US Trends

how many people attend oak hills church

As of the most recent public figures, Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas, has about 5,000 weekly worshipers across its campuses, with a long-term goal to reach 10,000.

Quick Scoop

  • Current attendance : ~5,000 weekly attendees.
  • Target/goal : 10,000 worshipers.
  • Growth trajectory : Started in 1984 with 17 people; grew to ~200 by the early 1990s, then continued expanding through the late 1990s and beyond into a multi-campus megachurch.

What “attendance” means here

For churches like Oak Hills, reported numbers usually refer to:

  • Weekly worship attendance (all campuses combined, across Sunday services).
  • Not necessarily unique individuals, since some people attend multiple services.
  • Often includes children, youth, and adults.

This is different from:

  • Membership rolls (which may be higher or lower depending on how the church counts inactive members).
  • Event-specific crowds (which can temporarily spike for special services or conferences).

How the number has changed over time

Oak Hills Church’s story is a classic small-to-megachurch growth arc:

  1. 1984 : Started with 17 people in a strip mall in suburban Folsom, California.
  1. Early 1990s : About 200 in weekly attendance after six years.
  1. 1997 and beyond : Continued rapid growth, eventually relocating and expanding into multiple campuses in the San Antonio area.
  1. Recent years : Settled around 5,000 weekly worshipers, with leadership publicly stating a goal of 10,000.

Because attendance can fluctuate with season, campus expansions, or special events, the 5,000 figure is best understood as a current ballpark rather than a fixed, exact count.

Why exact numbers aren’t always available

Churches typically:

  • Share round figures (e.g., “about 5,000”) rather than precise counts.
  • Update numbers periodically in:
    • Church newsletters or annual reports.
    • Media interviews (like those with pastor Max Lucado in earlier years).
* Facility or planning documents (such as campus programming reports).

They rarely publish a live, real-time dashboard of attendance, so the best available data is from recent articles, interviews, and church-related profiles. Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.