Ridiculous reasons for splits....

[Shane R]

I've seen statistics speculating they have dipped under the 1 million mark. It's very hard to gather statistics on such disorganized groups. One of the interesting developments is the NI people realizing they might need to stop being so hardnose with the rest of the CoC. My dad is still a holdout and has been whining about other NI churches having mainstream CoC preachers in to do their little Gospel Meetings (a meeting now typically only lasts half a week).

[agricola]

Wow - I've tried (not really hard) to find data, and have had little luck. I have found INDICATIONS, however, of shrinkage. I just never recorded PREVIOUS info so am relying on faulty memory -
But the website at the large mainstream coc I grew up in USED TO have over 100 deacons and a couple of dozen or more elders few years ago. And NOW -
they just don't have those numbers.

It is still a LARGE church, and still has multiple preachers, and 'outreach' and classes, and so forth - but is CLEARLY smaller, since the pool of leaders is smaller. I THINK significantly so, but I can't back it up with numbers.

They have certainly stopped talking about 'size' however, on the website itself.

Still - it was bigger, and now it is smaller. It just just 'big enough' that it will likely survive for quite a long time, especially if smaller congregations falter, and those congregants decide to stick with the name brand and start attending a 'librul' congregation'.

The term 'liberal' attached to ANY CoC is kind of laughable, but seriously, that one is 'liberal' compared to many others. But it is STILL losing ground, regardless.

Still no women in leadership positions. Still no music in the service. Still obsessed with weekly communion at all costs, and total immersion critically mandatory for salvation. Not QUITE as lily white as it was when I was growing up, but the only significant minority seem to be Hispanic, which is 'new' since I was young.

[SolaDude]

I've seen statistics speculating they have dipped under the 1 million mark. It's very hard to gather statistics on such disorganized groups. One of the interesting developments is the NI people realizing they might need to stop being so hardnose with the rest of the CoC. My dad is still a holdout and has been whining about other NI churches having mainstream CoC preachers in to do their little Gospel Meetings (a meeting now typically only lasts half a week).

Here's a website that claims it summarizes all CofC stats for all the world. They put the total for the U.S. at just over 1 million members now. I thought it interesting that the CofC presence in Canada is nil, but in India and several African nations it's quite prevalent. Looks like world-wide the total membership is less than two million.

h**p://churchzip.com/statisticalsummary.htm

[agricola]

I just checked and good heavens they are down to TEN elders! And 56 deacons - I can't prove it, but I THINK there were over 20 elders and over 100 deacons not so very long ago. Wow. that's a HUGE drop.

[zeek]

I just checked and good heavens they are down to TEN elders! And 56 deacons - I can't prove it, but I THINK there were over 20 elders and over 100 deacons not so very long ago. Wow. that's a HUGE drop.

Covid probably decimated them; it would be their nature to be of the stripe that refused to mask or social distance in any meaningful way.

[faithandmore]

I just checked and good heavens they are down to TEN elders! And 56 deacons - I can't prove it, but I THINK there were over 20 elders and over 100 deacons not so very long ago. Wow. that's a HUGE drop.

Covid probably decimated them; it would be their nature to be of the stripe that refused to mask or social distance in any meaningful way.

Yes. I think you are right.

[OneStrike_ur_out]

I don't know that Covid really did anything. Numbers were dwindling long before Covid. It probably caused some deaths of some older people who were stubborn back in the earliest days of the pandemic when it was new and nobody really knew what we were dealing with. I'll give the cOC this. At least in my vicinity, they went online only for a stretch. They eventually started to ease back into meeting in person (with precautions) once there was a little better understanding of the virus and what to expect. Of course, I can't speak for everywhere, but at least the ones in my city did the right thing during that time.

[Ivy]

I have wondered if maybe Covid just opened a door to those who wanted to slip out without causing drama.

[agricola]

I have wondered if maybe Covid just opened a door to those who wanted to slip out without causing drama.

I wouldn't doubt that it had an effect.

[Shane R]

I've seen statistics speculating they have dipped under the 1 million mark. It's very hard to gather statistics on such disorganized groups. One of the interesting developments is the NI people realizing they might need to stop being so hardnose with the rest of the CoC. My dad is still a holdout and has been whining about other NI churches having mainstream CoC preachers in to do their little Gospel Meetings (a meeting now typically only lasts half a week).

Here's a website that claims it summarizes all CofC stats for all the world. They put the total for the U.S. at just over 1 million members now. I thought it interesting that the CofC presence in Canada is nil, but in India and several African nations it's quite prevalent. Looks like world-wide the total membership is less than two million.

h**p://churchzip.com/statisticalsummary.htm

That's very interesting. 20 years ago the meeting preachers who did some overseas stuff claimed a million members in Nigeria and hundreds of churches in the Philippines. They used to occasionally bring down this fellow from Ontario and he always spent at least one night lamenting how unsuccessful the Canadian mission was.