A BRIEF OVERVIEW

Housed at the Institute for the Global Study of Religion at Canisius College and funded by the John Templeton Foundation, this project involves a study of 18 megachurches with congregations of at least 15,000, in ten different countries throughout the Global South. These countries include Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Brazil, El Salvador, Guatemala, Indonesia, South Korea, the Philippines, and India. Using sociological surveys and extensive interviewing we will determine how and why these churches have grown so fast and so large; who attends these churches and why; how these churches differentiate themselves from each other; and how these churches have been shaped by and are shaping the world around them. 

The COVID-19 Pandemic

Throughout 2020 and much of 2021, these churches have been deeply impacted by the presence of Covid-19. Leaders and congregants have gotten sick and some have died from this disease. Churches have endured shutdowns and immense financial strain.  Leaders have scrambled to find new ways to reach out to their congregations and this has created innovative ways of doing church.  By necessity, an additional feature of this project will be to consider the extent to which these churches have been impacted by this pandemic and how they have been responding to it.