Jehovah's Witnesses are fastest in growth
by FlipThis 12 Replies latest jw friends
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FlipThis
Saturday, March 1, 2008 Jehovah's Witnesses are fastest in growth RELIGION NEWS SERVICE
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Jehovahâ??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 United States and Canada.
Although Jehovahâ??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.
The 2008 Yearbook of Canadian and American Churches, produced by the New York-based National Council of Churches, recorded growth trends in 224 national church bodies, with a combined membership of 147 million Americans.
The 2008 Yearbook is based on self-reported membership figures for 2006, the most recent year available.
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.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at 5.7 million U.S. members (1.56 percent increase) and the Church of God in Christ, with a steady 5.5 million, round out the top five.
Only the Jehovahâ??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.
Historically, black churches make up six of the 15 largest churches, with a three-way tie for the No. 11 spot among the National Missionary Baptist Convention of America, Progressive National Baptist Convention Inc., and African Methodist Episcopal Church - each having 2.5 million members.
The yearbook also reported a decline in Canadian and black-American seminary enrollment.
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journey-on
The 2008 Yearbook of Canadian and American Churches, produced by the New York-based National Council of Churches, recorded growth trends in 224 national church bodies, with a combined membership of 147 million Americans.
The 2008 Yearbook is based on self-reported membership figures for 2006, the most recent year available.
Self-reported.....that says it all, to me. I don't trust any number JWs report. They have such creative ways to report
things in order to keep the org. looking like it's growing. But, I'll bet if you actually figured in the
number who have left the org. in relation to the number that were baptized, you would probably see a decline. And
those baptized are probably mostly the kids of JWs. Like I said, I don't trust a single thing they report because they
are all about keeping up appearances.
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FlipThis
perhaps true; but it does in fact look like growth (to the public)
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V
See the expose here:
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RAF
if true ... too bad for those who joined ...
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Maddie
Like RAF my heart goes out to all those that have joined the JW cult, whether there are many or few.
Maddie
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DJK
Mistakes, there should be a recount!
Hi RAF, how have you been?
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RAF
Hi DJK
I've been ok, just too busy ... hope you are ok too !!!
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jamiebowers
Perhaps they are the fastest growing, but they have the least retention rate. That should tell you something.