ELCA membership drops for 16th straight year: Lutheran churches growing worldwide
Membership in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the country’s largest Lutheran denomination, has fallen for the 16th consecutive year, the ELCA has announced.
While Lutheran churches are growing worldwide—particularly in sub-Saharan Africa—baptized ELCA membership declined by more than 64,000 in 2007, a 1.34 percent drop. The church now counts 4.7 million baptized members in 10,448 congregations, and it showed a net loss of 22 churches.