The nation’s 10 largest churches remain unchanged from last year, according to the 2004 “Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches,” with the American Baptist churches in the USA reporting the fastest growth of any Protestant denomination.
The annual report of church membership figures, compiled by the National Council of Churches, found 161 million adherents in some 215 different denominations in 2002, the latest year for which figures are available.
American Baptist churches reported a growth rate of nearly 3 percent, marking the second year of sustained growth after two previous years of decline. American Baptists rose from 20th to 19th place, with a total of 1.48 million members.
The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, which last year had the most significant growth percentagewise, with an astonishing 11 percent, saw a decline of 1.18 percent in the new yearbook.
Eileen W. Lindner, the yearbook’s editor, said the drop was likely due to “a small portion of those new members failing to continue their membership a second year.”
The Orthodox Church in America lost 100,000 — or 10 percent — of its members, knocking it out of 25th place. It was replaced by the Church of God (Cleveland, Tenn.), which reported 944,857 members.
Among the top 10 churches, Catholics, Southern Baptists, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) and the Assemblies of God all reported growth. Mainline Protestant churches in the top 10, including the United Methodist Church, Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, all reported declines in membership.
Three historically black churches — the National Baptist Convention USA, Inc., the National Baptist Convention of America, Inc. and the Church of God in Christ, reported stable memberships.
Fifty-nine churches that reported financial data said they had collected $31 billion in giving. Several large churches, including Mormons, were not included in that figure.
Overall, per-person giving rose by 5.6 percent to $658 dollars, well ahead of the 2.4 percent rate of inflation for 2002.
The yearbook noted a decline, however, in “benevolence giving” — money used at the local level to help other people — to 14 percent, down from 15 percent last year. “Such a decline is occurring even as reports of requests for aid at shelters and soup kitchens are rising,” Lindner said. (RNS)
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