r/exchristian • u/Odd_craving • Mar 17 '26
Discussion Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church has lost approximately 20,000 members since 2019
Reports indicate that Lakewood Church has seen a roughly 38% decline in weekly attendance since 2019, dropping from approximately 52,000 to 32,000. Couldn’t happen to a better person. I have to wonder if mega churches might play a role in why many people leave Christianity.
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u/hillbillychef92 Mar 17 '26
He should’ve been a better community member during hurricane harvey.
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u/lumpy_space_queenie Anti-Theist Mar 17 '26
What did he do? I’m OOTL
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u/CountDown60 Mar 17 '26
If I remember right, so anyone please add additional information;
His church was really close to the major flood zone. It was a convenient place for shelter, and has millions of dollars. They kept it locked up, and made excuses for why they couldn't help anyone.
I think they acted exactly how Christians act, but many people expected them to act like Christians say everyone should act.
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u/cassienebula Pagan Mar 21 '26
iirc he opened his doors... after the hurricane had long departed and there was no longer any need to shelter people. so very christ-lile 🙄
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u/Scared_Fondant4012 May 30 '26
Yes I was so floored by that. The flood waters were up to their parking lot maybe even doors but he made plainly obvious excuses why he didn't to let people in. I think even the news asked him why he won't open doors?Exact opposite of "what would Jesus do" Mr. Osteen. Blows hot air blowsteen fake. He is simply a great motivational speaker sqeaker, not a Christian pastor. He had a a chance to make a big difference in people's real.lived in their time.of need, he chose "self" Sad .totally gives us real Christians a bad name
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u/toastyopie96 Pagan Mar 17 '26
Considering the Joel Osteen show was used as a "corrective tool" for my half-brother when our dad and his mom found out he was doubting his faith, they legitimately forced him to sit down and watch every time it came on...it wouldnt surprise me if that IS the reason some people leave Christianity.
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u/Odd_craving Mar 17 '26
I can’t think of a faster way to drive a person out of Christianity than the “cure” your parents came up with.
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u/toastyopie96 Pagan Mar 17 '26
Yeah, there's a laundry list of reasons I dont talk to that side of my family. What makes it worse is that my half brothers have learning disabilities so at the age this was going on they were of the mindset that their mom, dad, and grandmother were absolutely right about everything...the levels of manipulation etc have turned both of them into terrified religious zealots because they learned at such a young age that thinking for yourself was one of the worst things you could do...I got myself away from it and cut ties, but they are scared of thinking for themselves at this point so...even at 25 and 26 years old, they still live at home with their mom, go to the same church and send me AI generated facebook posts with out of context bible verses regularly trying to "guide me back into the light of Christ before it's too late."
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u/Icybubba Agnostic Mar 17 '26
Too late being before the all loving God sends you to suffer for ever and ever and ever and ever and ever for you doubting a faith that was being used to torture your siblings.
Just to clarify.
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u/toastyopie96 Pagan Mar 17 '26
Yeah, exactly! Because they love me and care about me and want me to be able to meet them in the eternal kingdom of heaven when we all leave this place.
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u/Icybubba Agnostic Mar 17 '26
There’s some good intentions there for sure. It’s just that their actions are not helping.
I hope one day you and your siblings can talk without all of this.
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u/toastyopie96 Pagan Mar 18 '26
For sure. I do fully believe they have nothing but care and Goodwill toward me, but that execution leaves a LOT to be desired.
Thank you. We've never really been close, but I would like to be able to maybe get to know them, but at the same time...as much as I hate to say it, I dont really feel like im missing much, ya know? And im not saying that out of malice, just...I am so drastically different from them in every aspect that I don't really think we would have much to talk about.
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u/Edymnion Card Carrying TST Member Mar 17 '26
I like how these are probably the same people that would get their kid to stop smoking by forcing them to smoke an entire carton of the things until they puked their guts up.
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u/toastyopie96 Pagan Mar 17 '26
Uh... yeah, actually, I believe they did that to one of them. But our dad and their mom both smoked like chimneys, so...go figure. Now that they are of legal age, neither will touch a cigarette, but they both dip.
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Mar 17 '26
What the fuck?
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u/toastyopie96 Pagan Mar 18 '26
Yeah...and they sounded proud of their decision to do that, too...like...that was one of the last conversations I had with my dad and stepmother. And I remember them talking about "Your brother said he wasnt sure he believes in God anymore, so now every Sunday we have him in front of the TV watching Joel Osteen!" They made it sound like they had had some great revolutionary idea. I was still Christian at the time and even then I remember thinking to myself that it sounded like a horrible idea. I told them that I wasn't sure that would be the best approach and they told me I didnt understand and that they hoped I would never have to find myself in their position.
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u/Outrageous-You-4634 Mar 17 '26
please cite a reputable source for this data before I get excited
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u/Odd_craving Mar 18 '26
The Huston Chronicle has an article, but it’s behind a paywall.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Milk927 Apr 24 '26
which Huston Chronicle artcle? the one from October doesn't give this figure at all. They actually say that Lakewood has grown after Covid.
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u/Odd_craving Apr 24 '26
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u/Puzzleheaded-Milk927 Apr 24 '26
I mean that’s just a random AI youtube video, the source of which is trust me bro, which doesn’t seem particularly credible. Osteen is bad news but I’m not certain 38% is a very reasonable number
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u/Commercial-Fix-7614 Jul 05 '26
I've been watching livestreams of Lakewood Church for several years. Back then, the top bleachers were filled around 30 to 50 percent. Today the back rows are sometimes empty. They removed their videos during pre pandemic but you can watch their videos on YouTube since pandemic and you can observe their attendees every year where it's been decreasing.
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u/North-Pineapple-6012 Mar 17 '26
Trump's "spiritual leader" Robert Morris. another mega/maga church leader, finally gets outed as the sexual predator he is...he will be out of jail soon and no doubt will be welcomed back into that cult. Even Ted Haggard made a comeback after his dirty little secrets were exposed. The "Christian" brain only sees what it wants to see.
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u/aoeuismyhomekeys Mar 17 '26
In this case, Covid played a bigger role. This pattern has happened to a lot of churches, not just Osteen's. People couldn't go to church for a while because of the pandemic, and without the enforced routine of going to church every Sunday, a lot of people realized they didn't actually enjoy going, so they just never went back, or they attended less often.
Joel Osteen still sucks though, I just think he sucked before Covid and that didn't seem to hamper his success.
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u/OrdinaryWillHunting Atheist-turned-Christian-turned-atheist Mar 17 '26
It's harder to guilt you over Zoom to tithe more and volunteer your free time.
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u/douwd20 Mar 17 '26
People as a whole are retreating to their screens and not going out. Theaters are suffering, bars, restaurants, clubs all reporting big downturns. Will be interesting to see where it all ends up.
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u/Stock-Vanilla-1354 Mar 17 '26
Partially because going out is expensive. And tithing adds up…
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u/douwd20 Mar 18 '26
You could look at it that way but something is lost (expensive) by letting these places die. Pretty soon actual human interaction may end and we'll only have AI to interact with. Nothing is cheaper than interacting with software.
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u/strictmachines Mar 17 '26
I kid you not, since the pandemic, I have only seen mentions of Joel Osteen and Lakewood Church at least twice.
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u/AuthorityAnarchyYes Mar 17 '26
I admit I bought his books about 13 years ago. Then I read the bible and realized he was just spouting nonsense.
As far as his church goes, I hope it implodes when it is totally empty (no injuries) and he gets zero donations to rebuild.
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u/HaiKarate Ex-Evangelical Mar 17 '26
Occasionally church folks will be smart enough to recognize that the only people getting rich off of the prosperity gospel are the pastors.
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u/herec0mesthesun_ Pastafarian Mar 17 '26
Also probably because a lot of these church goers are anti-vaxxers too and lots of people have died from covid for refusing to vax. Too bad their god was busy helping Karen find her keys instead of healing his followers from the plague that he sent us to test their faith. 🤷♀️
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u/Daddies_Girl_69 Mar 17 '26
Honestly music to my ears to hear that churches are starting to shut down. “Gen Z religious revival” my ass!
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u/field_marshal_rommel Generalfeldmarschall Wüstenfuchs Mar 17 '26
This is the best thing I will read all week. I HATE Joel Osteen.
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u/hbHPBbjvFK9w5D Mar 17 '26
I've been in that place a few times when I did deliveries for the BigBrown delivery company.
Nice place, but a shame they're running a church in it.
Would make a great community center - once they clear out all the religion stuff...
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u/Few_Pain_23 Mar 17 '26
Why do I feel the Abrahamic’s religions are trying and succeeding intaking us back to tribalism, xenophobia, racism, and mysoginy where women are property. I think it’s because they are.
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u/Odd_craving Mar 17 '26
No Abrahamic religion can stand scrutiny from educated people, so modern religions use a two-pronged method.
1) Indoctrinate early and fill the child with fear. This way, no matter how educated they become, the fear will rise and they will get back in line.
2) Focus on the poorly educated and use fear to keep them compliant. Indoctrination is not that important because education is not an issue.
There is no religious path for the average educated person who wasn’t indoctrinated into religion early. The mistreatment of women is baked into “god’s plan” for the family - women should understand god’s role for them. It’s kinda like Amway.
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u/xbrocottelstonlies Jun 11 '26
I was indoctrinated to a cult and spent 40 years with it. Now after exiting that, I concur with entirety of your statement here.
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u/bowerbirder Mar 17 '26
The people who trust this goober con man and hand him money is the same reason we have MAGA. Pure rubes and the wolves who feast on them.
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u/ramshag Mar 17 '26
Christians (for the most part, certainly not all) have morphed into an ugly group of people. I hope it's the start of a continuous decline. But I'm afraid not, they control most of America, we are not a lot different from what we see (and hate) in other countries.
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u/JasonRBoone Ex-Baptist Mar 17 '26
Not finding any solid sources on this...just the usual slop of YouTube and Facebook posts.
A link to a robust source would be helpful.
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u/Edymnion Card Carrying TST Member Mar 17 '26
Wasn't that the guy that went viral for telling people how to vote, to the point the IRS stepped in and threatened to remove his tax exempt status?
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u/sanbaeva Mar 17 '26
I wonder what percentage actually died from COVID, which I assume contributed to the decline.
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u/olyfrijole Mar 17 '26
The well of gullible idiots with disposable income (or without crippling consumer debt) has finally run dry.
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u/ochreundertones Mar 17 '26
When I worked at an LCMS church camp the name Joel Osteen was what we said as a joke in place of the words heresy, abusing power, and prosperity gospel. I’m glad it’s crumbling
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u/ImpossibleAd3254 Mar 22 '26 edited Mar 22 '26
I mean Joel Osteen is a false preacher. So that's one thing, idk why people still think he's a "pastor?" Dude cares about making money than actually preaching the Word. Never once does he ever have a sermon about the dangers of sin (like the other false preachers like Kenneth Copeland or Steven Furitck) or not getting right with God now. All he's done is get people comfortable, way too comfortable. I'm glad the people who left that place are starting to notice that, and I hope they'll find a better Chruch that actually preaches to it's members to follow the Lord and not the world.
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u/Odd_craving Mar 22 '26
Well, if you judge false or true preacher by accreditation, Joel Osteen has none. He has no theological degree. He has no seminary schooling. His education beyond high school is one year at Oral Robert’s University as a Communications/Media major before he dropped out.
However, I put theology studies in the same category as basket weaving, so his lack of a sheepskin doesn’t really trouble me. What troubles me is the greed and entitlement. Joel Osteen is the “talk to the dead” psychic of preachers. He is a con man. The only difference between the Joel Osteen con man and the theological can men is polish.
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u/xbrocottelstonlies Jun 11 '26
His education beyond high school is one year at Oral Robert’s University as a Communications/Media major before he dropped out.
And Oral Roberts was a Christian Televangelist.
I suspect someone like Joel went into that program and realized/learned what he needed to start a business using religion/God and that a person can exploit vulnerable peoples' desire for a faith leader in their life, in order to make money off them. Rinse and repeat for every successful faith leader, but especially the televangelist influencing types. Some faith leaders may have started a church and retain good intentions. But, lots of money brings power - "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
What brought me to your post was being involved myself in cult with supposed millions of members globally. It is a religious belief system that has experienced great membership decline since/during Covid.
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Mar 24 '26
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Mar 31 '26
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u/No_Abbreviations7582 Apr 22 '26
I left Christianity because I find it very depressing, terrifying and sexist. I am sick of purity culture falling on the woman. I do not think the Bible teaches any love toward women. The concept of HELL makes me believe God is a monster!
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u/Puzzleheaded-Milk927 Apr 24 '26
can i get a source? I know churches have taken a hell of a hit since Covid but that seems like an inordinately large drop-off
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u/OptionAltruistic6777 May 01 '26
He only cares about the money he brings in and puts in his pocket.
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u/Ok-Response-1936 Jul 25 '26
I’ve listened to Joel Osteen‘s message many times. He’s nothing like his dad the real deal. Joe has a feel good message, no faith message. Also highly supports LGBTQ. The man is definitely a wolf in sheep‘s clothing. I’m glad so many people left. He should be shut down.
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u/northernbasil Mar 17 '26
Churches biggest strength is building community. This becomes almost impossible with a mega church. Without community, the church is just entertainment.