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Mainline Protestant churches no longer dominate

Posted: Wednesday March 30, 2005 6:34 PM EST

By National Council of Churches

New York—Pentecostal and historic African American churches are increasingly visible on the U.S. religious landscape and mainline Protestants no longer dominate a list of the 25 largest American churches, reports the National Council of Churches’ 2005 “Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches.”

Three of the largest 25 churches in the U.S. are Pentecostal and six are African American, the yearbook reports.

The list includes the rapidly growing Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Orthodox Church in America, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and - largest of all - the Roman Catholic Church.

The Catholic Church remains the largest faith group in the U.S. with 67,259,768 members and a growth rate last year of 1.28 percent. The second largest denomination in the U.S. is still the Southern Baptist Convention with 16,439,603 members and a growth rate of 1.18 percent. The United Methodist Church is third largest with a reported membership of 8,251,175 and a growth rate of .002 percent.

The Church of Jesus of Latter-day Saints, with a reported membership of 5,503,192, rose from the fifth to the fourth largest church in the U.S. The yearbook noted that the church “continues to grow remarkably” at a rate of 1.71 percent last year.

A reported surge in membership of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) has placed the communion on the list of the largest American churches. The Syosset, N.Y., based church grew 11.11 percent to 1-million members, according to the yearbook.

Other churches in the top 25 that continued to grow in 2004 are the Assemblies of God, 2,729,562 members and a growth rate of 1.57 percent; the Episcopal Church, 2,320,221 members and a growth rate of .57 percent; the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, 1,432,795 members and a growth rate of .14 percent; and Jehovah’s Witnesses, 1,041,030 members and a growth rate of 1.82 percent.

Churches that declined in membership in 2004 are the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, 4,984,925 members, down 1.05 percent; the Presbyterian Church (USA), 3,241,309 members, down 4.87 percent; The Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod), 2,488,936 members, down .95 percent); American Baptist Churches in the USA, 1,433,075 members, down 3.45 percent; and the United Church of Christ, 1,296,652 members, down 2.58 percent.

The data is gathered by the churches in 2003 and reported to the yearbook in 2004.

The 2005 Yearbook reports on 217 national church bodies with 150 million members in the U.S. Reports include brief church histories and contact information for church leaders. The yearbook also analyzes the financial data from 63 churches representing almost 50 million members and more than $32 billion.

Mission Trends

Until 1968, the yearbook published statistical data of American home and foreign missionaries. That information has not been reported for 36 years, and editor Lindner decided to take a look at how mission has been faring.

In an article, “Whither Global Mission?” Lindner reported that mainline Protestants have increased their mission activity for the first time in a quarter century. That, combined with the still vigorous mission impulses of evangelical and Pentecostal churches, shows that American Christians are “attempting great things” in mission, Lindner said.

Mainline church agencies reported an increase of 600 missionaries over the number reported in 1966, Lindner noted, citing a January 2005 article in the International Bulletin of Missionary Research.

Agencies affiliated with the Interdenominational Foreign Mission Association gained about 1,400 missionaries since 1966, and agencies affiliated with the Evangelical Fellowship of Mission Agencies gained about 8,000 missionaries in the same period, the article said.

Of the estimated 6,453,628,000 persons on earth in mid-2005, about 33.1 percent consider themselves Christians. The percentage is expected to rise to 33.6 percent in 2025.

In mid-2005, most of the world’s Christians - 1,118,992,000 - are Roman Catholics. Independents account for the next largest group of Christians (426,672,000), followed by Protestants (375,814,000), Orthodox (219,501,000), Anglicans (79,710,000) and “marginal Christians” (34,150,000).

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