or secondary school: 41.7

Percentage of megachurches that have “none,” “hardly any,” or “few” attendees with household incomes below $20,000: 91.7

Percentage of regularly participating adult megachurch attendees who are white: 79.5

Percentage of megachurches which give sermons on stewardship in order to encourage financial giving: 92.6

Average income of each megachurch in 2000: $4.8 million

Number of communion cups that the “Greenlee Communion Dispensing Machine” (designed for megachurches) can fill in 2 seconds: 40

Number of toilets at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville Kentucky: 402

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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

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