The pastor of one of America's largest congregations is defending megachurches against charges they're too big, saying critics are often hypocritical because they have no problem with other large public venues such as sports and concerts. Ed Young is the pastor of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas, which is the 12th largest congregation in the U.S. with 24,000 attendees, according to the 2024 Outreach 100 report by Lifeway Research.

"'It's too big. It's a megachurch,'" Young said in the Facebook video, citing critics.

"Well, that's got to be one of the most hypocritical statements someone can make because the person making the statement goes to massive concerts," he said. "They would go to a game, a football game. They would go to a massive mall. And they never really say that about those entities, but they always say the church is too big. Hey, if you think the church is too big, then you're not going to like heaven because heaven is going to be a big place."

If a church is located near "a lot of people, it should be big," Young said.

The largest church in the U.S. is Oklahoma's Life Church, pastored by Craig Groeschel and has 76,000 attendees. Rounding out the top five are Church of the Highlands (Alabama, pastored by Chris Hodges, 60,000 attendees), Christ's Church of the Valley (Arizona, Ashley Wooldridge, 48,000), Lakewood Church (Texas, Joel Osteen, 45,000) and North Point Ministries (Georgia, Andy Stanley, 43,000). The report is based on attendance averages, not membership.

Fifteen churches on the Outreach 100 list have at least 20,000 attendees, while 69 have at least 10,000.

Young founded Fellowship Church in 1990. It began with 30 families and has since grown to include multiple campuses in Dallas/Fort Worth.

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