Transcript A Health Checkup of U.S. Churches www.hartfordinstitute.org/church_checkup.html A Christian Nation of 350,000 Congregations.

A Health
Checkup of
U.S. Churches
www.hartfordinstitute.org/church_checkup.html
A Christian Nation of 350,000 Congregations
80% say they are sure there is a God &
belong to a faith group
75% of Americans identify as “Christian”
65% claim an affiliation with a congregation
49% are claimed as adherents by all congregations
40% tell surveys they attend weekly
20% of Americans actually attend weekly
A Christian Nation?
Faith Groupings
Catholic
Congregations
Adherents
Percent of
Population
20,589
58,927,887
19.1%
191,112
50,013,107
16.2%
Mainline Protestant
77,760
22,568,258
7.3%
Other Faiths
11,661
6,667,542
2.2%
Latter-day Saints
14,393
6,267,771
2.0%
Black Protestant
17,754
4,877,067
1.6%
2,551
1,056,535
0.3%
344,894 150,596,792
48.7%
Evangelical and
Conservative
Protestant
Orthodox Christian
Total*
Denomination
Churches
Adherents % of Pop
Southern Baptist Conv.
50,816 19,896,279
6.4%
Non-denominational Churches
35,496 12,241,329
4.0%
Assemblies of God
12,258
2,944,887
1.0%
6,040
2,270,921
0.7%
12,584
1,584,162
0.5%
Christian Ch’es and Ch’es of
Christ
5,293
1,453,160
0.5%
Seventh-day Adventist
5,665
1,194,996
0.4%
Church of God (Cleveland, TN)
6,100
1,109,992
0.4%
56,860
7,317,381
2.4%
191,112 50,013,107
16.2%
LCMS
Churches of Christ
All Other Evangelical and
Conservative Protestants
Total Evang. & Conserv. Prot.
Denomination
United Methodist Church
Churches
Adherents
% of Pop
33,323
9,860,653
3.2%
9,846
4,181,219
1.4%
10,487
2,451,980
0.8%
Episcopal Church
6,794
1,951,907
0.6%
American Baptist
Churches in the U.S.A.
5,243
1,560,572
0.5%
United Church of Christ
5,225
1,284,296
0.4%
Other Mainline Protestant
6,842
1,277,631
0.4%
Total Mainline Protestant
77,760
22,568,258
7.3%
Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Not Dying… But Changing
Getting Older…
Less Appealing To The Young?
Getting Both Larger…And Smaller
1800
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
1600
MEGA
Proliferation
600
310
20
70
1960
1970
150
1980
1990
2000
2010
More Solitary… And More Selective
About Their Friendships
The Rise of Nondenominational and
Functionally-Independent Churches…
Independent Churches Are Distributed Evenly Across the Country
Networks Taking The Place Of Denominations?
Less Vital…?
Churches Have To Be Wiser…
And Less Wistfully Nostalgic
www.hartfordinstitute.org
www.faithcommunitiestoday.org
www.uscongregations.org
www.rcms2010.org
www. youthandreligion.org
www.uscongregations.org
www. thearda.com