2007 Church Yearbook Ranks Largest Denominations

Dark Knight

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NEW YORK (AP) - The Roman Catholic, Southern Baptist and United Methodist churches remain the largest three denominations in the country, with the Mormon church ranking fourth in size, according to the latest edition of the Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches.

The latest edition of the yearbook counts more than 69 (m) million Roman Catholics in the United States, with Southern Baptists running a distant second at 16-point-three (m) million.

The United Methodist Church came in third with just over eight (m) million members, but that figure represents a decrease. Other mainline denominations also continued to lose members.

The Assemblies of God and other Pentecostal denominations, however, reported significant growth.

 
Dark Knight said:
NEW YORK (AP) - The Roman Catholic, Southern Baptist and United Methodist churches remain the largest three denominations in the country, with the Mormon church ranking fourth in size, according to the latest edition of the Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches.

The latest edition of the yearbook counts more than 69 (m) million Roman Catholics in the United States, with Southern Baptists running a distant second at 16-point-three (m) million.

The United Methodist Church came in third with just over eight (m) million members, but that figure represents a decrease. Other mainline denominations also continued to lose members.

The Assemblies of God and other Pentecostal denominations, however, reported significant growth.

No joke, scary huh?

I think there are 1.5 billion world wide, only read that today somewhere..

Well whoever said Christianity is on the way out sure was wrong!
 
narlacat said:
No joke, scary huh?

I think there are 1.5 billion world wide, only read that today somewhere..

Well whoever said Christianity is on the way out sure was wrong!
Scary? Typical comment from you.

ETA: Like it or not, your comment equals hate speech. Try saying that about Jews.
 
Even though this doesn't say why other churches are losing members and not growing, I can't help but notice that denominations that aren't usually very liberal and ones that people try and label as fanatics are growing in members and the long term large groups are still strong and still growing.
 
txsvicki said:
Even though this doesn't say why other churches are losing members and not growing, I can't help but notice that denominations that aren't usually very liberal and ones that people try and label as fanatics are growing in members and the long term large groups are still strong and still growing.
Yeah I wish it had gone into more detail. It was just what came across the wire. Someone may look farther into it eventually. But your observations I think are pretty accurate. The Catholic Church's jump was quite large, it surprised me. Couple million at least.

ETA: I'd also find it interesting to find out whether many of the new members of the growing churches are primarily brand new Christians or if they are former members of the churches that are decreasing and have converted to the growing churches.
 
Dark Knight said:
Scary? Typical comment from you.

ETA: Like it or not, your comment equals hate speech. Try saying that about Jews.
Hate speech?

I said one word, two if you count the 'huh'- that does not equal hate speech.

If I want to think it's scary that so many people buy into a certain religion I am so entitled.

You think it's great, I think it's scary.
 
narlacat said:
Hate speech?

I said one word, two if you count the 'huh'- that does not equal hate speech.

If I want to think it's scary that so many people buy into a certain religion I am so entitled.

You think it's great, I think it's scary.
Yeah, number of words is what counts. :slap:
 
Dark Knight said:
Yeah, number of words is what counts. :slap:
So, have I got this right- you reported me over one word? one little word?
 
narlacat said:
So, have I got this right- you reported me over one word? one little word?
I didn't report you over that post. You KNOW what post got reported and what it said. That's why it's deleted, isn't it? That was truly an ugly post and you know that.
 
Dark Knight said:
I didn't report you over that post. You KNOW what post got reported and what it said. That's why it's deleted, isn't it? That was truly an ugly post and you know that.
Geez you exaggerate.

But you're right, I did delete it, it's not worth getting banned over.
 
Dark Knight said:
NEW YORK (AP) - The Roman Catholic, Southern Baptist and United Methodist churches remain the largest three denominations in the country, with the Mormon church ranking fourth in size, according to the latest edition of the Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches.

The latest edition of the yearbook counts more than 69 (m) million Roman Catholics in the United States, with Southern Baptists running a distant second at 16-point-three (m) million.

The United Methodist Church came in third with just over eight (m) million members, but that figure represents a decrease. Other mainline denominations also continued to lose members.

The Assemblies of God and other Pentecostal denominations, however, reported significant growth.

WOW, I did not realize there were that many, I wonder how many Lutherans???? My son goes to a Lutheran school and they are so nice there. I hear they are very similar to Catholics.
 
michelle said:
I wonder how many Lutherans????

Only three mainline Protestant denominations were among the 10 largest churches. The Methodists were the largest, followed by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which ranked seventh with a membership of 4.85 million, and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which ranked ninth with a membership of nearly 3.1 million. Still, all three reported declines.

Pentecostal churches, however, reported significant growth. As one example, the Assemblies of God increased nearly 2 percent to 2.83 million.
- http://www.christianpost.com/articl...ouncil_of_Churches_Releases_2007_Yearbook.htm
 
The latest edition of the yearbook counts more than 69 million Roman Catholics in the United States, with Southern Baptists running a distant second at 16.3 million.

I know that Southern Baptists don't count newborns as members, but I don't know if Roman Catholics count christened babies.

DK, what say you?
 
LovelyPigeon said:
The latest edition of the yearbook counts more than 69 million Roman Catholics in the United States, with Southern Baptists running a distant second at 16.3 million.

I know that Southern Baptists don't count newborns as members, but I don't know if Roman Catholics count christened babies.

DK, what say you?
The Catholic Church says that anyone that is baptized Catholic and does not reject his faith is considered a Catholic. So I would say, yes, baptized infants are counted in the numbers.

I looked it up to see how the yearbook received it's data. Membership numbers were reported by the churches. That leads me to believe that the numbers for the Roman Catholics in the United States could be on the low side. There is no "central registry", so to speak, in the Catholic Church. Church Law does not require membership in a parish to be counted as a Catholic.
 
LovelyPigeon said:
The latest edition of the yearbook counts more than 69 million Roman Catholics in the United States, with Southern Baptists running a distant second at 16.3 million.

I know that Southern Baptists don't count newborns as members, but I don't know if Roman Catholics count christened babies.

DK, what say you?
Maral is correct. If they are baptised in the Church and remain active, they are members. Some call them 'cradle Catholics' lol. There from day one. :)
 
southcitymom said:
This is true.

DK, did it list Episcopalian/Anglican numbers?
Not the story I had. There are probably articles being written today about it that are more detailed. LP's link above may have that info, I haven't chcked it yet.

ETA: And thanks for agreeing with me re: Narla's post. It'd be like someone saying: "A Jew lives by me. Scary, huh?" It's hate speech because of it's intent.
 
Dark Knight said:
Not the story I had. There are probably articles being written today about it that are more detailed. LP's link above may have that info, I haven't chcked it yet.

ETA: And thanks for agreeing with me re: Narla's post. It'd be like someone saying: "A Jew lives by me. Scary, huh?" It's hate speech because of it's intent.

Sorry, but your analogy is faulty because you omit context. When somebody starts exterminating Catholics by the millions, we'll talk.

The appropriation by mainstream Christianity of the language of minority victimization could not be more offensive. Ya'll should be ashamed.

And as long as your church continues to agitate against full civil rights for people like me, then, yeah, I have a right to fear 70 million Catholics and - even more to the point - the rise of fundamentalist sects.
 
Nova said:
Sorry, but your analogy is faulty because you omit context. When somebody starts exterminating Catholics by the millions, we'll talk.

The appropriation by mainstream Christianity of the language of minority victimization could not be more offensive. Ya'll should be ashamed.

And as long as your church continues to agitate against full civil rights for people like me, then, yeah, I have a right to fear 70 million Catholics and - even more to the point - the rise of fundamentalist sects.
Oh good grief. I should expect better logic form you Nova, but perhaps not. Anyways, it isn't worth getting this thread locked because someone wants to play victim and not let others.
 

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