A Weblog Dedicated to the Discussion of the Christian Faith and 21st Century Life

A Weblog Dedicated to the Discussion of the Christian Faith and 21st Century Life
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I do not seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe in order to understand. For this also I believe, –that unless I believed, I should not understand.-- St. Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109)

Thursday, June 22, 2017

Forty Years of Church Growth and Decline By Denomination

What do you make of this?

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Source: Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I believe that churches that are harshest in their rules and judgments are growing because people want an excuse to hate in the name of God. It's sort of an US vs THEM mentality. Loving your neighbor is culturally unpopular these days.

Jon Trott said...

I suspect this is more complicated than any one answer.

Pentecostalism continues to grow, but isn't much of that growth overseas rather than the states?

Roman Catholicism is growing for a variety of reasons, again, I am wondering if it is more internationally? And in the US, are those folks (like me) who are disgusted with Evangelicalism finding a new home with the Catholics? I have not, but so many friends have.

The Southern Baptists.... are they growing? Those numbers may need a recheck. See:
https://apnews.com/e1afa2371ff44136ae3683ff0eb8c6e7/southern-baptists-see-9th-year-membership-decline

As for the others... how many of those denominations are mostly white? Evangelicalism is seeing young people, horrified by its political (can I say it?) fascism, fleeing either it or even the Christian faith.

No Plumbing said...

Agreeing with Jon Trott. There are a variety of reasons for declines and increases. PCA had a split -- Loss, SBC has been losing for the past 10-15 years, Assemblies have show increase due to international evangelism but do not disciple and gains are not sustained by continued participation of those added to the roll. UCC, Lutheran, Episcopal, and UMC are locked into traditional unsustainable models that do not allow for meeting needs of younger seekers(by traditional I do not mean music or worship style) RCC may be seeing more growth due to popularity of the current Pope and attempts to respond to those seeking meaningful practice. I am not part of any of these denominations but value and difficulty in all of them.