wfn.org | Total Number of Lutherans Worldwide Climbs to Nearly 66 Million

["Frank Imhoff" <FRANKI@elca.org>]

Total Number of Lutherans Worldwide Climbs to Nearly 66 Million 
Lutheran Church Membership in Europe Down by 640,000, up by 1.1 Million in
Africa

GENEVA, 17 February 2004 (LWI)	- Membership among Lutheran churches in the
last two years increased by 570,000 putting the number of Lutherans worldwide
up to nearly 66 million by the end of 2003. Regular statistics produced by
the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) indicate an average 0.9 percent growth
from the 65,387,677 Lutherans registered in 2001 to the 65,957,685 recorded
by the end of last year. In 2000, Lutheran churches worldwide included nearly
64 million people. The LWF did not publish membership figures for the year
ending 2002.

The 136 LWF member churches, including eleven recognized congregations and
one recognized council, totaled nearly 62.3 million (62,297,025) people by
the end of 2003, compared to nearly 61.7 million in 2001. The number of LWF
member churches increased from 133 in 2002 to the current 136. This figure
includes 133 churches with full membership in the LWF and three associate
member churches. Membership in Lutheran churches that do not belong to the
LWF decreased by around 22,400 to the current 3,660,660 worldwide.

Membership in African Lutheran Churches Increases by More Than 1 Million

The highest regional growth (9.3 percent) was recorded among churches in
Africa, where an additional 1,115,141 Lutherans were registered, pushing the
number of Lutherans on the continent up from 11,953,068 in 2001 to 13,068,209
by the end of 2003. Membership in LWF churches there grew in the same period
from 11,896,817 to 12,984,282. The most significant increase percentagewise
was recorded in a relatively young member church, the Lutheran Church of
Rwanda (LCR) whose membership more than doubled in one year. When the LCR
joined the LWF in 2002 it had 7,600 members, and that figure increased to
17,000 by the end of 2003. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malawi had a
similarly high increase from 25,000 members in 2001 to 50,000 by the end of
last year. 

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zambia grew by over 61 percent to reach
5,350 while the Lutheran Church of Nigeria increased membership by 50 percent
to 120,000 by the end of last year. With an additional 673,730 members in the
last two years, the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, the largest
LWF member church in Africa, recorded the highest increase in numbers pushing
its membership up to 4,033,413. The Malagasy Lutheran Church now has 250,000
new members, pushing its membership up to 2.5 million. The Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Namibia (ELCIN) now has 609,093 members, an increase of
29,093. Membership in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania remained
unchanged at 2.5 million.

LWF Vice-President for the Africa region, Bishop Dr Zephania Kameeta
attributed the growth of Lutheran churches in Africa to overall change
sweeping across the continent. "The politicians call it 'Africa Renaissance.'
We in the church see it as a re-awakening of the African spirit which was
crushed by slavery and colonialism, and ownership-taking of our Christian and
biblical heritage [that was] received in very difficult circumstances and
situations," remarked the bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the
Republic of Namibia (ELCRN). Kameeta said he was "very happy and proud" about
the increase in membership, and challenged the continent to "carry out into
the world and especially Europe, the Christian message from the African point
of view, faith and experience." He concluded, "This is indeed our century and
it is now also the Kairos." 

36 Million Lutherans in Europe, Church Membership Down by 640,000 

There were 36,001,617 Lutherans in Europe by the end of 2003, representing a
decrease of 640,467 from the 36,642,084 recorded in 2001. Membership in LWF
churches on the continent went down by 642,342 to reach the current
35,959,982, while non-LWF Lutheran churches registered 1,875 new members in
the last two years.

The largest LWF member church worldwide, the Church of Sweden, included
7,144,838 members by the end of 2003, a decrease of 255,077 from 2001.
Membership in the third largest LWF member church, the Evangelical Lutheran
Church of Finland, went down by 6,297 to 4,600,246. The Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Denmark counted 4,526,693, a decrease of 5,942. The Church of
Norway had 3,794,000 members, a decrease of 6,000.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland registered an increase of 1,045
pushing its membership up to 249,456 by the end of last year. Membership in
the Lutheran Church in Ireland, an LWF-recognized congregation, increased
nearly threefold from 1,104 to 3,068. The Lutheran Council of Great Britain
registered 33 percent growth and now has 120,000 members.

Finnish Bishop Dr Eero Huovinen, LWF vice-president for the region of the
Nordic countries, noted that the Scandinavian region had traditionally been
an area where Lutheran church membership figures remained stable. "The
Lutheran churches of the region have been able to serve and witness
faithfully among the respective peoples," he said.

There was a decline of 9,000 in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Lithuania
in the past two years, putting its membership at 21,000. The Evangelical
Church of the Augsburg Confession in Austria now has 334,801 members down by
6,105, while the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Romania
registered a decrease of 1,289 and now has 15,057. An LWF-recognized
congregation, the Lutheran Church of Belgium: Arlon and Christian Mission,
more than doubled membership from 305 in 2001 to 809 by the end of 2003.

Further Membership Decrease among Lutheran Churches in Germany

The number of Lutheran Christians in Germany stood at 13,263,869 by the end
of 2003, a decrease of 385,445 in the past two years. Germany has the highest
number of Lutherans in one country. In 2001, Lutheran churches there had
13,649,314 members compared to 13.87 million in 2000. The country's biggest
Lutheran church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover registered the
highest decline in the last two years, 166,241, pushing its membership down
to 3,127,000 by the end of 2003. The Evangelical Church in W|rttemberg had
2,346,879, a decline of 103,121, while the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
Thuringia had 479,298 members, a decrease of 35,282.

Membership in the North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church went down by
21,018 to the current 2,212,722. A decrease of 21,000 was registered in the
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saxony, which now has 916,000 members, while
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Brunswick with 427,000 lost 13,000 members
in the last two years. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Oldenburg had
472,000 members, down by 12,000, while the Evangelical Church of Pomerania
had 122,300, a loss of 6,983 members. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of
Schaumburg-Lippe registered a decline of 1,500 and now has 64,500 members. 

Membership figures remained unchanged in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
Baden (3,710); Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria (2,750,000); Latvian
Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad (40,000) and the Church of Lippe [Lutheran
Section] (38,000). The Evangelical Lutheran Free Church in Germany had a
steady membership of 2,000 but the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church
had a decrease of 300 pushing its membership down to 37,460. Neither of these
two churches holds LWF membership. 

LWF Treasurer Oberkirchenrat Peter Stoll from Stuttgart, Germany, attributes
the decrease in membership among German churches to the demographic changes
there. He considers the effects on east German churches as dramatic. Another
reason, Stoll says, is that people are leaving the church, which is a
particular problem in urban areas as well as in northern Germany. Population
migration from east to west and, to a lesser extent, from north to south is
another. Stoll points out that the Lutheran churches in southern Germany have
sustained stable membership figures, and that losses due to people leaving
the church are largely compensated by the migration. 

Increased Membership in Asian Lutheran Churches 

The number of Lutheran Christians in Asia increased by 2.5 percent in the
last two years. Of the total 7,323,736 Lutherans there, 7,200,069 belong to
LWF member churches. Membership in the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church in
India increased by 100,000 to the current 800,000, while that in the Gutnius
Lutheran Church - Papua New Guinea rose by nearly 50 percent to reach 138,000
by the end of 2003. An increase of 15,885 in Indonesia's Protestant Christian
Church in Mentawai pushed the membership up to 38,211.

The Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church in India recorded 4,403 new members to
reach 107,997 by the end of last year. Membership in the Chinese Rhenish
Church Hong Kong Synod rose by 2,000 to the current 14,000 while the Lutheran
Church in Malaysia and Singapore increased by 865 pushing the membership up
to 6,865. The Lutheran Church in Singapore had 929 new members, increasing
the total to 3,929. 

The Lutheran Church of Australia registered 75,100, a decrease of 9,900 in
the last two years. The Jeypore Evangelical Lutheran Church in India now has
133,000 members, a decrease of 7,000 while the Lutheran Church in Korea lost
541 members, pushing the total down to 2,584. 

Stable Membership in Latin America 

Membership in Lutheran churches in Latin America and the Caribbean region
remained fairly steady in the past two years. A slight increase of 1,788 in
the last two years put the total in the region to 1,128,335 out of which
847,165 belong to LWF member churches.

Membership in the LWF-member church, the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg
Confession in Brazil, rose by 1,085 to reach 715,085 while that in the
non-LWF church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil, increased by 2,620
to the current 222,508. The Evangelical Church of the River Plate had 45,000
members, a decrease of 2,000. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Venezuela
had a sharp decrease of 1,917 putting the total membership down to 2,233. 

Slight Membership Decrease in North American Lutheran Churches

North American Lutheran churches lost 84,179 members in the last two years.