p. 11 | Some of the Churches

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Mar 11, 1908

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 34, No. 11.

Some of the Churches.

According to Dr. H. K. Caroll, the net gains of all religious denominations in the United States in 1907 were 2,301 ministers, 4,214 churches, and 627,546 communicants. The total membership is given at 32,983,156, of which the Roman Catholics number over 11,000,000, more than one-third of the whole. Sadlier's Catholic Directory reports 13,890,353. The seventeen Methodist bodies number 6,660,784, and gained 101,696. The fourteen Baptist bodies number 5,224,305, and gained in 1907, 103,358. The twelve Presbyterian bodies number 1,821,504, and gained 49,627. The twenty-three Lutheran bodies number 2,022,605, and gained 65,172. The Disciples of Christ number 1,285,123, and gained 20,365. The two bodies of the Protestant Episcopal Church number 830,659, and decreased 15,833. Spiritualists are placed at 150,000; Congregationalists at 699,327, with a gain of 2,604. Mormons number 398,000. Salvation Army is placed at 28,000. United Brethren number 289,652. The smallest body listed is the Friends of the Temple, 340. Christian Scientists are listed at 85,096. These figures are, of course, approximate, but the proportions are probably fair. The percentage of gain is only one and nine-tenths per cent. In other words, it has taken fifty-two souls to win one. Native Christians in foreign fields increased from 995,700 to 1,800,000. The hardest and most unresponsive field of all seems to be the "Gospel-hardened" home field.