Metro Area Membership Report

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Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA MSA

Denominational Groups, 2000

18,024 161,651 7,860 199,389 12,295 238,739
Evangelical Protestant Mainline Protestant Orthodox Catholic Other Unclaimed

Congregational "adherents" include all full members, their children, and others who regularly attend services. The historically African American denominations are not included in the 2000 congregation and membership totals. Many are also missing in 1990 and most historically African American denominations are missing in the 1980 reports.
[More information on the data sources]

Reports


Religious Bodies Theology Congregations Adherents Adherence Rate
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Mainline Protestant 123 72,774 114.1
United Church of Christ Mainline Protestant 100 49,060 76.9
Catholic Church Catholic 85 199,389 312.5
United Methodist Church, The Mainline Protestant 43 13,413 21.0
Episcopal Church Mainline Protestant 17 5,627 8.8
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Mainline Protestant 17 11,206 17.6
Moravian Church in America--Northern Province Mainline Protestant 16 7,429 11.6
Assemblies of God Evangelical Protestant 15 2,780 4.4
Mennonite Church USA Evangelical Protestant 10 1,070 1.7
Wesleyan Church, The Evangelical Protestant 9 3,045 4.8
American Baptist Churches in the USA Mainline Protestant 8 1,951 3.1
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Other Theology 8 1,882 3.0
Jewish Estimate Other Theology 8 8,500 13.3
Salvation Army, The Evangelical Protestant 6 1,174 1.8
Seventh-day Adventist Church Evangelical Protestant 5 563 0.9
Church of the Nazarene Evangelical Protestant 5 970 1.5
Churches of Christ Evangelical Protestant 4 276 0.4
Evangelical Free Church of America, The Evangelical Protestant 4 1,853 2.9
Southern Baptist Convention Evangelical Protestant 4 129 0.2
American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church Orthodox 3 623 1.0
Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod Evangelical Protestant 3 905 1.4
Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) Evangelical Protestant 3 196 0.3
Conservative Baptist Association of America Evangelical Protestant 3 560 0.9
Christian and Missionary Alliance, The Evangelical Protestant 3 329 0.5
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Orthodox 3 3,750 5.9
Muslim Estimate Other Theology 3 1,524 2.4
Orthodox Presbyterian Church, The Evangelical Protestant 3 242 0.4
Free Methodist Church of North America Evangelical Protestant 3 246 0.4
Church of the Brethren Evangelical Protestant 2 205 0.3
Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) Evangelical Protestant 2 55 0.1
Independent, Non-Charismatic Churches Evangelical Protestant 2 505 0.8
Presbyterian Church in America Evangelical Protestant 2 108 0.2
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, The Orthodox 2 1,158 1.8
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA Orthodox 2 1,500 2.4
Orthodox Church in America: Territorial Dioceses Orthodox 2 829 1.3
Patriarchal Parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in the USA Orthodox 2 n.a. n.a.
Bahá'í Other Theology 1 99 0.2
Calvary Chapel Fellowship Churches Evangelical Protestant 1 n.a. n.a.
Buddhism Other Theology 1 n.a. n.a.
Christian Churches and Churches of Christ Evangelical Protestant 1 136 0.2
Jain Other Theology 1 n.a. n.a.
Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches Mainline Protestant 1 63 0.1
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations Other Theology 1 290 0.5
Sikh Other Theology 1 n.a. n.a.
Reformed Baptist Churches Evangelical Protestant 1 n.a. n.a.
Primitive Methodist Church in the USA Evangelical Protestant 1 61 0.1
North American Baptist Conference Evangelical Protestant 1 828 1.3
General Association of Regular Baptist Churches Evangelical Protestant 1 152 0.2
Mennonite; Other Groups Evangelical Protestant 1 33 0.1
International Church of the Foursquare Gospel Evangelical Protestant 1 103 0.2
Independent, Charismatic Churches Evangelical Protestant 1 1,500 2.4
Hindu Other Theology 1 n.a. n.a.
Friends (Quakers) Mainline Protestant 1 128 0.2
Totals (Unadjusted)*: 547 399,219  
Total (Adjusted)**:   449,560  
The population of these 3 counties (or equivalents) in 1990 was 595,081; in 2000 it was 637,958. The total population changed 7.2%. The unadjusted adherent totals of the religious groups listed above (399,219) include 62.6% of the total population in 2000. The adjusted total adherents (449,560) include 70.5% of the population.

Source

*The “Unadjusted Totals” come from the 1990 and 2000 data collected by representatives of the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB). While quite comprehensive, this data excludes most of the historically African-American denominations and some other major groups. As a result, these numbers will be an underestimate of the total adherence rate, particularly in areas with a large African-American population. The 2000 data included 149 religious groups and the final results are published in Religious Congregations and Membership in the United States 2000. Copyright © 2002, All rights reserved. The 1990 data included 132 groups and the final results are published in Churches and Church Membership in the United States 1990 Copyright © 1990, All rights reserved. Published by Glenmary Research Center, 1312 Fifth Ave., North, Nashville, TN 37208. www.glenmary.org/grc [More information on the data collection]

**The “Adjusted Totals” include all adherents in the denominations counted by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB) and estimates adherent totals for the historically African-American denominations and other religious groups not listed in the ASARB totals. An article by Roger Finke and Christopher P. Scheitle (2005) reviews how these estimates were computed.

The adherence rate provides the number of adherents of a particular group per 1,000 population. For example, in 2000 the Episcopal Church had an adherence rate of approximately 8 (8.1) in Autauga County, Alabama. This means that 8 out of every 1,000 people in Autauga county are Episcopalian.

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