It's always intriguing to see which churches have grown and which denominations have faded in the past year. According to the 2008 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches (a Bible of sorts for us religion writers), the fastest-growing religious body in 2007 was the Jehovah's Witnesses at 2.25 percent.
Following them were the Mormons at 1.56 percent and the Roman Catholics at .87 percent. Compare this to last year's states that had the Catholics out front at 1.94 percent, followed by the Assemblies of God at 1.86 and the Mormons at 1.63.
The denomination with the biggest decrease is the Episcopalians at 4.15 percent.
There are all sorts of arguments why some of these figures on the list below are bogus. For instance, several of the historic black churches with the "no increase or decrease listed" after their name do not release statistics at all. So the membership figure after their name is a guess at best. Plus churches' standards for membership are different. Baptist groups tend to count only those who have made an adult profession of faith. More liturgical churches include any child that has been baptized.
Still, the majority of church groups on this list are not growing. Of the top three churches [Roman Catholics, Southern Baptists and United Methodists], the Methodists are losing members.
There are some surprises here. The Lutheran Church/Missouri Synod decreased by .94 percent. I thought all conservative churches were growing. Ditto for the two Orthodox bodies listed here that are also losing members.
And there are more members of the Assemblies of God than Episcopalians. Guess which of the two gets more news coverage.
Here are the top 25:
1. The Roman Catholic Church, 67,515,016 members, an increase of .87 percent.
2. Southern Baptist Convention, 16,306,246 members, an increase of .22 percent.
3. The United Methodist Church, 7,995,456 members, a decrease of .99 percent.
4. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 5,779,316 members, an increase of 1.56 percent.
5. The Church of God in Christ, 5,499,875 members, no increase or decrease reported.
6. National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc., 5,000,000 members, no increase or decrease reported.
7. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, 4,774,203 members, a decrease of 1.58 percent.
8. National Baptist Convention of America, Inc., 3,500,000 members, no increase or decrease reported.
9. Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), 3,025,740 members, a decrease of 2.36 percent.
10. Assemblies of God, 2,836,174 members, an increase of .19 percent.
11. African Methodist Episcopal Church, 2,500,000 members, no increase or decrease reported.
11. National Missionary Baptist Convention of America, 2,500,000 members, no increase or decrease reported.
11. Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc., 2,500,000 members, no increase or decrease reported.
14. The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), 2,417,997 members, a decrease of .94 percent.
15. Episcopal Church, 2,154,572 members, a decrease of 4.15 percent.
16. Churches of Christ, 1,639,495 members, no increase or decrease reported.
17. Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, 1,500,000 members, no increase or decrease reported.
17. Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Inc., 1,500,000 members, no increase or decrease reported.
19. The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, 1,443,405 members, an increase of .21 percent.
20. American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A., 1,371,278 members, a decrease of 1.82 percent.
21. United Church of Christ, 1,218,541 members, a decrease of 0.47 percent.
22. Baptist Bible Fellowship International, 1,200,000, no increase or decrease reported.
23. Christian Churches and Churches of Christ, 1,071,616 members, no increase or decrease reported.
24. The Orthodox Church in America, 1,064,000, no increase or decrease reported.
25. Jehovah's Witnesses, 1,069,530 members, an increase of 2.25 percent.
— Julia Duin, assistant national editor/religion, The Washington Times
Comments (9)
Interesting that the biggest change by far was the Episcopal Church. And it was a decrease.
Posted by Tregonsee | February 18, 2008 9:13 PM
Another factor in reading statistics for Baptists is that local churches can affiliate with more than one national denomination. Thus their members can be counted several times. I have been for years associated with the District of Columbia Baptist Convention, a judicatory which has the distinction of being multiply-affiliated (American Baptist, Southern Baptist, and Progressive National Baptist). It is entirely possible that many of DCBC's church members are counted three times! Sort of an ecclesiastical stuffing of the ballot box!
Posted by Joseph M. Smith | February 18, 2008 11:37 PM
I'm a bit confused. The two Orthodox jurisdictions listed show nothing??????? Yet a decrease in the text??????
Posted by Bill | February 19, 2008 1:44 AM
Very interesting. I wonder if this sort of list will become less useful as American Christianity continues to splinter into bazillions of little pieces. For example, the Episcopalians who are leaving are going to a number of small, mostly African-based mini-denominations that will never be big enough for this list.
I posted a link to this at my blog, Islam and Christianity
Posted by abu daoud | February 19, 2008 7:47 AM
The Episcopal figure was based on two years of change rather than one. The 2007 Yearbook reported 2004 data while the 2008 Yearbook used 2006 data. The decrease from 2005 to 2006 was 2.3 percent.
Posted by khadaway | February 19, 2008 2:19 PM
Most of these stats are pure garbage, and a religion reporter ought to know that. You can start with all the ones that report a big round number and "no change from last year" and throw them out as the wild guesses or fabrications they are.
Then for those that really do try to keep accurate records you can't compare one to another until you understand what they are trying to count: adults only? baptized members only? dues-paying members only? "communicants in good standing"? There is no consistency across denominations.
For comparison, a fair starting point is the data in the Statistical Abstract of the United States, which uses phone surveys on self-identification. It is not perfect either but at least it uses the same counting method across all denominations.
Posted by mhughes | February 19, 2008 3:23 PM
I do believe most churches take some type of weekly worship attendance. This would be a better count than taking membership statistics because I personally know some churches who have a much higher membership count than who actually attend each week.
I don't think phone surveys are very good because many will say for example they are Catholic when in fact they have not attended a Mass for 20 years.
Posted by Jason | February 22, 2008 9:13 PM
I found the survey interesting but not telling, with regard to the growth of Christianity as a whole. New Non-Denominational fellowships are springing up all over the place, and they are usually made up of former denominational members. The level of zeal in these new fellowships tends to create an atmoshpere of excitement that makes it easier to attract non-traditional "seekers". This is my observation, of course, no "scientific survey.
Posted by Donna | February 25, 2008 5:03 AM
I would agree that this is bogus because of different membership criteria. For example, mainline denominations show decreases because they are fairly quick to take inactive members off the rolls, while some churches, like the Roman Catholic Church count someone as a Catholic even if they have joined and have been ordained in another denomination. The same can be said for Mormons and southern Baptists who are well known for their inflated membership figures.
The story that is missed here is that the ratio of baptised US Catholics who practice their faith by attending church and receiving the sacraments has dropped from about 80-90% in the 1960s to less than 33% today, which arguably is a greater decline than what is going on with most mainline Protestants. This is masked by their growing numbers which is mostly due to immigration rather than conversions.
This also makes it pretty hard to argue that liberal churches do poorly while conservative churches are bursting at the seams.
Posted by Mark | February 25, 2008 3:21 PM