Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-09-17
REPORT Of CHURCH
LOSSES IS DENIED
FEDERAL Council Claims Rec
ord Shows Increase in
Membership Rolls.

NEW YORK. September IL stirred
nN recent reports that the churches
are suffering severe losses in member
snip, officials Of the Federal Council
OF the Churches Of Christ in America
Today issued a statement declaring
that the real truth is precisely the op-
poSlte. Figures are presented tor -
reading denominations. showing that
theN have grown almost 80 per cent
IN the last 20 wears.
This statement was made. according
TO Rev. Charles :. MaCfarland. gen
efal secretary of the Federal Council
of the Churches. in response to many
inquiries as to the validity and sig
nlhcance of the public announcement
accredited to H. *. Carroll on July
30 that "the total yearly loss (of
Protestant churchesl would approXi-
mate about half a million.
Claims Misunderstanding.
This estimate" said DR. Macfar-
land, has been completely misunGer-
stood, because it had to do only With
one side of the picture. 1t made no
reference to the additions of new
members year by year. For example
Rev. Frederick l.. Fagley of the Con
gregational Commission on EVange-
lSm, was quoted as saving that about
30 600 members are lost from the rolls
or that denomination annually. but no
mention was made of the TACT that
some 5000 are added Ia these rolls
each year and that the percentage Of
Increase in membership is greater
than that OF the population of the
country. The fact is that the net : O.
suit for all Protestant denominations
N n 10 l-Sl IN
sidera bly, in excess Of the growth in
population. No thoughtful person
should overlook the disquieting drift
from active to inactive membership,
to which DR.. Carroll called attention.
but any one who thinks this means
that the churches are decreasing in
membership simply does not know
what he is talking about"
The statement gives statistics from
the United States Census Bureau and
the Handbook of the Churches. 1t
says:
How utterly false are the impress
sions that the churches are losing in
membership is shown by the figures
of the United States Government cen
Sus Of religious bodies in 1906 and
1916, supplemented by the figures for
1926 in the latest Handbook Of the
Churches. The % principal den omi.
nations in the United States had
growth in total membership from 49,
762.943 in 1906 to 23G3S, 597 in 1916
and to 27.466.470 in 1926
Calls Statement Iudicr0us.
"There was never a time in the his
tory of the country when so many
people belonged to the churches, never
a time when a larger percentage of
the population were church members
In the face Of the cold figures. how
ludicrous ls the doleful lament. re-
Gently heard in many quarters: How
long can Professionalism stand such
losses
From 1906 to 1915, in 25 principal
Protestant denominations. the net gain
in membership was 4,S75.654. From
1915 to 1926 the net gain was 3,S27,-
s13. This is a gain of sos, 527 during
the last 20 years. In addition to MAX
ing up all their losses from death, re-
moval and other causes. the churches
have made a net increase in member
ship of 46.4 per cent in 20 years.
During these same 90 years, the
Increase in population of the country
was 36.5. The churches, in other
words, gained in membership faster
than the population.
1T is true that when the so called
war decade u916-1926) is taken alone
the figures are not so encouraging.
For these 10 years. the gain in church
membership was 1862 per cent, while
the gain in population was 1873 per
cent. This condition may perhaps be
explained by the diversion of :he
church's energies during the war
years. During the last half Of the
decade, however, a recovery has been
taking place"