megachurch

noun

mega·church ˈme-gə-ˌchərch

plural megachurches

: a church having an extremely large congregation

The megachurch, one of the largest in the region with roughly 5,000 attendees at its Sunday morning Post Falls worship service, is also adding a 25,000-square-foot children's ministry building, which will include a large indoor play structure …—

Nicholas Deshais

In little more than a decade, his ministry has grown from a living-room Bible study to a megachurch that draws about 7,600 visitors to seven campuses around Seattle each Sunday …—

Molly Worthen

Examples of megachurch in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The film is a tragicomedy following the family of a teenage YouTuber who posts an irreverent video lampooning a megachurch pastor in defense of his gay twin brother. —

Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 15 Mar. 2024 The former president’s campaign rallies have become increasingly similar to megachurch services, Kaylor said, playing worship music and with collective prayers for the crowd. —

Will Carless, USA TODAY, 7 Mar. 2024 His Montgomery megachurch, Frazer, until 2022 was part of the United Methodist Church, one of the largest Protestant groups in the country. —

Michelle Boorstein, Washington Post, 28 Feb. 2024 The megachurch, once an arena for the NBA’s Houston Rockets, seats 16,000. —

Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 20 Feb. 2024 Authorities said Moreno opened fire Sunday afternoon between services in the Lakewood megachurch in Houston. —

Suzanne Gamboa, NBC News, 13 Feb. 2024 Over the years, the Lions had close ties to Kensington, an evangelical megachurch with six congregations in Michigan. —

Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press, 26 Jan. 2024 On Super Bowl Sunday, a few hours before kickoff, a shooter armed with an AR-15 and multiple rounds opened fire at a Houston megachurch led by Joel Osteen, a celebrity televangelist and pastor. —

Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 20 Feb. 2024 Separately, services at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston resumed Sunday morning with a large security presence one week after a woman accompanied by her 7-year-old son walked into the megachurch armed with a rifle and opened fire. —

Alexandra Banner, CNN, 19 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'megachurch.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.