Ministry Today

Whether pastors in Canada know it or not, membership in mainline denominations in the country are declining, but numbers in churches across the U.S. are also dropping, according to a report released this week by The National Council of Churches, 2010 Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches.

Michael Valpy of Globe and Mail in a study attributes Canada’s membership decline to “post-Christian society,” where he says a “once-dominant Anglicanism” has shifted to the “margins of public life."

A look at the church in Canada revealed that the decline in the Anglican Diocese of British Columbia and across the country, equates to a loss of 13,000 members a year, and at that rate, “only one Anglican would be left in Canada by 2061.”

But according to the 78th annual edition of the yearbook, nearly all mainline denominations are struggling to maintain membership.

The nation’s second-largest denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), offered no reason for its decline but reported a decrease in membership for the second year. The SBC’s numbers dropped 0.24 percent to 16,266,920, ncccusa.org reported.

But Julia Duin, religion editor for The Washington Times, said the SBC is “doing well” considering other denominations. “They are doing well compared to certain others, such as the Presbyterian Church USA, which is down 3.28 percent to 2.9 million members; the American Baptists are down 2 percent to 1.3 million and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is down 1.92 percent to 4.7 million.”

Duin included in her blog a list of the 25 largest churches listed below. She said the “overall membership in church is up .49 percent this year to 147.3 million, just under half of the American population.”

The top 25 churches in order of size:

1. The Catholic Church: 68,115,001 members, up 1.49 percent.

2. Southern Baptist Convention: 16,228,438 members, down 0.24 percent.

3. The United Methodist Church: 7,853,987 members, down 0.98 percent.

4. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: 5,974,041 members, up 1.71 percent.

5. The Church of God in Christ: 5,499,875 members, no membership updates reported.

6. National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.: 5,000,000 members, no membership updates reported.

7. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: 4,633,887 members, down 1.62 percent.

8. National Baptist Convention of America, Inc.: 3,500,000 members, no membership updates reported.

9. Assemblies of God (ranked 10 last year): 2,899,702 members, up 1.27 percent.

10. Presbyterian Church (USA) (ranked nine last year): 2,844,952 members, down 3.28 percent.

11. African Methodist Episcopal Church: 2,500,000 members, no membership updates reported.

11. National Missionary Baptist Convention of America: 2,500,000 members, no membership updates reported.

11. Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc.: 2,500,000 members, no membership updates reported.

14. The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS): 2,337,349 members, down 1.92 percent.

15. The Episcopal Church: 2,057,292 members, down 2.81 percent.

16. Churches of Christ: 1,639,495 members, no membership updates reported.

17. Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America: 1,500,000 members, no membership updates reported.

17. Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Inc.: 1,500,000 members, no membership updates reported.

19. The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church: 1,400,000 members, members, no membership updates reported.

20. American Baptist Churches in the USA: 1,331,127 members, down 2 percent.

21. Baptist Bible Fellowship International (ranked 22 last year): 1,200,000 members, no membership updates reported.

22. Jehovah’s Witnesses (ranked 23 last year): 1,114,009 members, up 2 percent.

23. United Church of Christ (ranked 22 last year): 1,111,691 members, down 2.93 percent.

24. Church of God (Cleveland, Tenn.) (ranked 25 last year): 1,072,169 members, up 1.76 percent.

25. Christian Churches and Churches of Christ (ranked 24 last year): 1,071,616 members, no membership updates reported.

[usatoday.com, 2/11/10; Julia Duin Belief Blog, 2/12/10]

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