New Yearbook Reveals Trends in U.S. Churches
Friday, Mar. 31, 2006

WASHINGTON – Pentecostal, nondenominational, and ethnic churches are rising in membership while America’s historic mainline churches are continuing to decline, according to the 2006 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches.

Among the largest 25 churches in the United States, the fastest growing were the Assemblies of God at 1.81 percent growth rate, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon Church) at 1.74 percent, and the Roman Catholic Church at 0.83 percent. Furthermore, the yearbook found that only three mainline churches guarded their historic spots as the nation’s largest churches; All three churches – the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. – declined in membership since last year.

Such findings are not new. Similar figures and conclusions were drawn throughout the past decade as more Americans began flocking toward non-denominational and evangelical churches.
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