Slight Increase Pushes LWF Global Membership to 66.2 Million Lutheran Churches in Africa Have 900,000 New Members
GENEVA, 14 February 2006 (LWI) - An average global increase of over 280,000 new members puts worldwide membership in the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) at over 66.2 million for the period 2004-2005. The highest growth was recorded in Africa, where churches had nearly one million new members over the one-year period.
A compilation of statistical data from the 140 LWF member churches, ten congregations and one recognized council in 78 countries, puts total LWF membership at 66,214,048, up by 0.43 percent. LWF churches had 65.93 million members in 2004. In 2003, LWF membership was 62.3 million.
In 2005 LWF member churches increased from 138 to 140, of which two have associate membership and the remainder full membership.
The number of Lutherans worldwide rose by 229,753 to 69.76 million (69,757,570), an increase of 0.33 percent compared to 69.53 million in 2004. In 2003, there were 65.96 million Lutherans worldwide. The number of Lutherans outside the LWF membership decreased by 56,961 to 3.54 million.
Over 15 Million Lutherans in Africa
In Africa, 904,500 new members pushed the total membership in Lutheran churches there to 15,038,072, up by 6.4 percent compared to 2004. The LWF member churches on the continent registered 902,153 additional members, and a new total of 14,981,175.
Africa's highest percentage increase, 44 percent, was recorded in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Congo (Republic of Congo), a non-LWF member church, with 1,828 members compared to 1,268 the previous year. Membership in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya rose by 36.4 percent to 75,000. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Togo, also a non-LWF member church, recorded a 36 percent increase to reach 6,754.
With over 148,300 new members, the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, the largest LWF member church in Africa, had 4,312,407 members, a 3.5 percent increase compared to 2004. The second-largest LWF member church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, had half-a-million more members, an increase of 16.7 percent, pushing the total to 3.5 million.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia (ELCRN) increased membership by 50,000 to 350,000 members. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (ELCIN) had an additional 11,913 members, pushing the total to 652,195. Membership in the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (ELCIN-GELC) dropped by 20 percent to 5,200 members, compared to 6,500 in 2004.
A 13.2 percent increase pushed membership in the fourth largest LWF member church in Africa, the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria, to 1,364,420. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Angola gained 4,000 new members and a new total of 26,000. Membership in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Cameroon went up by 13.5 percent to 195,000 members compared to 172,000 the previous year.
A decrease of 20.2 percent in the Moravian Church in South Africa gives a new total of 80,000 members.
Asia: Small Increase Overall, Significant Growth in Taiwan
The number of Lutherans in Asia increased by 25,890 during the one-year period under review. Out of the total 7,416,992 Lutheran church members in Asia, 7,280,313 belonged to LWF churches, an increase of around 0.7 percent compared to 2004.
The Taiwan Lutheran Church recorded a 46.5 percent increase, the highest percentage increase in the region, with a new total of 12,029 compared to 8,220 in 2004. The Bangladesh Lutheran Church gained 1,000 new members pushing the total membership to 4,000. An increase of 12.8 percent, pushed membership in the Pakpak Dairi Christian Protestant Church (Indonesia) to 34,384 members. The Lutheran Church in Malaysia and Singapore had 7,644 members, up by 10.8 percent.
In India, membership in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chotanagpur and Assam rose by 5.2 percent to 400,000, whereas the Northern Evangelical Lutheran Church, with 80,000 members registered a decrease of 5.9 percent.
Membership in the Protestant Christian Batak Church (Indonesia), the largest Lutheran church in Asia, remained unchanged with three million members.
Europe: Figures Drop by over Half-a-Million
In 2005, membership in Lutheran churches in Europe dropped by nearly 600,000 to 38,035,928. Membership in LWF member churches in the region fell by 599,479 to a total of 37,995,074 members. In 2004, there was a sharp increase of 2.6 million, representing 7.3 percent, when the Protestant Church in the Netherlands (PCN) joined the LWF.
The Church of Sweden, the largest Lutheran church in the world, had 6,995,000 members in 2005, 3.1 percent less than the 7.2 million recorded in 2004. The third-largest LWF member church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, showed a slight decrease in membership with 4, 572,611 compared to 4,586,414 in 2004. Figures in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark, the fourth largest LWF member church, remained unchanged at 4,499,501 members. The Church of Norway recorded 8,681 new members, pushing the total to 3,930,946. Membership figures in the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church of Norway fell by 997 to 21,818.
The Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Austria had 3,108 additional members and a new total of 325,429, whereas the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Romania had 32,500 members, an increase of four percent over the previous year's. A 25 percent increase in the Malagasy Protestant Church in France gave a new total of 10,000 members.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia and Other States (ELCROS) had 75,000 members, following large-scale emigration by Russian Germans. Until recently, ELCROS had given its membership figures as 250,000. Last year, membership in the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland fell by 3.1 percent to 77,500 members. The Silesian Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in the Czech Republic recorded a 12.5 percent decrease to 35,000 members.
The Lutheran Church in Ireland had 3,500 members, up from 3,100 in 2004.
Germany Has 160,000 Fewer Lutherans
The 12,912,101 Lutherans in Germany, the country with the highest number of Lutherans in the world, represented a decrease of 191,845 compared to the previous year. In 2004, Lutheran churches in Germany had 13.1 million members, and 13.26 million members in 2003. A 37.5 percent decline in the 25,000-member Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad was the highest percentage decrease recorded in the country.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover, the largest Lutheran church in Germany, had 3,072,622 members, down by 1.7 percent over the 3.13 million recorded in 2004. Membership in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria remained unchanged at 2.7 million, while the North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church had 2,129,100 members, around one percent lower than in 2004.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saxony recorded a 5.78 percent drop in 2005 with 843,296 members. Membership in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Thuringia fell by 17,500 to 459,000 members, whereas that of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Mecklenburg went down to 212,455, a decrease of 5.6 percent. With 106,587 members, the Evangelical Church of Pomerania had a 7.3 percent decline.
A 1.7 percent decline in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Brunswick pushed the membership figures to 410,500, while the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Baden had 3,500 members, 5.5 percent less than in 2004. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Schaumburg-Lippe had 1,615 less members, bringing its total down to 62,300. The Church of Lippe (Lutheran Section) had 32,000 members, down by 1.8 percent.
Membership figures remained unchanged for the Evangelical Church in Wuerttemberg with 2,346,879 members, and for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Oldenburg, with 470,471 members.
Minimal Changes in Latin America, More Lutherans in Argentina, Nicaragua
A slight decline in membership among the Latin American and Caribbean region Lutheran churches pushed the figures there down by 4,966 to a new total of 1,111,947 members. The 835,460 total recorded for LWF member churches is 6,636 lower than in the previous year.
Membership in the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil, the largest Lutheran church in the region, rose by around 0.27 percent to 711,935. Some 3,000 new members in the Nicaraguan Lutheran Church of Faith and Hope pushed the total to 7,000.
A 57 percent membership increase in the United Evangelical Lutheran Church (Argentina) gave a new total of 11,000. With 25,300 members in 2005, the Evangelical Church of the River Plate (Argentina) had 44 percent fewer members compared to 2004.
Membership in the Bolivian Evangelical Lutheran Church rose by 22.2 percent to 22,000 members. An increase of 10 percent in the Lutheran Costarican Church pushed the total membership to 1,249 members, while the Christian Lutheran Church of Honduras recorded a 20 percent increase for a new total of 1,200. Membership in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Venezuela fell by 13 percent to 1,950.
Overall Decrease in North America
Lutheran membership in North American churches decreased by 1.16 percent, down to a total of 8,154,631 compared to 8,250,658 recorded for the period ending 2004. In 2005, the region had 5,122,026 Lutherans belonging to LWF member churches compared to 5,182,002 in 2004.
The second-largest LWF member church in the world, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, had 4,930,429 members, a decline of 1.1 percent over the previous year. Membership in the Lithuanian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Diaspora (USA) fell by 3.3 percent to 2,900.
Non-LWF member church, the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (USA and Canada) had 2,463,747 members, a one percent decrease over the previous year's figures. The non-LWF Church of the Lutheran Brethren of America, with 8,860 members, had registered a 38.2 percent decline.
Membership in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada remained unchanged at 182,077 members. The Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad (Canada) recorded a 45 percent decline, pushing figures down to 6,620. The Lutheran Church - Canada, a non-LWF member church, had 76,100 members, 6.6 percent less than in the previous year.
The LWF membership statistics are based on information received from the LWF member churches, recognized congregations and council, as well as from other Lutheran churches, organizations, mission bodies and congregations. The figures recorded for the year ending 2004 were used for churches that did not indicate any changes by the end of January 2006. (1,652 words)
The statistics in detail will be printed in Lutheran World Information (LWI) No. 01/2006.
A one-page summary of the 2005 LWF Statistics is posted in PDF format on the LWF Web site under: www.lutheranworld.org/LWF_Documents/LWF-Statistics-01-2005.pdf. Full details can be found under: www.lutheranworld.org/LWF_Documents/LWF-Statistics-2005.pdf.
For further information, please contact the LWF Office for Communication Services in Geneva at the address indicated below.
(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF currently has 140 member churches in 78 countries all over the world, with a total membership of 66.2 million. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as ecumenical and inter-faith relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.)
[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the LWF's information service. Unless specifically noted, material presented does not represent positions or opinions of the LWF or of its various units. Where the dateline of an article contains the notation (LWI), the material may be freely reproduced with acknowledgment.]
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