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50 Largest Evangelism and Discipleship Ministries in the U.S.

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Below is a list of the 50 largest evangelism and discipleship ministries, according to the MinistryWatch database.

Please note that we do not have a single “Evangelism and Discipleship” category in the MinistryWatch database, so we have aggregated a number of categories to include as many ministries as possible that engage in evangelism and discipleship work.

We have also included last year’s ranking.  (To see last year’s complete list, click here.)

We typically see little movement among the top ministries on this year’s list. Cru is so much larger than the others, so it has been in the number one spot for the five years we have been publishing this list.

However, number two Young Life continues to grow significantly, though its rate of growth slowed from the dramatic $100 million growth spurt it showed last year. The Fellowship of Christian Athletes also increased by $20 million, or more than 10 percent from the previous year.

One of the themes of last year’s list was significant growth. But this year the growth has been more muted. Last year, the 50th largest ministry on the list had about $14 million in revenue. That’s about the same number as this year.

We also see seven new ministries on this year’s list. They are Crossway/Good News Publishers (20), Orange/The Rethink Group (25), Josiah Venture (32), Revival Today (45), Community Bible Study (46), Cadence International (48), New Song Ministries (49), and Mission Arlington/Mission Metroplex (50).

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That means, of course, a like number of ministries fell off the list. They include Anabaptist Foundation, Mennonite Brethren Foundation, Operation Mobilization, Tim Tebow Foundation, Crown Financial Ministries, Institute for Creation Research, and Youth for Christ International.

Several ministries on this list no longer file Form 990s with the IRS. We got their latest revenue numbers from their listing on the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) website. They include: Cru, Navigators, Gideons International, Every Home for Christ, David C. Cook, Jews for Jesus, and Chosen People Ministries.

Two ministries on this list do not file Form 990s and are not members of the ECFA. Andrew Wommack Ministries and YWAM San Diego. We used the latest available information we had to rank these ministries.

MinistryWatch’s position is that all Christian ministries that appeal to the public for funds should file a Form 990. You can read more about our position here.

This list should not be interpreted as a list of recommended ministries.  They are ranked by total revenue, and not by ministry effectiveness, financial efficiency, or any other measure.  That said, the Financial Efficiency rating and the Transparency Grade of the ministries are listed.  If you would like to know more about our Financial Efficiency Rating, click here.  If you would like to know more about our Transparency Grades, click here.

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Warren Cole Smith

Warren previously served as Vice President of WORLD News Group, publisher of WORLD Magazine, and Vice President of The Colson Center for Christian Worldview. He has more than 30 years of experience as a writer, editor, marketing professional, and entrepreneur. Before launching a career in Christian journalism 25 years ago, Smith spent more than seven years as the Marketing Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

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