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Dwindling Congregations
By John W. Kennedy | February 28, 2008
The annual membership figures published in The Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches this month shows that mainline Protestant denominations continue to lose followers. In the new report, the Episcopal Church dropped a whopping 4.15 percent in a year, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) fell 2.36 percent, American Baptist Churches dipped 1.82 percent, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in American declined 1.58 percent and the United Methodist Church lost 0.99 percent of its members. This is a long trend. Clearly the liberal message of social justice (such as advocating same-sex marriage) isn’t resonating with everyone in the pews.
Religious bodies that have official biblically conservative doctrines (on issues such as sanctity of life) showed modest gains, including the Assemblies of God, Southern Baptist Convention and the Catholic Church. The groups grew primarily because of newly arrived Hispanics being integrated into congregations.
Those religions that showed the biggest gains by far—Jehovah’s Witnesses at 2.25 percent and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 1.56 percent—are outside the traditional Christian camp.
Pentecostal and evangelical churches can take a cue from the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons. People aren’t going to join unless they sense a family atmosphere of belonging and there is a serious effort to spread the message.
Topics: denominations |