The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1916-03-09


ed with Jewish congregations must
be 100000 or more.
The Christian Catholic church
(Dowie) has for years reused to give
statistical information. SO also nave
the Catholic Apostolic branches. The
Church of Christ, Scientist, has fur
nished no returns for members since
1907.
Changes in the totals for 1914
have been made. In not a few cases
the statistics officially given for that
wear proved to be incorrect and were
revised year later by the same de-
nominational authorities. In other
instances, estimates given in advance
of regular returns needed to be
slightly increased or decreased.
Story of the Statistics.
The European war did not, appar-
emily, seriously affect the prosperity
of the churches of the United States
in 1915. A net increase of nearly
654,OO0 communicates, says DR.. H..
K Carroll, the ecclesiastical statis-
tician, speaking for the federal coun-
Gil of the churches of Christ in Amer
ica. if not unusually large is certain
ly not abnormally small. 1t is fair
" distributed among the larger de-
nominations, excepting the Luther
ans, who report a loss of nearly H.
600 for the year, much of which may
be explained perhaps by faulty re-
turns. The Catholics added nearly
$4,000 to their numbers, the Metho-
dists upward of 144, 900, the Baptists
nearly $4,000, the Presbyterians
over $4,000, of which the, Northern
body had nearly $4,000 and the
Southern almost $4,000. These last
are quite unusual gains. The Pro-
testant Episcopal church is larger
than it was by 25,64S.
An interesting fact is that the
gains in the South were quite extra
ordinary. The Southern Baptists had
an increase of $4,000 and more, and
the Southern Methodists of $4,000;
adding the Southern Presbyterians
the net increase of these three bodies
was more than 100000, or we'll on
to a third of the aggregate gains for
the year. The returns for the Dis
ciples of Christ for. 1915 are not yet
ready. They would probably add ma
terially to the increase of the year.
A remarkable feature of DR.. Car
rolls statistics, which will be pub
lished Immediately in the federal
council year book, is that there has
been a net Ndecrease, instead of the
normal increase of churches. The ac-
tual loss is not large, only 158, but
in 1914 there was a gain of over L.
800. The Lutherans quite unac-
countably appear to have lost nearly
thousand churches during the year,
partly due, perhaps, to defective sta
hstics. Even in the South, which
had so large an ingathering of mem
bers, there was little increase in
churches. The Southern Baptist con-
vention reports losses as about Off
setting gains; the Methodist church,
South, had a net increase of SO and
the Southern Presbyterians of only
8. The Northern Methodists gained
1873. Several of the Presbyterian
bodies which enjoyed an unusual in
CREASE in communicates, show a fall
ing off in the number of churches
The Northern church, for example,
has net loss of 1873. ~
Doubtless the hard times that seem
to have come upon the churches in
the rural regions, and which have led
to the closing of number of
churches which were formerly -four
ishing, and to the consolidation of
many others, accounts at least in
part for the decrease.
The grand totals of ministers are
1S0,607, an increase of over 1,700;
of churches, 225,334, a decrease of
15S, and of communicates, $780,
71S, a gain of 653,640.
In their finances the churches gen.
orally have not suffered. The total
income for foreign missions was ST.
100000 greater in 1915 than in
1914; that for home missions shows
a falling off of about $730,000.
A very large amount in the aggre-
gate was contributed through the
churches for war-relief Of one kind
| or another.
The increase for the quarter cen
tury since 1890 is very large. De-
nominational groups OF 100000 com
municants and upwards, embracing