WaPo | Inside the gigantic Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul,
South Korea, international flags decorate the walls. They are supposed
to show that the house of worship accommodates more than an ordinary
church – it is the world's largest megachurch.
With
more than 800,000 members, the Seoul-based community is at the forefront
of a global phenomenon. Often located in stadium-like venues, these
churches attract at least 2,000 believers every week, and can grow to
attract tens of thousands of people. And while the United States may have started the trend, the future of megachurches may lie in the rest of the world.
Based on data from the Hartford Institute for Religion Research and from the Christian nonprofit organization Leadership Network,
WorldViews visualized this global and diverse movement. We used the
most common definition of megachurches, which describes them as having
"2,000 or more persons in attendance at weekly worship, a charismatic,
authoritative senior minister, a 7 day a week community," and other
features which you can find in detail here.
Why global megachurches are bigger than U.S. megachurches
Despite American roots that reach back to the 19th century, megachurches abroad now have a higher average attendance, even though the
vast majority of megachurches are still in the United States.
While there are 230 to 500 such churches elsewhere in the world, the Hartford Institute estimates that there are about three times more megachurches in the United States.
