Yearbook says U.S. Christian church membership rising

Published: 2007-04-26

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Total membership in U.S. Christian churches continued to rise in 2005, despite ongoing declines in some of the country's largest mainline Protestant churches, according to the 2007 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches. Total recorded inclusive membership in 2005 was 165,878,323, up more than 2.4 million from the previous year, the yearbook said. The 439-page yearbook is an annual publication of the New York-based National Council of Churches. This year's book is the council's 75th edition. It lists U.S. and Canadian church bodies, with a brief description of each and its national headquarters, officers, periodicals and major agencies or boards. It also includes directories of U.S. and Canadian seminaries, religious periodicals, ecumenical organizations, cooperative religious organizations, institutions engaged in religious research and a selective directory of non-Christian religious organizations.

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