Rhema Bible Church

Rhema Bible Church is a charismatic Word of Faith congregation in Randburg, South Africa, on the northern edge of Johannesburg. Ray McCauley founded it in 1979 with 13 people meeting in his parents' home after he returned from Bible training in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The church dedicated its 5,000-seat auditorium in 1985 and grew into the largest single congregation in South Africa. McCauley died in October 2024. His son Joshua McCauley, appointed senior pastor alongside his wife Tara in 2022, now leads the church.

Rhema ranks 54th with an influence score of 58.2 and 121,318 combined followers across three platforms. Instagram is the largest at 45,425 on the rhema_sa handle. Facebook follows at 41,593, and YouTube sits at 34,300 subscribers on @Rhema_SA. There is no TikTok account. The breadth score of 82.5 reflects consistent activity across all three, with YouTube content published as recently as June 8.

Rhema posts the second-highest velocity score in this group at 65.7, driven by 28.46 percent YouTube growth over the past year. That is a sharp climb for a 46-year-old institution, and it comes during a leadership generation change. Churches often stall digitally when a founder passes. Rhema is accelerating instead. The reach score of 30.3 is modest, the second-lowest in this stretch, so the church is still early in converting its massive in-person footprint into online audience. At nearly 29 percent annual growth, that conversion is underway. Rhema is one of only a handful of African churches in the index, and it is moving faster than most of the American churches around it.