February 19, 2008
The Fastest Growing ‘Church’: Jehovah’s Winesses
Ethics Daily is reporting
Jehovah’s Witnesses are the fastest-growing church body in the U.S. and Canada, now with more than 1 million members, according to new figures that track church membership in the U.S. and Canada. Although Jehovah’s Witnesses ranked 24th on the list of 25 largest churches, they reported the largest growth rate–2.25 percent–of all churches. The badly divided Episcopal Church, meanwhile, reported the largest drop, at 4.15 percent.
And
The Roman Catholic Church, with 67.5 million members, remains the largest U.S. church body, with a 2006 increase of 0.87 percent. The second largest church, the Southern Baptist Convention (16.3 million) has more than twice the number of members as the United Methodist Church, the third largest, which documented 7.9 million U.S. members.
And
Only the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Catholic Church, Southern Baptists, Mormons, the Assemblies of God (2.8 million) and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (1.4 million) reported increases; all others either posted declines or flat membership from 2005.
Christianity in America is in serious trouble. It will soon resemble European Christianity, which is to say- marginalized and irrelevant.