Jehovah’s Witnesses are the fastest-growing church body in the U.S. and Canada, now with more than 1 million members, according to new figures that track church membership in the U.S. and Canada.
Although Jehovah’s Witnesses ranked 25th on the list of the 25 largest churches in the U.S., they reported the largest growth rate — 2.25 percent — of all churches. The badly divided Episcopal Church, meanwhile, reported the largest drop, at 4.15 percent.
The 2008 Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches, produced by the New York-based National Council of Churches, recorded growth trends in 224 national church bodies, with a combined membership of 147 million Americans. The 2008 yearbook is based on self-reported membership figures for 2006, the most recent year available.
The Roman Catholic Church, with 67.5 million members, remains the largest U.S. church body, with a 2006 increase of 0.87 percent. The second largest church, the Southern Baptist Convention (16.3 million), has more than twice the number of members as the United Methodist Church, the third largest, which documented 7.9 million U.S. members.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at 5.7 million U.S. members (1.56 percent increase), and the Church of God in Christ, with a steady 5.4 million, round out the top five.
Only Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Catholic Church, Southern Baptists, Mormons, the Assemblies of God (2.8 million) and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (1.4 million) reported increases; all others either posted declines or flat membership from 2005.
Historically black churches make up six of the 15 largest churches, with a three-way tie for the No. 11 spot among the National Missionary Baptist Convention of America, Progressive National Baptist Convention and African Methodist Episcopal Church — each having 2.5 million members.
Several historically black churches, such as the 5 million-member National Baptist Convention USA, have reported the same figures for several years running.
Eileen W. Lindner, who produces the annual yearbook, explained that many black denominations "estimate" the number of people in the pews.
"They aggregate the whole of their members because many of their congregations are dually affiliated" with multiple denominations, Lindner said. "The accuracy doesn’t come from the count, but from the year-to-year census or estimations."
The 2008 yearbook also tracked the time and resources spent by churches on responding to health care needs and financial figures that show an increase in per-capita financial giving by 65 churches that reported figures. The report shows an average increase of $28.47 given per member over the previous year.
The yearbook also reported a decline in Canadian and black seminary enrollment. Black enrollment in seminaries has declined 6.75 percent, but there has been an increase in part-time enrollment in both the U.S. and Canada. (RNS)
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