African-American Membership in U.S. Religious Denominations

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Estimated membership of predominantly black denominations in the U.S., 19471993
1950197519761993
Denomination (year of founding)YearChurchesMembersYearChurchesMembers
African Orthodox Churches
African Orthodox Church (1921)1957246,0001971*10,000
African Orthodox Church of the West (1984)19852200
Baptist Bodies
Black Primitive Baptists (1877)1970433,000
Fundamental Baptist Fellowship Association (1962)197010
National Baptist Convention of America (1915)19561,3982,668,79919872,5003,500,000
National Baptist Convention of the United States of America, Inc. (1895)195826,0005,500,000199130,0007,800,000
National Baptist Evangelical Life and Soul Saving Assembly of the United States of America (1920)195126457,674
National Primitive Baptist Convention of the United States of America (1907)1975606250,0001991250,000
Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc. (1961)19911,4002,500,000
United Free-Will Baptist Church (1901)1992836100,000
Black Hebrews
Church of God and Saints of Christ (1896)199121738,127
House of Judah (1965)1985180
Original Hebrew Israelite Nation (1960)19803,000
Yahweh's Temple (1947)197310,000
Catholic Bodies
American Catholic Church (SyroAntiochean) (1930s)1961404,66319793501
Sacred Heart Catholic Church (1980)1983350
The Coptic Orthodox Church199255260,000
International Council Of Community Churches (1946)1988300250,000
Kodesh Church of Immanuel (1829)19805326
Methodist Bodies
African Methodist Episcopal Church (1816)19515,8781,666,30119918,0003,500,000
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (1821)19594,083770,00019913,0001,200,000
African Union First Colored Methodist Protestant Church (1866)1988356,500
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (1870)19612,523444,4931988788,922
Free Christian Zion Church of Christ (1905)195674222,260
Reformed Methodist Union Episcopal Church (1885)1970215,0001980333,800
Reformed Zion Union Apostolic Church (1869)19605016,000
Mount Hebron Apostolic Temple of Our Lord Jesus of the Apostolic Faith (1963)198093,000
Muslim Bodies
Muslims19931,000,000
Nation of Islam (Farrakhan) (1978)198920,000
Pentecostal Bodies
Alpha and Omega Pentecostal Church of God of America, Inc. (1945)197034001990800
Apostolic Assemblies of Christ, Inc. (1970)1980233,500
Apostolic Church of Christ (1969)1980*6300190010600
Apostolic Church of Christ in God1980132,150
Apostolic Faith Mission Church of God (1906)1989186,200
Apostolic Overcoming Holy Church of God (1920)195630075,000198820012,000
The Bible Church of Christ199166,812
Bible Way Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ World Wide (1957)197035030,0001991300250,000
Christ's Sanctified Holy Church (Louisiana) (1904)195730600
Church of Christ (Holiness) U.S.A. (1907)19651599,289199018912,890
Church of God in Christ (1906)19654,500425,000199115,3005,477,875
Church of God in Christ, Congregational (1932)197033
Church of God in Christ, International (1969)19711,041501,0001982300200,000
Church of God (Sanctified Church) (1901)1975605,0001991696,000
Church of the Living God (Christian Workers for Fellowship) (1889)198517042,000
Church of Living God, the Pillar and Ground of Truth (1903)19881002,000
Church of the Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith (1919)195415530,000199345781,000
Churches of God, Holiness (1914)196742165,000
Commandment Keepers Congregation of the Living God (1924)19703,000
Fire-Baptized Holiness Church of God of the Americas (1908)195853998199149695
Highway Christian Church of Christ (1929)1980*133,0001991900
House of God, Which Is the Church of the Living God, the Pillar and Ground of Truth, Inc. (1919)19561072,3501970*10325,800
Latter House of the Lord for All People and the Church of the Mountain, Apostolic Faith (1936)19474,000
Mount Sinai Holy Church (1924)1968922,000199112510,000
Original Glorious Church of God in Christ Apostolic Faith (1921)19805525,000
Original United Holy Church International (1977)198521015,000
Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (1906)19605504,50019891,005500,000
Pentecostal Churches of Apostolic Faith (1957)1991128151,000
Shiloh Apostolic Temple (1953)1985337,500
Sought Out Church of God in Christ1949460
Triumph the Church and Kingdom of God in Christ (1902)197247554,307
United Church of Jesus Christ (Apostolic) (1945)198575100,000
United Holy Church of America (1886)196047028,8901970*47050,000
United Way of the Cross Churches of Christ of the Apostolic Faith1980*141,1001990141,002
Universal Christian Spiritual Faith and Churches for All Nations (1952)19656040,816
Way of the Cross Church of Christ (1927)19804850,00019876860,000
source: "Black Americans and the Churches," in Religions of America (New York, 1975); Black Americans Information Directory (199091) (New York, 1990); Directory of African American Religious Bodies: A Compendium by the Howard University School of Divinity (Washington, D.C., 1991); "The Negro in American Religious Life," in The American Negro Reference Book (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1970); Statistical Record of Black America (Detroit, 1990); Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches: 1993 (Nashville, Tenn., 1992); Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches: 1992 (Nashville, Tenn., 1991); Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches: 1973 (Nashville, Tenn., 1973). Membership Figures Provided by Denominations Themselves, Which Use Different Criteria to Determine Them.
Presbyterian Bodies
Second Cumberland Presbyterian Church in the United States (1874)195922130,000
* Most recent data available
Membership of racially mixed denominations in the U.S., 1890, 1916, and 1936
189019161936
DenominationBlack membersTotal membersBlack membersTotal membersBlack membersTotal members
sources: Report on Statistics of Churches of the United States at the Eleventh Census: 1890 (Washington, D.C., 1894); Religious Bodies: 1916 (Washington, D.C., 1919); Religious Bodies: 1936 (Washington, D.C., 1941).
Adventist Bodies
Advent Christian25,81631730,59726,258
Seventh-Day28,9912,55379,3556,367133,254
Baptist Bodies
Northern Convention35,221800,02553,8421,232,13545,8211,329,044
Congregational Church6,908512,77113,209791,27420,437976,388
Disciples of Christ18,578641,05111,4781,226,02821,9501,196,315
Lutheran Bodies
Synodical Conference211357,1531,525777,7018,9851,463,482
Methodist Bodies
Methodist Episcopal246,2492,240,354320,0253,717,785193,7613,509,763
Methodist Protestant3,183141,9892,869186,9082,321148,288
Moravian Bodies
Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum)11,78141926,37362830,904
Presbyterian Bodies
Presbyterian Church in the United States of America14,961788,22431,9571,611,251279449,045
Presbyterian Church in the United States1,568179,7211,429357,7692,9711,797,927
Protestant Episcopal Church2,977532,05423,7751,092,82129,7381,735,335
Reformed Episcopal Church1,7238,4553,01711,0502,4347,656
Roman Catholic Church17,0796,231,41751,68815,721,815137,68419,914,937
Salvation Army8,74135,954436103,038
Membership of racially mixed denominations in the U.S., 19631992
DenominationYearBlack membershipTotal membership
American Baptist Convention1964200,0001,559,103
1990496,0001,535,971
Christian Churches (Disciples of Christ)196480,0001,920,760
199261,0001,039,692
Congregational Christian Churches196438,000110,000
19929,00075,000
Lutheran Church Missouri Synod199115,1472,609,025
Mennonite Church19923,476114,307
Protestant Episcopal Church196373,8673,340,759
1990250,0002,446,050
Reformed Episcopal Church19923,1846,042
Roman Catholic Church1964722,60945,640,619
19902,000,00058,568,015
Seventh-Day Adventists1964167,892370,688
1990280,000717,446
United Church of Christ196421,8592,056,696
198962,0481,662,568
United Methodist Church1964373,32710,304,184
1992257,4368,853,455
United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America19646,0003,302,839
199065,0003,788,009

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