MinistryWatch 1000 Database: Largest Christian Ministries in the U.S.

World Vision remains atop the list while three new ministries join the top 10.

Below is a list of the 50 largest Christian ministries curated from the MinistryWatch 1000 database as of October 29, 2025. The ministries are listed in order of total annual revenue, which ranges from almost $89 million to nearly $1.6 billion.

This list does not include colleges and universities nor Christian foundations. You can find the list of the largest Christian colleges and universities in the United States here.

These 50 Christian ministries represent a total of about $15.6 billion in annual revenue, and is based on information from most recently available Form 990s from the Internal Revenue Service. A column on the right indicates the most recent year the ministry filed an IRS Form 990.

Ministries marked with an asterisk do not file a Form 990, and their revenue numbers were gathered from the ministry’s profile with the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability or from their own annual report.

MinistryWatch’s position is that failing to file a Form 990 is both dangerous to the ministry itself and a compromise of that organization’s financial integrity. (You can read more about MinistryWatch’s position on this issue here.) Three of the top 10 Christian ministries — Compassion International, Convoy of Hope, and Cru — have chosen not to file a Form 990 with the IRS.

Next to this year’s ranking is the ranking the ministry held on last year’s list. We generally see little movement in the largest ministries from year to year. World Vision once again topped the list with nearly $1.6 billion in revenue, up about $73 million from last year.

The top four groups remained essentially the same as last year. However, Christian Healthcare Ministries, a new addition to the MinistryWatch database, took the 5^th position with $784 million in revenue.

Of the 10 largest ministries, seven fall under the “Relief and Development” category. The only ministry to fall out of the top 10 was Feed the Children, which ranked No.8 on last year’s list.

Another new ministry added to the relief and development category of the database — Matthew 25 Ministries — ranked as No.15 on the list with $297 million in total revenue.

Other new additions to the list include Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission (No.36), the Heritage Foundation (No.42), Voice of the Martyrs (No.46), and CRISTA Ministries (No.49).

Some of the “biggest movers” on this year’s list include Mercy Ships (moving from No.24 to No.16) and Church World Service (moving from No.26 to No.17). Each of those ministries grew by more than $130 million in total annual revenue from 2024 to 2025.

Two ministries that fell nine positions include Wycliffe Bible Translators (down from No.14 to No.23) and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (down from No.17 to No.26).

American Bible Society fell 10 spots from No.37 in 2024 to No.47 on this year’s list. Its revenue dropped by about $18 million, according to the most recent Form 990 data.

Ministries that fell off the list this year include Westminster Schools (No.40 last year), Operation Blessing (No.43 last year), Interchurch Medical Assistance (No.46 last year), Eternal Word Television Network (No.47 last year), Citihope International (No.49 last year), and Interchurch Medical Assistance (No.50 last year).

MinistryWatch has 21 categories of ministry in our database. The category with the most representatives on this list is “Relief and Development.” Twenty of the 50 ministries on this list fall into that category.

In February we published a list of the 50 largest relief and development organizations. You can find that list here.

Readers should not interpret this as a list of recommended ministries. They are ranked by total revenue, and not by effectiveness, financial efficiency, or any other measure. The Financial Efficiency rating and the Transparency Grade of each ministry is included in the list.

To learn more about these institutions, click on the ministry’s name and read the complete MinistryWatch profile on this organization.

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. The donor confidence score is explained here.