Sunday, 01 March 2009
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Church Membership: Baptists and Catholics are Sinking, Guess Who's Rising?
Just read an interesting article on The Washington Times: it seems that the Catholics and Baptists are losing members.
Church demographers have been saying for awhile that Catholics are in big trouble if you take away growth from immigration and sure enough, the 2009 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, which just came out, showed the Catholic Church declined .59 percent or 398,000 members in 2007. They still have some 67 million adherents, though.
The Southern Baptist Convention, America's largest Protestant denomination, have been seeing faltering numbers for years in their own head counts. Their downward shift is finally being registered by the Yearbook, a bible of sorts for religion writers and scholars. They lost .24 percent or 40,000 members. Which is a drop in the bucket compared to their reported 16.2-million-member total but no one likes a shrinking membership base, no matter how slight.
Care to hazard a guess who's gaining members?
The churches that are growing are: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (up 1.63 percent to 5,873,408; the Assemblies of God (up 0.96 percent to 2,863,265); Jehovah's Witnesses (up 2.12 percent to 1,092,169); and the Church of God of Cleveland, Tenn. (up 2.04 percent to 1,053,642). The Mormons are now America's fourth-largest church group, having surpassed nearly every mainline Protestant denomination.
I knew the Mormons were doing well. I was just noting the other day that there are several in my workplace. But I didn't realize there were doing THAT well!
What do you think the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses have that the Baptists and Catholics don't?
(photo: james.thompson)
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- From: BookMark61@xanga
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- About Me: Theology, sociology and psychology fascinate me. Why do we hold the views we do?
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Comments (154)
Mormons make more followers. It's simple biology and math.
False prophets.
Well oiled PR machines.
A niche market. Especially in the case of baptists. While the Catholic church offers a unique faith, there are tons and tons of protestant denominations. There's very little reason theologically to be a baptist over a lot of other denominations. Most Christians can't even tell you the differences between protestant denominations. But Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons offer something a bit more unique (if false, in my opinion.)
The source was left out of the post, so here it is - http://washingtontimes.com/weblogs/belief-blog/2009/Feb/25/catholics-southern-baptists-losing-members/
As for the question... ah, the old "Fastest-Growing" Fallacy. How would a relative increase in growth mean that the JW's or Mormons are closer to the Truth? As far as I can tell, JW and Mormon groups do quite a bit of PR, so naturally one can expect their numbers to rise. That doesn't mean they're better because they can grow faster...
Just for kicks, and yes, it's an old article and refers to outdated data, but it makes an overall good point - http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/2000/0005chap.asp
@Allen_Oz@xanga - Oooh, I like that
I think as America gets dumber, religions that leave less open for figuring out on your own will grow. So the religions that tell you how to operate in all aspects of your life (ex. what magic underpants you need to adorn) will gain members because less of that pesky thinking is involved.
@LadyLibellule@xanga - lol
TAKE THAT, CHRISTIANS!
Yeah, a .59% decline! That's really sinking fast. And the egg-heads have been forecasting the demise of the Catholic Church since God knocked Saul on his pious ass with a lightening bolt.
It's better to have a small group dedicated disciples attend church than hordes of hypocrites, anyway.
Only 67 million Catholics go to church. Poor baby!
@hellaz@xanga - wow... could this be a more immature comment? i mean seriously... that is innane and holds no dignity or intelligence... "take that, Christians!"?
at any rate... i would say the reason for the decline in membership is because the subjective nature of those other faith systems... and that it tickles the ears of those who follow it..
but this isn't new... we've been told this before... that in the latter days men will depart from the truth found in Christ and follow after deceitful and empty hollow ideals... so it's really no surprise...
but then again... go look at the Acts 29 church network... as well as Mars Hill... 8 campuses in Mars Hill Seattle... and there over probably a few hundred Acts 29 churches in the US alone... and in the next 10 years, there will over few thousand or so various Acts 29 church plants across the US alone...
so... i would say while mainstream denominations are in the decline... churches are growing and on the rise as far as those of Biblically based expositional teaching churches are concerned...
not shur about the JWs but the mormonz hava a pretty spektakular mythology whichiz uniqly amerikan frum the meny lds ive inteviewd this izzan important feachur for them plus they buy into mainfest destiny inna bigger way that most also sexism appealz to men & womyn for sum ungawdly rezun
@leadworshipper82 - i would say the reason for the decline in membership is because the subjective nature of those other faith systems
Catholic Doctrine is not subjective. The beliefs of the Church are written down and not subject to negotiation.
That being said, Catholic religious education is attrocious! I'm paying over $1000 dollars a pop for classes that should be given to youngsters for free in their Catechism classes. The treasure that is the Catholic Church is one of the best kept secrets on earth!
@LadyLibellule@xanga - mmhmm, they just keep producing more :)
@hellaz@xanga - really? what does that even mean? your comment was very unnecessary to the conversation at hand. It wasn't even well said.
@LoBornlite@xanga - it was actually directed towards the JW and Mormon inclination... not the Catholic...
LDS and JWs are not churches you can half-heartedly join. You have to actually believe it, and follow the teachings. Baptist and Catholic have many members who don't care.
Babies! Just kidding. I can kind of see it happening like this, though. Being Baptist is similar to a lot of other Evangelical churches. For example, I grew up in a Baptist church and would consider myself Baptist, but I now attend a Non-Denominational church. My sister also attends an Evangelical Free Church. So, there are a lot of Evangelical options.
For LDS or Jehovah's Witness, there is only that option, not other denominations that are the same.
And I think the difficulties that Catholicism has gone through in recent years has probably affected membership--at least, among Catholics that I know, personally.
@leadworshipper82 - YOU LOSE, CHRISTIAN!
@hellaz@xanga - wow... you're like what... 12? have you even gone through puberty or are you just another little boy?
@leadworshipper82 - Wow, making fun of my lack of development... how Christian of you, Christian.
I just want to point out that Baptists and Southern Baptists are not the same and should not be used interchangeably. They have two different doctrines.
Church demographers have been saying for awhile that Catholics are in big trouble if you take away growth from immigration and sure enough, the 2009 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, which just came out, showed the Catholic Church declined .59 percent or 398,000 members in 2007. They still have some 67 million adherents, though.
Seriously? If you take away growth from immigration? Ummm, big update here: if you take away growth from immigration, the United States of America is shrinking as a whole. If you take away growth from immigration, the US doesn't exist in the first place, though I am not so sure many Native Americans would mind that. Have any of these church demographers actually ever studied demographics?
@leadworshipper82 - I don't understand your point in responding to this person?
@GodlessLiberal@xanga - it's obvious you know nothing about Mormons by your total ignorance and lack of respect regarding something they consider to be sacred. Magic underwear is a term used by ignorant scoffer's who have no respect for anyone or anything that doesn't fall into their limited POV. I'm not Catholic, but I certainly don't scoff and call their sacred things names like Magic Praying Beads for their Rosary beads. I don't call Jewish praying caps (I forgot the real term, sorry) Magic Hats. I don't make fun of Buddhists, Muslims, or any other religion because they have the right to believe and worship in any way they choose, just as you have the right to be (as you put it) a Godless liberal. Well since you're a Godless liberal then you must serve Satan according to the scriptures because whoever isn't for God is against Him, and those who are against Him serve the Devil. And you obviously have no concept of their teachings as well. They don't force anyone to do or not do anything. It's like any organization; there's certain requirements and guidelines. If you follow them there are certain blessings attached that will help make you a stronger person capable of doing more than you ever thought you could. If you choose not to do them, then you miss out on these blessings and opportunities to grow and progress. If our country didn't have certain laws and regulations there would be chaos if everyone did as they pleased without regard for anyone else. Would you want someone posing as a doctor (who had never been to medical school) operating on you? If there were no traffic laws what would the streets and highways be like? Rules, regulations, and guidelines are there for a purpose: to provide order, peace, and safety for the benefit of all. I guess that's too hard for you to comprehend too. If this seems harsh I apologize, but I think comments like yours belong on My Space or Face Book. People here are more civilized and respectful from what I've seen, which is why I prefer the Xanga community over the others. I hope you will be a little more respectful to others; it's okay to disagree, but you don't have to be derogatory about it.
@hellaz@xanga - Why are you even here? You belong on My Space or Face Book where all the others who don't know how to comment respectfully and just know how to name-call belong.