Denominations With the Most Churches in 1999: Average Adherents per Church
The chart shows the average number of adherents per church. Churches with the most church structures in 1999 are shown. Most denominations have seen a decline in the number of adherents per church. In most cases this was due to an increase in the number of churches built. Two exceptions were the Assemblies of God and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. These two denominations saw the number of adherents per church rise while, simultaneously, the number of churches increased. In these cases, the number of churches built did not keep up with the demand. In the Assemblies of God denomination, the number of adherents increased by 59.7% from 1980 to 1999, while the percentage of churches increased 27.6%. In the case of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the number of adherents went up 90.4% since 1980, but the number of churches increased only 67.1%. The United Methodist Church saw declines in the average number of adherents per church even though the number of churches declined also. Adherents dropped at a faster rate than the percentage of churches closing.
The Catholic Church was the only denomination in the group that closed churches despite having gained members. More than 2,700 Catholic churches closed, 1980 to 1999, but slightly more than 15 million more Catholics populated the church. Why? A major reason is the shortage of priests. According to the Center for Applied Research at Georgetown University, 1 out of 6 parishes in the U.S. (3,151) has no resident priest. That's up from 1 in 30 (549) back in 1965. The Catholic Church has been seeing a decline in all religious vocations, except permanent deacons. The number of priests declined by 13,441 from 1965 to 2001 and the number of priest ordinations in 2001 was 485 fewer than in 1965. The number of religious sisters declined by more than 101,000 in the same time period.
The next panel shows non-Christian houses of worship in the United States.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of the Census. Statistical Abstract of the United States 2001. American Religion Data Archive. "Denominational Groupings: Full U.S. Report." Online. Available: http://www.thearda.com. March 6, 2002. "Top 10 Religious Bodies with Most Churches in the U.S., 1990." Online. Available: http://www.adherents.com/rel_USA.html. February 28, 2002. Belluck, Pam. "Maine Parish Agonizes Over a Priest's Confession." New York Times, 5 March 2002. Religious vocation data: Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate. "Frequently Requested Church Statistics." Online. Available: http://cara.georgetown.edu/bulletin/index.htm. March 6, 2002.
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