The Church Is Growing—But Are We Making Disciples?

One in Six Churchgoers: What Does This Tell Us About Discipleship?

A recent study from Lifeway Research caught my attention. According to its August 12, 2026 report, 1 in 6 Protestant churchgoers in the United States attends a megachurch. Megachurches represent less than 1% of Protestant churches, yet they account for approximately 17% of Protestant churchgoers.

Read the Lifeway Research report

That is a remarkable statistic. It tells us something about the effectiveness of large churches in gathering people. But as I considered the finding, I found myself asking a different question:

What does this tell us about the state of discipleship in the American church?

I want to be clear at the beginning. I am not suggesting that megachurches are unhealthy or that smaller churches are automatically healthier. Size is not the issue. Many large churches are doing excellent work in preaching the gospel, caring for people, serving their communities, and helping believers grow.

The deeper question is not how many people are gathering. The question is what is happening to those people once they are gathered.

Attendance Is Not the Same as Discipleship

Jesus did not give His followers a commission simply to gather crowds. He said:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” — Matthew 28:19–20

There is an important difference between attending church and becoming a disciple.

A person can faithfully attend a worship service every Sunday for years and remain largely unchanged. A person can listen to excellent biblical teaching without ever learning how to personally follow Jesus in everyday life. A person can participate in programs without ever becoming equipped to help someone else become a disciple.

This is why I believe we need to think carefully about what we mean when we talk about church growth.

A growing attendance is not necessarily a growing discipleship movement.

The Question Behind the Numbers

The Lifeway statistic tells us that approximately 17% of Protestant churchgoers are worshiping in megachurches.

That raises an important question:

How many of those people are being equipped to make disciples themselves?

The research does not answer that question, and we should not pretend that it does. The study measures church attendance, not spiritual maturity or disciple-making.

But the question remains important.

If our primary measurement is attendance, we can become very successful at gathering people without becoming equally successful at multiplying disciples.

And I believe this is one of the great challenges facing the church today.

We know how to gather people.

We know how to organize programs.

We know how to communicate with large audiences.

We know how to produce excellent worship experiences and biblical teaching.

But do we know how to consistently help ordinary believers become reproducing disciples of Jesus?

That is a different question.

Jesus’ Model Was Relational

When I look at the ministry of Jesus, I am struck by how relational His approach to discipleship was.

Jesus certainly preached to crowds. He taught thousands. He ministered to multitudes.

But He also intentionally invested in a smaller group of disciples.

He walked with them. He taught them. He answered their questions. He corrected them. He demonstrated the kingdom of God before them. He sent them out. He evaluated their ministry. He prepared them to continue His work after He was gone.

Jesus did not merely tell His disciples what to believe.

He taught them how to live.

And then He sent them to do the same for others.

Paul later gave Timothy a remarkably simple picture of multiplication:

“What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.” — 2 Timothy 2:2

Paul was thinking beyond Timothy.

There was Paul.

Then Timothy.

Then faithful people.

Then others.

That is discipleship that reproduces.

The Danger of a Discipleship Bottleneck

This is where I believe the discussion becomes particularly important.

A large church can have thousands of people hearing the gospel every week. But if only a small percentage are actually being equipped to disciple others, the church may have a discipleship bottleneck.

The ministry can grow numerically without multiplying relationally.

This isn’t a criticism of large churches. It is a challenge for all of us.

A church of 10,000 can have 10,000 disciples—or 10,000 consumers.

A church of 100 can have 100 disciples—or 100 consumers.

The size of the congregation does not determine the depth of discipleship.

The real question is:

Are we intentionally moving people from being recipients of ministry to becoming participants in the mission of Jesus?

That is where discipleship becomes more than a program.

From Consumer to Disciple-Maker

I believe the church must recover a simple biblical progression:

Come and hear.
Follow Jesus.
Grow in Christ.
Live in community.
Serve others.
Make disciples.

The gospel is not merely a message we believe; it is a life we enter and a mission we join.

When Jesus called His disciples, He did not simply invite them to agree with His teaching. He said, “Follow me.”

Following Jesus changes how we live.

• It changes how we love.
• It changes how we relate to others.
• It changes how we use our time and resources.

And ultimately, it changes how we understand our responsibility toward those who have not yet learned to follow Him.

A disciple is not simply someone who has been discipled.

A disciple becomes someone who disciples others.

Large Gatherings and Small Relationships

I don’t believe we have to choose between large churches and relational discipleship.

In fact, I believe the two can complement one another.

The large gathering provides biblical teaching, corporate worship, fellowship, vision, and a sense of belonging to something larger than ourselves.

But people are often formed deeply in smaller, intentional relationships.

This is one reason Core Discipleship emphasizes the Core Group—three or four disciples of the same gender who commit to walking together, studying Scripture, praying, encouraging one another, asking difficult questions, and helping one another follow Jesus faithfully.

The goal is not simply to create another small group.

The goal is to create a reproducible environment for discipleship.

A person is discipled.

That person learns to disciple another.

The process continues.

The result is multiplication.

What Should We Measure?

Perhaps one of the questions we need to reconsider is how we define success.

How many attended?

How many joined?

How many participated?

How many gave?

How many were baptized?

These can all be meaningful measurements.

But Jesus gave us another measurement:

Are we making disciples who obey His commands and make disciples themselves?

That is a much more demanding measurement.

It requires us to look beyond the crowd and into the lives of individuals.

• Are people becoming more like Christ?
• Are they learning to obey Scripture?
• Are they living in authentic Christian community?
• Are they serving others?
• Are they sharing the gospel?
• Are they discipling someone else?
• Are they reproducing what they have received?

Those questions get much closer to the biblical definition of discipleship.

An Opportunity for the Church

So, what do I take away from the Lifeway Research finding that 1 in 6 Protestant churchgoers attends a megachurch?

I don’t see it primarily as a statistic about megachurches.

I see it as an opportunity to ask a larger question about the American church.

We have become very good at gathering people. Are we becoming equally good at making disciples?

If 17% of Protestant churchgoers are already gathered in these large congregations, imagine what could happen if those churches intentionally equipped even a fraction of their people to become reproducing disciples.

Imagine thousands of believers who are not simply attending church but actively investing in three or four others.

Imagine those disciples doing the same.

Imagine ordinary Christians learning that disciple-making is not the responsibility of the pastor alone, the staff alone, or the missionary alone.

It is the calling of every follower of Jesus.

That is the vision Jesus gave us.

And that is why I believe the future of the church will not ultimately be measured by how large our gatherings become.

It will be measured by how deeply people follow Jesus and how faithfully they help others do the same.

The question before us is not simply:

“How many people are coming to church?”

The more important question is:

“How many disciples are we making who will make disciples?”

That is the measure of multiplication.

And that is the mission Jesus gave His Church.