The Presbyterian Church (USA) saw the largest drop among mainline churches in the United States last year. According to the National Council of Churches' 2005 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, PC(USA) fell almost five per cent, with about 3.2 million members remaining. It ranks ninth on the list of America's 25 largest churches. Other denominations to decline include the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, American Baptist Churches in the USA and the United Church of Christ.
Conversely, Pentecostal and African American churches are enjoying increased numbers. Three of the largest 25 churches in the U.S. are Pentecostal and six are African American, according to the yearbook. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with more than 5.5 million members, rose from the fifth- to fourth-largest church in the U.S, with a growth of nearly two per cent last year. The Orthodox Church in America had its membership reach the one million mark, with a growth of more than 11 per cent.
Although it only saw a growth margin of just over one per cent, the Catholic Church remains the largest faith group in the U.S. with more than 67 million members. Second-largest is the Southern Baptist Convention followed by the United Methodist Church, with about 16.5 million and eight million members, respectively.
About one-third of the world's two billion Christians are Roman Catholic. They're followed by independent denominations (426 million), Protestants (375 million), Orthodox (219 million) and Anglicans (79 million). About 33 per cent of the world's population considers themselves Christian.
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