Megachurch Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == History == [[File:MetTabernacle.jpg|thumb|Baptist [[Metropolitan Tabernacle]], in [[London]], England]] The origins of the megachurch movement, with many local congregants who return on a weekly basis, can be traced to the 19th century.{{sfn|Loveland|Wheeler|2003|p=35}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hirr.hartsem.edu/bookshelf/thumma_article2.html |title=Exploring the Megachurch Phenomena: Their characteristics and cultural context |publisher=Hirr.HartSem.edu |access-date=6 February 2010 |url-status = dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151101100905/http://hirr.hartsem.edu/bookshelf/thumma_article2.html |archive-date=November 1, 2015 }}</ref> There were large churches earlier, but they were considerably rarer. The first evangelical megachurch was founded in 1861 in [[London]] by [[Charles Spurgeon]] at the [[Metropolitan Tabernacle]], which had a 6,000-seat auditorium.{{sfn|Hunt|2019|p=50}} The first megachurch in the United States was the [[Angelus Temple]], founded in 1923 by [[Aimee Semple McPherson]] in a 5,300-seat auditorium in [[Los Angeles]].<ref>Kurian, George Thomas; Lamport, Mark A.; ''Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States, Volume 5'', Rowman & Littlefield, 2016, p. 1471</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page