Posted on 03/26/2011 12:59:03 PM PDT by Dr. Eckleburg
U.S., Canadian church growth trends persist
BY DAVID YONKE
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR
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Growing churches continue to grow and declining churches continue to decline, according to the latest statistics reported in the 2011 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches.
Virtually all mainline Protestant denominations continue their decades-long drop in membership, while the Catholic Church and most of the larger conservative Protestant bodies are gaining members.
“What the data show is that the trends that have been going on for a long time now continue,” said John Green, director of the Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron. “Mainline Protestant churches continue to decline in membership, and many of the evangelical churches like the Assemblies of God or other conservative denominations like the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, continue to show increases.”
Eileen Lindner, the yearbook’s editor, said in the book that the rate of growth or decline has “generally slowed in comparison to recent years.”
The figures are based on self-reported data collected in 2009 by 227 national church bodies and reported in 2010 to the yearbook, which is published by the New York-based National Council of Churches.
Among the findings in the yearbook that was published this week:
- The Catholic Church, the nation’s largest, reported growth of 0.57 percent to 68,503,456 members.
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons, grew 1.42 percent to 6,058,907 members.
- The Assemblies of God grew 0.52 percent to 2,914,669 members.
Mainline Protestant churches reporting a drop in membership included the United Methodist Church, down 1.01 percent to 7,774,931 members; the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, down 1.96 percent to 4,542,868 members; the Presbyterian Church (USA), down 2.61 percent to 2,770,730 members; the Episcopal Church, down 2.48 percent to 2,006,343 members, and the United Church of Christ, down 2.83 percent to 1,080,199 members.
The Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant body, declined 0.42 percent to 16,160,088 members.
Other denominations posting continued growth include Jehovah’s Witnesses, up 2 percent to 1,092,169 members, and the Church of God (Cleveland, Tenn.), up 1.76 percent to 1,053,642 members.
Does that somehow make it okay for your posts to be full of wild, false assertions that you post as they come to you?
How, in a conclave?
That's funny.
If you're goal is to convert people to the religion of anti-Catholicism, you should try not to be ridiculous and post things semi-believable. Otherwise, people won't take you seriously.
They're leaving to join the booming OPC. / s
No idea. He and I sparred from time to time, but I respected him.
LOL!
Very well said.
However, some people here are allergic to reason and facts when it comes to decrying the “priestcraft” of “Rome.”
How old are you.I just turned 67 and am liking it.I heard you posted you were 83.God bless You.
I suspect the same reason as many others. Constantly dealing irrational hate requires a break for one’s spiritual peace.
I’ve never encountered him, but based on reading older threads, he didn’t seem averse to arguing.
That’s what I assumed.
THere have been intelligent informed, yet passionate discussions on FR. Too often they get sidetracked by bomb throwing.
Many have just given it up. Myself included, likely soon on this thread which is trending down the same tired road.
The only "evident" thing is that you are breaking the rules of the Religion Forum by mind-reading (and that you didn't spell-check.)
Presently, any claim of wrongdoing is treated by the church with the presumed guilt of the accused--guilty until proven innocent.
If your child came to you and said the neighbor next door had raped him, would you want that neighbor reported to the police immediately?
Imagine the ongoing homosexual assault on the Church using accusations to paralyze the Church.
Egads. The poor church. Such a sad and impotent victim.
Apparently, you would be all for that
Again, you're breaking the rules. Why don't you acquaint yourself with them so you won't keep making the same mistake endlessly.
You are not guiltless as far as the rules are concerned, either.
Petronski was last here exactly 13 months ago, and he handed a particular Calvinist her hat-—with her head in it ;-)
You heard wrong. That crack was posted by another Roman Catholic and the comment was pulled by the Religion Moderator for breaking the rules.
In fact, quite a few RC comments have been pulled on this thread. Apparently RC apologists have a difficult time discussing the issues and not making personal comments.
The rules don’t apply to some...
So do you.
lol. No, that isn’t why Petronski is no longer here.
Why don’t you do a search on his name and find out what his last few comments were.
We Catholics are at a disadvantage in this forum. That’s okay, we love a challenge.
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