-NCC 2010 Report: An Actual Increase in US Church Membership including JWs due to an influx of ...

by AndersonsInfo 4 Replies latest jw friends

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  AndersonsInfo

  I've been away so I don't know if this report has been posted on JWN recently. However, I just want to mention that I recently heard from a credible source (circuit overseer) that the main increase of JWs in the United States is among the Spanish. This fits with what this report suggests about the increase in US Church membership is mostly due to an influx of immigrants.

  http://apologetica.us/2010/02/15/ncc-2010-report-an-actual-increase-in-us-church-membership/

  -NCC 2010 Report: An Actual Increase in US Church Membership

  by Dr. D ~ February 15th, 2010

  In spite of all of the reported secularization of the American culture, church membership in the United States actually increased in the last year. US church membership reported in the National Council of Churches 2010 Yearbook was up 0.49 percent over 2009 with 147,383,631 members.

  However, the mainline more liberal protestant denominations including the United Methodists, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.),The Episcopal Church, American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A., and the United Church of Christ, continued to decline. Also, the Southern Baptist Convention declined for the 2nd straight year along with the conservative Lutheran Church– Missouri Synod.

  Meanwhile, the Catholic Church, and the pentecostal Assemblies of God, and Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) denominations continued to grow along with unorthodox groups like the Mormon Church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)and the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

  An interesting take from the report is the study on The New Immigrant Church. According to the NCC, a lot of the US church membership increase is actually due to an influx of immigrants that are substantially Christian. The new immigrants to the US have particularly bolstered the Catholic Church and many of the Pentecostal groups.

  Response: For several decades it was easy to predict which churches would decline each year and which ones would show an increase. The Liberal/Conservative divide use to make that exceedingly simple: Liberal mainline churches down and Conservative Bible churches up. Now other factors seem to be involved when you view the recent declines among the Southern Baptists and the Missouri Synod Lutherans.

  The liberal/conservative divide is still obviously a major factor but with the continual growth of the Pentecostal denominations and along with the independent Charismatic churches that continue to show considerable growth then maybe there is also an unreported ‘Spiritual gifts’ factor being played out in current church growth statistics.

  We do know from other surveys that currently around the World that on nearly every continent the fasting growing Christian churches are mostly Pentecostal and Charismatic in nature. Particularly in the third world where even mainline churches and Baptist missions tend to be far more ‘charismatic’ then their US brethren. *Top
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  willyloman

  This is certainly true in So Calif where I live. Just in terms of JWs, we've seen the population of our region double or even triple in some areas in just the past 15 years (and most of that growth occurred by 2005, when the recession began to slow things way down).

  The number of "English" congregations is unchanged from the mid-1990s, and each one has about the same number of members. Which means their growth has been zero - or well below zero if you factor in the growth rate and look at what you'd expect given the surge in population.

  The population growth here is largely (but not exclusively) due to immigrants from nearby Mexico and other South and Latin American countries. Not only have hundreds of thousands of immigrants moved here seeking jobs in recent decades but once they get here they send for their relatives, which spurs more growth. In addition, they tend to have large families.

  Before we exited the borg, we shared a hall with a "Spanish" congo. As an elder, I sometimes had to stay after the meeting for various reasons. It was interesting to emerge from the library to find your own congo gone and a new one coming in the door; you got to contrast the make-up of the two congos. Most of the Anglo dubs had small families. Like other white suburbanites in the late 20th century, two children is the cultural norm. In addition, many of the publishers were older, often retired, with no children left at home. On the other hand, the Latinos were mostly all younger families with four, five, sometimes six children. It is commonplace here to walk into WalMart and look around: About 80% of the customers are Hispanic and a typical family is four children, all within a year or so of each other in age. This is in marked contrast to 15 years ago, when the ethnic make up of WalMart shoppers here was substantially more diverse.

  Immigration and cultural differences regarding family size appear to be driving the growth of JWs (and other evangelical churches) in this region.
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  Cadellin

  I can add confirmation to willyloman. I'm in Washington State and in the last 5 years or so, the Spanish congs. have exploded and are continuing. We went from having a single Spanish group in the whole area 5 or 6 years ago to now, every KH has at least 1 HUGE cong. sharing it with the Anglos. Their big problem is lack of bros who are in the country legally.
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  kurtbethel

  Oh. I must be a major geek. I was expecting this.

  http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/USS_Jenolan

  
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  Joker10

  In the past 3 years, they have added 1 English and 1 Spanish Convention to Long Beach, CA. That brings it to 7 English and 7 Spanish for a total of 14. They have the Convention Center booked almost every weekend during the summer.

  For anyone who has been to the assemblies in Long Beach during the last 10 years know there has been growth. Does anyone remember when there were only 4 in English? (and now there is 7).