The Assemblies of God grew the fastest in one year, mainline Protestant churches lost members and the Roman Catholic Church remained the largest church body in the United States, according to the National Council of Churches’ 2006 Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches.
The yearbook includes a record 219 national church organizations that have combined memberships of more than 163 million Americans.
As in the past, the Catholic Church is out front in terms of numbers — nearly 68 million members, an increase of nearly 1 percent from the previous year.
As in other years, statistics are the latest available for an entire year. The 2006 Yearbook reports numbers from 2004, with comparisons to 2003.
Data from the latest yearbook was released March 30.
The Assemblies of God, the 10th largest church, saw a rise of almost 2 percent, climbing to nearly 3 million members.
That made the Assemblies, a Pentecostal group, the fastest growing among the nation’s largest denominations.
Continuing a trend, mainline Protestant churches continued to drop in number, including three ranked in the top 10 — the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Presbyterian Church (USA).
According to 2004 statistics, the Southern Baptist Convention — the largest Protestant denomination — increased 1 percent, the council said.
Share with others: