The National Council of Churches Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches reported a decline in Roman Catholic and Southern Baptist membership for first time in recent experience. The Episcopal Church declined less than United Church of Christ but slightly more than the Evangelical Lutherans.
The 77th annual edition of the Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches, long a highly regarded chronicler of growth and financial trends of religious institutions, records a slight but startling decline in membership of the nation’s largest Christian communions.
Membership in the Roman Catholic Church declined 0.59 percent and the Southern Baptist Convention declined 0.24 percent, according to the 2009 edition of the Yearbook, edited by the National Council of Churches and published by Abingdon.
The figures indicate that the Catholic church lost 398,000 members since the appearance of the 2008 Yearbook. Southern Baptists lost nearly 40,000 members.
Both membership figures were compiled by the churches in 2007 and reported to the Yearbook in 2008. The 2009 Yearbook also includes an essay by the editor, the Rev. Dr. Eileen W. Lindner, on the various ways churches count their members.
Neither figure is earth-shattering given the size of the churches. Roman Catholics comprise the nation’s largest church with a membership of 67,117,016, and Southern Baptists rank second in the nation at 16,266,920.
But this year’s reported decline raises eyebrows because Catholic and Southern Baptist membership has grown dependably over the years. Now they join virtually every mainline church in reporting a membership decline….
…There are no clear-cut theological or sociological reasons for church growth or decline, says Editor Lindner. “Many churches are feeling the impact of the lifestyles of younger generations of church-goers — the ‘Gen X’ers’ or “Millenials’ in their 20s and 30s who attend and support local congregations but resist joining them.”
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