[Apologetics] Re: Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons Fastest-Growing "Churches" in U.S.

[Art Kelly]

"Fastest growing" is such a relative term that it is
meaningless. If something starts with a real low base,
an increase of, say, 500% may not mean much.

Increases in hard numbers are more meaningful. But, as
noted, it's hard to calculate, because the base is
unknown.

How do you count membership in any denomination? 

The only reliable figure would be those actually
registered and contributing through envelopes every
week. Since no denomination counts that way, it is
based to a large degree on varying definitions and
estimates.

If you use public opinion polls and extrapolate to the
population, a distortion will result, as there are a
lot of folks who consider themselves to be members of
a denomination but rarely attend services.

A "Catholic" who does not go to Mass every Sunday
(except for sickness or other good reasons) is not
really a Catholic. 

But many/most/all Protestant denominations do not
consider missing their weekly service to be a mortal
sin. It's normal for members in good standing of some
Protetant churches to attend services only once or
twice a month. 

So, while the article counts over 67 million
Catholics, another estimate is that only 40% of
Catholics attend Mass every Sunday. (How would they
know that?) If true, then I would say there are only
26.8 million practicing Catholics in the U.S.

Comparing that figure to praticing Protestants of
various denominations is impossible because a
practicing Protestant may not attend their weekly
services and still be A-OK.

So, when we can't really count the base, it is even
more difficult to determine the actual or percentage
increases.

With that caveat, the article that I cited stated in
part:

"Other bodies in the newly published top 25 largest
churches list that reported membership increases
include The Catholic Church with a 0.87 percent
increase; the Southern Baptist Convention with a 0.22
percent increase; the African Methodist Episcopal Zion
Church with a 0.21 percent rise; and the Assemblies of
God with a 0.19 percent growth.

"The greatest losses in membership were reported by
The Episcopal Church, which dropped 4.15 percent in
members, and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which
decreased by 2.36 percent. Both denominations are
currently wracked by theological differences and the
issue of homosexuality.

"American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A. and the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America also
experienced large losses in membership, dropping 1.82
percent and 1.58 percent, respectively."

Art

--- Stephen Korsman <skorsman at theotokos.co.za> wrote:

> Hi
> 
> To a large extent it depends on how a denomination
> reports their stats.  I'm 
> not in a position to have a strong opinion either
> way, though.  I've seen 
> several sites debunking the "Mormons are growing
> fast" claim ... at the 
> moment, these are the best I can find.
> 
> http://www.exmormon.org/mormon/mormon158.htm
>
http://www.mrm.org/topics/evangelism-issues/fastest-growing-church-world
>
http://www.mormoninfo.org/news-info/news/lds-church-really-fastest-growing-church
> 
> God bless,
> Stephen
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Art Kelly" <arthurkelly at yahoo.com>
> To: "Apologetics Group" <apologetics at gathman.org>
> Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2008 5:28 AM
> Subject: [Apologetics] Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons
> Fastest-Growing 
> "Churches" in U.S.
> 
> 
> > Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons Fastest-Growing
> > 'Churches' in U.S.
> >
> > The two fastest-growing church bodies in the
> United
> > States and Canada, according to a newly published
> > report, are ones whose beliefs are known to
> conflict
> > with traditional Christian teaching.
> >
> > The full article is at
> >
>
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080220/31266_Jehovah's_Witnesses,_Mormons_Fastest-Growing_'Churches'_in_U.S..htm
> >
> >
> >
> > ART KELLY, ATM-S
> > 13524 Brightfield Lane
> > Herndon, Virginia 20171-3360
> > (703) 904-3763 home
> > (703) 396-6956 work
> > arthurkelly at yahoo.com
> > art.kelly at cox.net
> > ArtK135 at Netscape.net
> >
> >
> > 
> >
>
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ART KELLY, ATM-S
13524 Brightfield Lane
Herndon, Virginia 20171-3360
(703) 904-3763 home
(703) 396-6956 work
arthurkelly at yahoo.com
art.kelly at cox.net
ArtK135 at Netscape.net


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