Metro Area Membership Report

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Boston-Worcester-Lawrence-Lowell-Brockton, MA-NH NECMA

Denominational Groups, 2000

151,955 350,841 78,796 2,951,971 348,935 2,175,328
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.
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Reports


Religious Bodies Theology Congregations Adherents Adherence Rate
Catholic Church Catholic 681 2,951,971 487.3
Assemblies of God Evangelical Protestant 122 22,591 3.7
Baptist General Conference Evangelical Protestant 29 5,289 0.9
Calvary Chapel Fellowship Churches Evangelical Protestant 5 n.a. n.a.
Christian and Missionary Alliance, The Evangelical Protestant 24 3,470 0.6
Christian Churches and Churches of Christ Evangelical Protestant 8 1,847 0.3
Christian Reformed Church in North America Evangelical Protestant 5 1,649 0.3
Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) Evangelical Protestant 3 4,015 0.7
Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) Evangelical Protestant 45 3,930 0.7
Church of God of Prophecy Evangelical Protestant 11 993 0.2
Church of the Nazarene Evangelical Protestant 57 11,000 1.8
Churches of Christ Evangelical Protestant 30 2,795 0.5
Churches of God, General Conference Evangelical Protestant 1 65 0.0
Community of Christ Evangelical Protestant 5 458 0.1
Conservative Baptist Association of America Evangelical Protestant 52 7,932 1.3
Conservative Congregational Christian Conference Evangelical Protestant 40 7,237 1.2
Cumberland Presbyterian Church Evangelical Protestant 1 20 0.0
Eastern Pennsylvania Mennonite Church Evangelical Protestant 1 35 0.0
Evangelical Covenant Church, The Evangelical Protestant 16 3,547 0.6
Evangelical Free Church of America, The Evangelical Protestant 10 1,262 0.2
Free Methodist Church of North America Evangelical Protestant 12 667 0.1
General Association of Regular Baptist Churches Evangelical Protestant 4 389 0.1
Independent, Charismatic Churches Evangelical Protestant 7 4,895 0.8
Independent, Non-Charismatic Churches Evangelical Protestant 12 9,250 1.5
International Church of the Foursquare Gospel Evangelical Protestant 27 4,755 0.8
International Churches of Christ Evangelical Protestant 1 6,162 1.0
International Pentecostal Church of Christ Evangelical Protestant 1 10 0.0
Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod Evangelical Protestant 20 6,315 1.0
Mennonite Church USA Evangelical Protestant 5 367 0.1
National Association of Free Will Baptists Evangelical Protestant 1 86 0.0
Orthodox Presbyterian Church, The Evangelical Protestant 5 589 0.1
Pentecostal Church of God Evangelical Protestant 1 45 0.0
Presbyterian Church in America Evangelical Protestant 10 762 0.1
Primitive Methodist Church in the USA Evangelical Protestant 7 424 0.1
Reformed Baptist Churches Evangelical Protestant 3 n.a. n.a.
Salvation Army, The Evangelical Protestant 36 9,002 1.5
Seventh-day Adventist Church Evangelical Protestant 75 14,098 2.3
Southern Baptist Convention Evangelical Protestant 75 13,161 2.2
Vineyard USA Evangelical Protestant 7 2,316 0.4
Wesleyan Church, The Evangelical Protestant 2 225 0.0
Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod Evangelical Protestant 2 302 0.1
American Baptist Churches in the USA Mainline Protestant 229 48,744 8.1
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Mainline Protestant 2 160 0.0
Congregational Christian Churches, Additional (not part of any national CCC body) Mainline Protestant 11 2,571 0.4
Episcopal Church Mainline Protestant 220 88,459 14.6
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Mainline Protestant 61 24,435 4.0
Friends (Quakers) Mainline Protestant 26 1,383 0.2
International Council of Community Churches Mainline Protestant 5 2,772 0.5
National Association of Congregational Christian Churches Mainline Protestant 23 4,651 0.8
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Mainline Protestant 38 7,389 1.2
Reformed Church in America Mainline Protestant 1 104 0.0
United Church of Christ Mainline Protestant 352 110,041 18.2
United Methodist Church, The Mainline Protestant 209 60,075 9.9
Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches Mainline Protestant 1 57 0.0
Albanian Orthodox Diocese of America Orthodox 1 125 0.0
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, The Orthodox 8 8,918 1.5
Armenian Apostolic Church / Catholicossate of Cilicia Orthodox 4 3,444 0.6
Armenian Apostolic Church / Catholicossate of Etchmiadzin Orthodox 7 14,170 2.3
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Orthodox 39 44,328 7.3
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Vasiloupulis Orthodox 3 650 0.1
Holy Orthodox Church in North America Orthodox 7 934 0.2
Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, American Diocese of the Orthodox 1 175 0.0
Orthodox Church in America: Albanian Orthodox Archdiocese Orthodox 5 3,550 0.6
Orthodox Church in America: Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America Orthodox 1 36 0.0
Orthodox Church in America: Territorial Dioceses Orthodox 5 966 0.2
Patriarchal Parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in the USA Orthodox 1 n.a. n.a.
Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia Orthodox 3 n.a. n.a.
Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch Orthodox 2 600 0.1
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA Orthodox 1 900 0.2
Bahá'í Other Theology 23 2,173 0.4
Buddhism Other Theology 50 n.a. n.a.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Other Theology 51 17,391 2.9
Hindu Other Theology 20 n.a. n.a.
Jain Other Theology 2 n.a. n.a.
Jewish Estimate Other Theology 180 261,100 43.1
Muslim Estimate Other Theology 24 43,452 7.2
Sikh Other Theology 4 n.a. n.a.
Tao Other Theology 1 n.a. n.a.
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations Other Theology 129 24,819 4.1
Zoroastrian Other Theology 1 n.a. n.a.
Totals (Unadjusted)*: 3,210 3,882,498  
Total (Adjusted)**:   4,447,312  
The population of these 10 counties (or equivalents) in 1990 was 5,685,998; in 2000 it was 6,057,826. The total population changed 6.5%. The unadjusted adherent totals of the religious groups listed above (3,882,498) include 64.1% of the total population in 2000. The adjusted total adherents (4,447,312) include 73.4% 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.

[More information on the data source]