These numbers are a count of church “membership,” as reported by the Austin Baptist Association, Catholic Diocese, and Christian Faith Center. But there is nothing hard and fast about counting church congregations, and all churches draw a distinction between membership and the number of people who actually show up on Sunday mornings.

*St. Louis Catholic Church 11,400
*San Jose Church 11,100
Hyde Park Baptist Church 11,000
*St. Theresa’s Catholic Church 8,100
*St. Thomas More Catholic Church 8,100
*St. Austin’s Catholic Church 5,100
Riverbend Church 5,000
Great Hills Baptist Church 4,900
*St. Mary’s Cathedral and Cristo Rey Catholic Church 4,800
Christian Faith Center 3,500

* Catholic Churches count families, rather than individuals, so we multiplied the number of families reported by Catholic churches by three. For that reason, and because there are far fewer Catholic churches than Protestant, some church statisticians keep Catholic numbers totally separate from Protestant.


NORTH AMERICA’S FASTEST-GROWING CHURCH CONGREGATIONS 1994-95


Gain 1994 — 1995 Location
1. 2,159 (6,620 — 8,779) Los Angeles Church of Christ, Los Angeles, CA
2. 1,695 (1,786 — 3,481) Detroit World Outreach, Redford, MI
3. 1,550 (150 — 1,700) Los Angeles International Church, Los Angeles, CA
4. 1,500 (2,000 — 3,500) Calvary Temple, Winnipeg, Manitoba
5. 1,500 (4,000 — 5,500) Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago, IL
6. 1,400 (2,400 — 3,800) Calvary Community Church, Phoenix, AZ
7. 1,327 (6,135 — 7,497) Saddleback Valley Community Church, Mission Viejo, CA
8. 1,317 (5,445 — 6,762) New York City Church of Christ, New York, NY
9. 1,100 (700 — 1,800) Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church, Jacksonville, FL
9. 1,100 (4,700 — 5,800) Calvary Chapel of Ft. Lauderdale, Pompano Beach, FL
88. 300 (1,700 — 2,000) Great Hills Baptist Church, Austin, TX

* Taken from Church Growth Today’s annual list for 1996.

This article appears in December 19 • 1997 and December 19 • 1997 (Cover).

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