Karen Dixon, a 25-year member of the Vineyard Church in Urbana, has seen it grow from its starting membership of about 30 to a membership of more than 2,500.

Dixon and other members now attend services at Vineyard’s, 1500 N. Lincoln Ave., new building designed to accommodate the ever-growing membership of the church.

2,572 members attended Vineyard in 2000, which is about 3 percent of the 75,149 churchgoers in the Champaign-Urbana area, according to the American Religious Data Archive. Vineyard’s membership places it as a megachurch by the Hartford Institute for Religious Research “Megachurches Today” study. This study defines a megachurch as one that has an average weekly worship attendance of 2,000 or more.

The phenomenon of the megachurch has spread in recent years, influencing smaller churches and spreading from large cities, like Chicago, to smaller ones, like Urbana.

Professor Scott Thumma of the Hartford Institute said he estimates 1,200 megachurches in the U.S. currently, with their members constituting 7 percent of the people attending churches in the U.S.

“I found a home here and people who believed the same things I did,” Dixon said. She also said she enjoyed the contemporary atmosphere of the services.

Like Dixon, members of the church enjoy the church’s modern style. The church uses modern Christian music to engage the worshippers.

“It does what it intends to do; it connects you more to the music,” said Becca Brubeck, of Champaign. She said she felt at home the first time she came and heard a favorite song from her childhood.

Josephine Kalipeni, of Champaign, said she was looking for a home church and liked the contemporary service.

“It puts everybody on the same page,” Kalipeni said. “You don’t have to flip through a hymnal, and it makes it more universal.”

Some members, like Josh Bubniak, started coming with their families.

“It is in the family,” he said. “I come to 703 (Sunday evening service for young adults) because the mornings are not convenient for me, and it’s more relevant to my life.”

Vineyard’s new building holds contemporary services, with two giant screens in the 1,018-seat auditorium next to the stage and a state-of-the-art sound system perfect for blasting the sounds of the eight-member band.

“It’s a very contemporary church,” said pastor Happy Leman, Vineyard’s senior pastor. “We have to speak the language of the people of 2005.”

Culture keeps changing, which is the reason for being contemporary, he said.

Leman said he tells his members “the message never changes, the market is changing, and the methods have to adjust.”

The church keeps traditional Bible beliefs, but members change how they do what they believe, he said.

Vineyard started in 1980 after Leman and his wife, Diane Leman, were told they could not have children by their doctors, but then had five children naturally. God answered their prayers, and they started a Bible study that grew into the church, Leman said.

Thumma oversaw the megachurch study, mostly because he became interested after seeing the influence of megachurches.

Thumma said the larger churches in the 1960s and 1970s reflected changes in American society after the baby boom. As societal structures, such as high schools and malls, got bigger, so did churches.

“They adopted other spheres of society to do religion. They’re really for a person who’s not interested in tradition,” Thumma said.

Thumma said megachurches popularized the use of contemporary services – using bands and PowerPoint presentations with sermons.

“The emphasis on using screens and technology and emphasis on professional show is having an effect on how smaller congregations do worship,” Thumma said.

He also said the churches adopt from all of society in order to stay relevant.

The Hartford Institute study found most of the megachurches identified themselves as “evangelical” in affiliation.

“We don’t take partisan views,” Leman said in response to some churches being vocal on political issues. “Jesus didn’t die for a right-wing issue.”

Others, however, do not think the reach of megachurches is expanding. The Rev. Rob Kirby, Wesley Foundation campus minister, said he thinks the influence is waning.

“They had a serious impact in last decade with high caliber worship,” Kirby said, pointing to the problem of appealing to the current generation of 18-30 year olds. “The pendulum is going the other way now toward authenticity and integrity over the polished worship of contemporary services.”

Megachurches are often easy to access for those who are exploring religion.

Jenny Glusica, who attended Willow Creek, a megachurch in South Barrington, Ill., for three years, said that was one problem with churches like Willow Creek.

“It has a lot of appeal to seekers,” Glusica said. “You can kind of hide. Since it is so friendly, someone on a more mature (religious) level might need something deeper.”

Erick Burtness, a Vineyard member, said the church places an emphasis on service and evangelism. His small group does work at Empty Tomb, a local group that gives donated clothes to the needy.

“Over and over, we heard if we’re not out there reaching out to our friends, then this church is just a big building,” he said, reflecting the church’s slogan – “It’s more than a building; it’s a community of hope.”