18-Year Harvest

America's 253,762 churches counted their sheep. There were a lot to count. In the 18 years between 1926 and 1944, said the Federal Council of Churches, church membership had increased 32.8% (estimated population in the same period rose 17.9%). Other findings:

The number of religious bodies had increased 20.8%.

Baptists, among major church groups, showed the greatest gain (68.3%), trailed by Lutherans (29.3%), Roman Catholics (25.9%), Methodists (22.9%).

Percentagewise, some groups did spectacularly better. The Evangelistic Associations 91.3%, the Mennonite bodies 73.9%, the Christian Scientists 33.1%.* Most spectacular: the Free Christian Zion Church of Christ, which vaulted from 187 Negro members in 1926 to 2,478 in 1944--up 1,225.1%.

Only six of the larger bodies (over 50,000 members) reported decreases; fifty of the smaller ones slumped. The Church of the Living God plummeted from 11,558 members to a diehard 120.

The harvest was good, but not all the sheaves had been gathered: 47.5% of Americans are unaffiliated with any church.

* Latest figures: 1936.

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