Offering plates took hit in 2010, according to new report
Latest News Monday, March 26th, 2012By Bob Allen
NEW YORK (ABP) – Membership trends remained stable in American denominations, but offerings were down $1.2 billion from a year ago, according to the National Council of Churches’ 2012 Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches.
The drop in giving is nearly three times the $431 million decline reported in last year’s edition. Yearbook editor Eileen Lindner called it “clear evidence of the impact of the deepening crises” lingering from effects of “the Great Recession” of 2008.
Nearly 45 million church members contributed almost $29 billion in 2010, according to statistics collected from 228 U.S. denominations in 2011. Per capita, the $763 contributed per person is down $17 from the previous year, according to Lindner, a 2.2 percent drop.
The decline “took place in the context of ongoing high unemployment and a protracted economic downturn,” Lindner wrote.
The downturn has affected many denominations, which have been forced to downsize national and regional staff.
Linder said membership trends in denominations reporting to the Yearbook remain stable, with growing churches still growing and declining churches still declining. Membership of virtually all mainline denominations continued to decline.
The Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s second largest denomination and long a reliable generator of church growth, reported a decline in membership for the fourth year in a row, down 0.15 percent to 16,136,044 members.
The Catholic Church, the nation’s largest at 68.2 million members, reported a membership decline of 0.44 percent.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints grew 1.62 percent to 6,157,238 members and the Assemblies of God grew 3.99 percent to 3,030,944 members. Other churches that continued to post membership gains are Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A., America’s 19th-largest denominational group, dropped to 1,308,054 members, down 0.19 percent.
The sixth-ranked National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc., meanwhile, reported growth of 3.95 percent to a total membership of 5,197,512.
The National Baptist Convention of America, Inc., ranked No. 8 with 3.5 million members; the 11th ranked National Missionary Baptist Convention of America reported 2.5 million members; and the Progressive National Baptist Convention, No. 25 with 1,010,000 members, did not report updated figures.
Total membership in the top 25 churches — 145,691,446 — was down 1.15 percent.
Bob Allen is managing editor of Associated Baptist Press.
The big difference between Jehovah’s Witnesses and Christians is that the Watchtower Society’s central core creed proclaims Jesus second coming in October 1914.
They sometimes try to obscure this today and say that he came *invisibly*.Yes,all other Christains are awaiting Jesus return,the JW say he ALREADY came in 1914.
Watchtower society membership data is compiled by them,there is no way to verify.Interesting that they have recently admitted to losses in almost all industrialized countries.
Reports from TIME Magazine-*An even more extreme example of what might be called *masked churn* is the relatively tiny Jehovah’s Witnesses, with a turnover rate of about two-thirds*.
That means that two-thirds of the people who were raised Jehovah’s Witnesses no longer are.
Jehovah’s Witnesses are the highest loss of any religion.
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*tell the truth don’t be afraid*–Danny Haszard