List of the largest Protestant denominations
This is a list of the largest Protestant denominations. It aims to include sizable Protestant communions, federations, alliances, councils, fellowships, and other denominational organisations in the world and provides information regarding the membership thereof. The list is inevitably partial and generally based on claims by the denominations themselves. The numbers should therefore be considered approximate. Protestant bodies being considered in this article are divided into:
- transdenominational bodies with more than 50 million members
- international bodies with more than 10 million members
- national bodies with more than 5 million members
- non-national bodies with more than 5 million members
In 2010, the most numerous international bodies accounted for more than a half of worldwide Protestant population,[note 1] while the most numerous national bodies accounted for more than 200 of the world's 800 million Protestants.[note 2][1]
Transdenominational organisations are very large and often characterized by overlapping membership as opposed to international and national bodies. Some of the national groupings cannot be considered churches in mainstream Protestant ecclesiology even when they constitute a single denomination. A good example is the Protestant Church in Germany, which differs denominationally and encompasses Lutheran, Reformed and United subchurches.
Lists of the largest Protestant bodies
[edit]Transdenominational bodies
[edit]Transdenominational bodies include people across all denominations that participate in a movement which goes beyond their Protestant branch, like Evangelicalism, the Charismatic movement, or the Neo-charismatic movement. These are of international scope.
The World Evangelical Alliance is so far the only major transdenominational evangelical Protestant organization that operates internationally. It represents 600 million Christians. The Porvoo Communion brings Lutherans and Anglicans in Europe into a common communion.
Name | Orientation | Foundation | Leadership | Headquarters | Region | Membership | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
World Evangelical Alliance | Evangelical | 1846 London, England[2] |
Secretary-General Thomas Schirrmacher | New York City, United States | Worldwide | 600,000,000[3] | Aims to unite Evangelicals worldwide. |
Porvoo Communion | Anglican Lutheran |
1992 Porvoo Cathedral, Porvoo, Finland |
Co-chairmen Bishop Peter Skov-Jakobsen, Archbishop Michael Jackson |
None | Europe | 50,000,000[4] | Communion of Anglican and Lutheran denominations in Europe. |
Communion of Protestant Churches in Europe | Lutheran Reformed Methodist |
1973 Hölstein, Switzerland |
Secretary-General Mario Fischer | Vienna, Austria | Europe | 50,000,000[5] | Communion of Lutheran, Reformed, Methodist and United denominations in Europe. |
International bodies
[edit]International bodies tend to bring together only one Protestant branch which shares common founders, tenets and history. Among the most sizeable international bodies are the Anglican Communion, the World Communion of Reformed Churches and the Lutheran World Federation – each with more than 70 million members.
Name | Orientation | Foundation | Leadership | Headquarters | Region | Membership | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Anglican Communion | Anglican | 1867 Lambeth Conference, London, England |
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby | London, United Kingdom | Worldwide | 85,000,000[6] | Brings together Anglicans from all over the world, and is the largest of such organizations. |
World Communion of Reformed Churches | Reformed | 2010 | General Secretary Chris Ferguson | Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany | Worldwide | 80,000,000[7] | Brings together Calvinists from all over the world, and is the largest of such organizations. |
World Methodist Council | Methodist | 1881 | General Secretary Bishop Ivan M. Abrahams | Waynesville, North Carolina, United States | Worldwide | 80,000,000[8] | Brings together Methodists from all over the world. |
Lutheran World Federation | Lutheran | 1947 | General Secretary Anne Burghardt | Geneva, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland | Worldwide | 75,000,000[9] | Brings together Lutherans from all over the world, and is the largest of such organizations. |
World Assemblies of God Fellowship | Pentecostal | 1988 | General Superintendent and Chairman Doug E. Clay | Springfield, Missouri, United States | Worldwide | 69,189,381[10][11] | Brings together a substantial Pentecostal population, although not the majority, as it is scattered in various independent Pentecostal denominations. |
Baptist World Alliance | Baptist | 1905 | General Secretary Elijah M. Brown | Falls Church, Virginia, United States | Worldwide | 48,000,000[12] | Brings together a substantial Baptist population, although not the majority, as it is scattered in various independent Baptist denominations. |
National bodies
[edit]Although there are "mostly national" denominations like the United Methodist Church (mainly concentrated in the United States), or denominations with dispersed membership like the Apostolic Church and the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) (both with membership dispersed around the world) that have a far larger membership than required to be on this list, they operate worldwide and cannot be considered alongside other national bodies like, for example, the Church of Christ in Congo, which operates solely in the Democratic Republic of Congo and is not active beyond that country's borders.
The Church of England, the Church of Christ in Congo, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, the Assembleias de Deus and the Protestant Church in Germany constitute the most numerous national bodies with more than 20 million members each.
Non-national bodies
[edit]![]() | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2017) |
These denominations operate worldwide and cannot be considered alongside other national bodies.
Many sizeable non-national bodies happen to be Pentecostal. The list also includes the largest Adventist church (the Seventh-day Adventist Church), the largest Methodist church (the United Methodist Church) and the largest African initiated church (the Zion Christian Church) and the second largest Pentecostal denomination in the world, The Pentecostal Mission (TPM) or (New Testament Church/Universal Pentecostal Church/Ceylon Pentecostal Mission).
Name | Orientation | Foundation | Leadership | Headquarters | Region | Membership | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Assemblies of God |
Pentecostal | 1914/1988 | George O. Wood | None | Worldwide | 69,189,381[10] | The world's largest Pentecostal denomination. |
Seventh-day Adventist Church |
Adventist | 1863 | Ted N.C. Wilson[30] | Silver Spring, Maryland, United States | Worldwide | 21,912,161[31] | The world's largest Adventist denomination. Brings together the vast majority of the world's Adventists. |
The Apostolic Church |
Pentecostal | 1911/1916 | Worldwide | 15,000,000 | Trinitarian Pentecostal denomination which emerged from the 1904-1905 Welsh Revival. | ||
Zion Christian Church |
African initiated | Zion City Moria, Limpopo, South Africa | Southern Africa | 15,000,000 | The world's largest African initiated church with Anglican, Pentecostal and evangelical influences. | ||
United Methodist Church |
Methodist | 1968 | None | Worldwide | 12,000,000 | The world's largest Methodist denomination. | |
New Apostolic Church International | Irvingian | 1863 | Chief Apostle Jean-Luc Schneider | Zürich, Switzerland | Worldwide | 9,240,000[32] | |
International Church of the Foursquare Gospel |
Pentecostal | Los Angeles, California, U.S. | Worldwide | 9,000,000 | |||
Church of God in Christ |
Pentecostal | Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. | Worldwide | 6,500,000 | |||
Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) |
Pentecostal | 1886 | Dr. Tim Hill | Cleveland, Tennessee, U.S. | Worldwide | 7,000,000[33] | |
United Pentecostal Church International | Oneness Pentecostal | 1945 | David K. Bernard | Weldon Spring, Missouri, U.S. | Worldwide | 5,750,000 | The world's largest denomination in Oneness Pentecostalism. |
Jesus Is Lord Church Worldwide |
Full Gospel | 1978 | Bro. Eddie Villanueva |
Manila, Philippines | Worldwide | 1,000,000[34] |
See also
[edit]- Protestantism by country
- List of Christian denominations by number of members
- List of Christian denominations
- List of the largest Protestant churches in the USA
- List of religious organizations
Notes
[edit]- ^ In this comparison, the Pew Forum's figure of 800 million Protestants is used. Mentioned international bodies together accounted for some 420 million people in 2010.
- ^ In this comparison, the Pew Forum's figure of 800 million Protestants is used. Mentioned national bodies accounted for a little more than 200 million people in 2010.
- ^ The English church can be traced back to 597. It separated from the Roman Catholic Church in 1534.
References
[edit]- ^ "Pewforum: Christianity (2010)" (PDF). Pewforum.org. 19 December 2011. Retrieved 2014-05-14.
- ^ "WEA – World Evangelical Alliance Est. 1846 – Page Whoweare". Archived from the original on 2015-05-11. Retrieved 2016-12-11.
- ^ "WEA – World Evangelical Alliance Est. 1846 – Page Whoweare". Archived from the original on 2015-03-15. Retrieved 2015-03-15.
- ^ "Common Statement" (PDF). Anglican Communion. February 1993.
- ^ "Communion of Protestant Churches in Europe CPCE | Gemeinschaft Evangelischer Kirchen in Europa GEKE – Communion d'Églises Protestantes en Europe CEPE". Communion of Protestant Churches in Europe CPCE.
- ^ "Anglican Communion". Anhglicancommunion.org. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
- ^ "Called to communion. Committed to justice" (PDF). World Communion of Reformed Churches. Retrieved 2021-08-07.
- ^ "Statistical Information". Worldmethodistcouncil.org. 9 November 2019. Retrieved 2023-11-03.
- ^ "About the LWF". Luthernworld.org. 19 May 2013. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
- ^ a b 2017 Summary Statistical Reportag.org Archived 2023-04-05 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Statistics of the Assemblies of God (USA)" (PDF). Agchurches.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
- ^ "Baptist World Alliance". Bwanet.org. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
- ^ "Church of England statistics 2011" (PDF). Churchofengland.org. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
- ^ "Église du Christ au Congo". ecc.faithweb.com.
- ^ "Eglise du Christ au Congo". Ecc.faithweb.com. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
- ^ "Regional Distribution of Christians". Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project. 19 December 2011. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
- ^ "Assembleia de Deus no Brasil é a maior do mundo". Fronteira Final. 2 July 2011. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
- ^ "Zahlen und Fakten zum kirchlichen Leben 2021" (PDF). EKD (in German). Retrieved 3 January 2022.
- ^ "China's Dynamic Church". Christianity Today. Archived from the original on 2011-08-14. Retrieved 2008-02-19.
- ^ "Nigerian Anglicans May Control the Future of the Church". Thinkafricapress.com. 14 April 2011. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
- ^ Aaron Earls, Southern Baptists grow in attendance and baptisms, decline in membership, baptistpress.com, USA, May 9, 2023
- ^ "2002 Uganda Population and Housing Census: Main Report" (PDF). Uganda Bureau of Statistics. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 24, 2007.
- ^ Micklethwait, John; Wooldridge, Adrian (2009-04-02). God Is Back: How the Global Revival of Faith Is Changing the World. Penguin. ISBN 9781101032411. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
- ^ "New and Events". EEcmy.org. Archived from the original on 11 February 2017. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
- ^ "Authority of Scripture in China's Underground House Church". Biblereadingproject.com. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
- ^ "About Us – The National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc". Nationalbaptist.com. Archived from the original on 7 September 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
- ^ "Home". nigerianbaptist.org.
- ^ "ELCT Press Release". Elct.org. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
- ^ a b Svenska kyrkan i siffror Svenska kyrkan
- ^ "Leadership". General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Retrieved 2020-04-25.
- ^ "Seventh-day Adventist World Church Statistics 2021". 17 February 2022. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
- ^ "NAC worldwide: the key figures". 2 June 2023.
- ^ "A Brief History of the Church of God".
- ^ "About Bro Eddie and JIL". Retrieved 20 April 2023.