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- Lucy in the sky behind bars - 5th February 2026
During 23 years with the BBC, and in a 42 year journalistic career (when he was trained to use clear and simple language, avoiding jargon), for our Editor, Welshman Phil Parry, it has always been paramount to chart the rise of popular movements (not least in Wales), and research today shows that evangelical churches are on the march across the world.
People are galvanised by what they see and hear.
Evangelical churches (or in some places the evangelism in ‘mega’ ones) are becoming more and more popular.
There are 74 evangelical churches in Wales as of December 13 2025, and they have embraced with enthusiasm new technology as well as spreading the word through social media.
25 of them have email addresses and 64 possess websites, many of which include contact page URLs for direct outreach.
37 have Facebook (FB) pages, 13 are on Instagram, 14 use X (formerly Twitter), 29 maintain YouTube channels, and over 68 evangelical churches have been given excellent ratings by users on Trustpilot or elsewhere.
One organisation proclaims: “The Evangelical Movement of Wales serves churches and Christians, helping them to glorify God, evangelise Wales, and build up believers”.
As well as: “The Bible is the infallible Word of God, our sole authority in all matters of faith and practice. It shows us our need of salvation and reveals Jesus Christ.
- The Cross of Jesus Christ, where He atoned for the sins of the world before being raised from the dead, is the centre and heart of the gospel. Without it we have no power, no hope, and no message for a lost world.
- The nation of Wales has a rich spiritual heritage, but is now in desperate need. It is a missional situation. Every person in Wales needs to hear the gospel and experience the life-changing work of the Spirit. Consequently, we pray fervently for revival, and work passionately with churches for the evangelisation of the nation”.
In the United States of America (USA) the rise of these kind of churches (or the evangelical message that is offered), is even more marked as well as highly controversial.
Here the focus is on ‘megachurches’.
Federal tax law exempts churches from filing annual returns and shields them from audits so their growth has been exponential.
“The only people keeping an eye on these big churches are insiders”, announces Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer of the University of Notre Dame at Indiana.
In 2021 a pastor at a megachurch in Houston called Kirby Jon Caldwell was convicted of defrauding investors out of nearly $3.6 million.
A more recent lawsuit accused church leaders of misusing tithes, and the glitz invites more suspicion.
Some pastors live in large houses, accept expensive gifts like cars from members and make millions from book deals.
About a quarter preach the prosperity gospel, a theology that asserts that God rewards faith with material wealth. “I can’t be a big blessing to people if I’m poor and broke and depressed”, stated Joel Osteen on the Oprah show.
The reach of these megachurches is incredible, and revealed in the money they are bringing in.
Surveys run by the Hartford Institute (HI) found that between 2020 and 2025, the average megachurch’s annual revenue rose by 25 per cent, from $5.3 million to $6.6 million – nearly all of which came from congregant donations.
Megachurches report spending half of their cash on staff salaries, just over a third on building maintenance and programming and a tenth on charity – but beyond what they choose to disclose, their finances are a mystery.
There is no mystery, however, about how popular these churches have become.
A middle-aged person standing in a pulpit talking, just doesn’t bring in the crowds…
The memories of Phil’s decades long award-winning career in journalism (when the increase in popular movements was always reported) as he was gripped by the rare neurological disease Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a major book ‘A GOOD STORY’. Order it now.
T
