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US traditional churches show decline in numbers, Pentecostals gain

WORLD NEWS
Membership in traditional Protestant denominations continue to decline, while membership in Pentecostal churches and other non-Protestant bodies continue to increase, yearly data collected and released by the US National Council of Churches shows.

The NCC’s Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches for 2007 – data collected by US churches in 2005 and then reported to the NCC in 2006 – shows that only three US traditional Protestant churches now rank among the 10 largest churches in the United States, the NCC said in a 5 March announcement.

These are: the United Methodist Church, ranked third; the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ranked seventh; and the US Presbyterian Church, ranked ninth. All showed declines in membership in the annual figures, as did the highly visible Episcopal (Anglican) Church, which now is ranked 15th.

By contrast, a number of denominations – including Pentecostal churches such as the Assemblies of God and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – showed increases, as did the Roman Catholic Church. While the United States is a predominately Protestant nation, the Catholic Church remains the largest single denomination in the United States.

A list of the 10 largest US churches, according to yearbook statistics provided to the NCC by the denominations themselves:

1. The Catholic Church (69 135 254 members, an increase of 1.94 percent).
2. The Southern Baptist Convention (16 270 315 members, an increase of 0.02 percent).
3. The United Methodist Church (8 075 010 members, a decrease of 1.36 percent).
4. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (5 690 672 members, an increase of 1.63 percent).
5. The Church of God in Christ (5 499 875 members, no increase or decrease).
6. National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. (5 million members, no increase or decrease).
7. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (4 850 776 members, a decrease of 1.62 percent).
8. National Baptist Convention of America (3.5 million, no increase or decrease).
9. Presbyterian Church (USA) (3 098 842 members, a decrease of 2.84 percent).
10. Assemblies of God (2 830 861 members, an increase of 1.86 percent).

(c) Ecumenical News International

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