The 2007 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches is out, and as always the statistical information is interesting. Among other things, it lists the 25 largest denominations (not all of them genuinely Christian, but the NCC publication doesn’t try to separate the true from the false, but simply takes them on self-description, which is fine for this particular work). Here they are, along with any reported increase or decrease:
1. The Catholic Church, 69,135,254 members, reporting an increase of 1.94 percent.
2. The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), 16,270,315 members, reporting a increase of .02 percent.
3. The United Methodist Church (UMC), 8,075,010 members, reporting a decrease of 1.36 percent.
4. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), 5,690,672 members, reporting an increase of 1.63 percent.
5. The Church of God in Christ (COGIC), 5,499,875 members, no increase or decrease reported.
6. National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. (NBC), 5,000,000 members, no increase or decrease reported.
7. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), 4,850,776, reporting a decrease of 1.62 percent.
8. National Baptist Convention of America (NBCA), 3,500,000, no increase or decrease reported.
9. Presbyterian Church (USA) (PCUSA), 3,098,842 members, reporting a decrease of 2.84 percent.
10. Assemblies of God (AG), 2,830,861 members, reporting an increase of 1.86 percent.
11. African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), 2,500,000 members, no increase or decrease reported.
12. National Missionary Baptist Convention of America (NMBCA), 2,500,000 members, no increase or decrease reported.
13. Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc. (PNBC), 2,500,000 members, no increase or decrease reported.
14. The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS), 2,440,864, reporting a decrease or .93 percent.
15. Episcopal Church (ECUSA), 2,247,819, reporting a decrease of 1.59 percent.
16. Churches of Christ (CoC), 1,639,495 members, reporting an increase of 9.30 percent (This increase reports the church’s growth since its last reported figures in 1999.)
17. Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA), 1,500,000 members, no increase or decrease reported.
18. Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (PAW), Inc., 1,500,000 members, no increase or decrease reported.
19. The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (AMEZ), 1,440,405 members, reporting an increase of .53 percent.
20. American Baptist Churches in the USA (ABCUSA), 1,396,700, reporting a decrease of 1.97 percent.
21. United Church of Christ (UCC), 1,224,297, reporting a decrease of 3.28 percent.
22. Baptist Bible Fellowship International (BBF), 1,200,000, no increase or decrease reported.
23. Christian Churches and Churches of Christ (Disciples), 1,071,615 members, no increase or decrease reported.
24. The Orthodox Church in America (OCA), 1,064,000 members, reporting no change.
25. Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW), 1,046,006 members, reporting a decrease of 1.56 percent.
To put these into broad categories: the United Methodist Church, ELCA, PCUSA, ECUSA, ABCUSA, UCC and Disciples are mainline denominations. The SBC, Assemblies of God, LCMS, Churches of Christ, and BBF are predominantly white, conservative Protestant denominations. COGIC, NBC, NBCA, AME, NMBCA, PNBC, PAW, and AMEZ are predominantly African-American Protestant denominations.
(Via UCCTruths.com)
March 8, 2007 at 4:54 pm
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March 9, 2007 at 12:37 pm
The continuing declines in the membership of the mainline Protestant denominations comes as no surprise. (Those reporting no change probably lost members as well). The minimal increase reported by the Southern Baptist Convention and the slight decrease reported by the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod suggests that the growth of conservative denominations may also be reaching its zenith. There was a time when conservative theology was a reasonably reliable indicator of numerical growth, or at least of growth potential. That does not appear to be the case any longer. In the years ahead, we can expect even conservative congregations to lose members as old and new believers alike look for churches where body-led ministry is prioritized over pastor-led ministry and the structure and organization encourages strong personal relationships among the members of the body, and with Christ.