An annual tally of church membership in the U.S. found gains by the Roman Catholic Church, the Mormon church and the Assemblies of God last year, while mainline denominations continued their decades-long decline.
The data was published in the latest Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches, released this month by the National Council of Churches, based in New York.
Membership in the Catholic Church rose nearly 1.5 percent to more than 68 million, the largest denomination by far in the country. The church rebounded from a slight drop last year.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints saw a 1.7 percent increase in its U.S. membership to just under 6 million, while the Assemblies of God, a Pentecostal faith group, recorded a nearly 1.3 percent jump, to 2.9 million members.
The Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant group, reported a slight drop for the second consecutive year by 0.24 percent to about 16.3 million.
The U.S. membership of the United Methodist Church dropped by nearly one percent last year, to 7.9 million members, but the denomination remains the third largest in the country.
Several major denominations, including the Church of God in Christ and the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., did not report updated figures.
