Numbers

Two months ago, it was stated that 60,000 of the 200,000 U. S. Protestant Churches had failed to gain one member during 1927 (TIME, Feb. 20). Last week The Christian Herald published the results of a census on U. S. church members; these proved that the total number of members added to the church in 1927 was 573,723; that the total number of U. S. church members is 48,594,163."

Catholics gained most (183,889). Methodists, of 20 sorts, were second with a gain of 150,910. The order of increase in other denominations: Lutherans, Disciples of Christ, Baptists, Latter Day Saints, Oriental Catholics, Dunkards, United Brethren, Adventists. Presbyterians and Quakers lost more members than they gained.

There are now 217,204 clergymen, 1,387 less than last year; this decrease is probably due to consolidation of churches, of which there were 235,991 in 1927, 1,470 less than in 1926.

These are the present numbers of U. S. church members:

Roman Catholic . . . . . . . . . . . . 16,735,691

Methodist Episcopal . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,592,004

Southern Baptist . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,765,001

National Baptist (Negro) . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,253,369

Methodist Episcopal (South) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,567,962

Presbyterian . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,885,727

Disciples of Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,481,376

Northern Baptist . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,392,820

Protestant Episcopal . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,190,938

Congregationalists . . . . . . . . . . . . 914,698

United Lutheran . . . . . . . . . . . . 890,671

African Methodist Episcopal . . . . . . . . . . . . 781,692

Lutheran (Missouri Synod) . . . . . . . . . . . . 645,345

Latter Day Saints . . . . . . . . . . . . 567,319

African Methodist Episcopal Zion . . . . . . . . . . . . 500,000

United Brethren in Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . 396,946

Jewish Congregations . . . . . . . . . . . . 357,135

Reformed in United States . . . . . . . . . . . . 351,926

Evangelical Synod of No. America . . . . . . . . . . . . 336,118

Colored Methodist Episcopal . . . . . . . . . . . . 333,002

Churches of Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . 317,937

Norwegian Lutheran . . . . . . . . . . . . 294,227

Greek Orthodox . . . . . . . . . . . . 285,000

Lutheran Augustana Synod . . . . . . . . . . . . 224,529

Evangelical Church . . . . . . . . . . . . 217,935