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Pentecostal and so-called non-mainline Protestant churches show continuing growth in the United States, while mainstream churches continue to lose membership, according to the latest annual figures on US church membership.
The largest Protestant denomination in the United States, the Southern Baptist Convention, showed a decline in membership, while the Roman Catholic Church, the largest single church body, showed a slight increase. The US National Council of Churches this week released the figures in the 2006 Yearbook of American and Canadian churches.
The yearbook indicated that, among the 25 largest churches in the United States, those showing the largest increases in membership were the Assemblies of God, a Pentecostal denomination, increasing 1.81 per cent to 2.78 million; the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, increasing 1.74 per cent to 5.99 million; and the Catholic Church, increasing 0.83 per cent to 67.82 million.
The Southern Baptist Convention, with 16.27 million members, reported a decrease of 1.05 per cent.
Only three Protestant churches often referred to as mainline – the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Presbyterian Church (USA) – are listed among the 10 largest churches in the United States, according to yearbook statistics.
The United Methodist Church ranked third of US churches with a membership of 8.19 million, a decrease of 0. 79 per cent; the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ranked seventh with a membership of 4.93 million, a decrease of 1.09 per cent; and the Presbyterian Church (USA), ranked ninth with a membership of 3.19 million, a decrease of 1.60 per cent.
(c) Ecumenical News International
Photo : WORLD NEWS
