Metro Area Membership Report

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Nashville, TN MSA

Denominational Groups, 2000

395,499 113,589 690 60,283 22,043 639,207
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
Southern Baptist Convention Evangelical Protestant 321 223,561 181.6
United Methodist Church, The Mainline Protestant 210 76,746 62.3
Churches of Christ Evangelical Protestant 329 75,843 61.6
Catholic Church Catholic 29 60,283 49.0
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Mainline Protestant 49 16,511 13.4
Independent, Non-Charismatic Churches Evangelical Protestant 9 14,200 11.5
Church of the Nazarene Evangelical Protestant 49 11,157 9.1
Assemblies of God Evangelical Protestant 30 10,575 8.6
Episcopal Church Mainline Protestant 26 10,554 8.6
Muslim Estimate Other Theology 7 9,046 7.4
Presbyterian Church in America Evangelical Protestant 9 8,925 7.3
Cumberland Presbyterian Church Evangelical Protestant 44 7,661 6.2
Seventh-day Adventist Church Evangelical Protestant 28 7,272 5.9
Jewish Estimate Other Theology 4 6,000 4.9
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Other Theology 15 5,801 4.7
National Association of Free Will Baptists Evangelical Protestant 48 5,801 4.7
National Primitive Baptist Convention, USA Evangelical Protestant 49 5,636 4.6
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Mainline Protestant 12 4,821 3.9
Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) Evangelical Protestant 19 4,580 3.7
Independent, Charismatic Churches Evangelical Protestant 4 4,100 3.3
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Mainline Protestant 11 3,742 3.0
Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod Evangelical Protestant 12 2,814 2.3
Christian Churches and Churches of Christ Evangelical Protestant 9 2,534 2.1
Old Missionary Baptists Associations Evangelical Protestant 9 2,029 1.7
International Church of the Foursquare Gospel Evangelical Protestant 8 1,743 1.4
Church of God of Prophecy Evangelical Protestant 26 1,630 1.3
International Churches of Christ Evangelical Protestant 1 891 0.7
American Baptist Association, The Evangelical Protestant 4 785 0.6
Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) Evangelical Protestant 5 668 0.5
Bahá'í Other Theology 8 622 0.5
Salvation Army, The Evangelical Protestant 4 604 0.5
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations Other Theology 3 574 0.5
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, The Orthodox 1 540 0.4
Duck River and Kindred Baptists Associations Evangelical Protestant 6 502 0.4
American Baptist Churches in the USA Mainline Protestant 2 485 0.4
United Church of Christ Mainline Protestant 3 387 0.3
Free Methodist Church of North America Evangelical Protestant 5 316 0.3
Community of Christ Evangelical Protestant 1 282 0.2
Vineyard USA Evangelical Protestant 1 250 0.2
Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod Evangelical Protestant 2 229 0.2
International Pentecostal Holiness Church Evangelical Protestant 2 215 0.2
Pentecostal Church of God Evangelical Protestant 1 180 0.2
Christian Reformed Church in North America Evangelical Protestant 1 176 0.1
Wesleyan Church, The Evangelical Protestant 4 172 0.1
Armenian Apostolic Church / Catholicossate of Etchmiadzin Orthodox 1 150 0.1
Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches Mainline Protestant 1 95 0.1
International Council of Community Churches Mainline Protestant 1 91 0.1
Reformed Church in America Mainline Protestant 1 79 0.1
Friends (Quakers) Mainline Protestant 1 78 0.1
Christian and Missionary Alliance, The Evangelical Protestant 1 70 0.1
Mennonite Church USA Evangelical Protestant 1 45 0.0
Church of God General Conference Evangelical Protestant 1 25 0.0
Apostolic Christian Church of America, Inc. Evangelical Protestant 1 18 0.0
Church of the Brethren Evangelical Protestant 1 10 0.0
Coptic Orthodox Church Orthodox 1 n.a. n.a.
Southwide Baptist Fellowship Evangelical Protestant 5 n.a. n.a.
Sikh Other Theology 1 n.a. n.a.
Reformed Baptist Churches Evangelical Protestant 1 n.a. n.a.
Primitive Baptist Churches--Old Line Evangelical Protestant 22 n.a. n.a.
Calvary Chapel Fellowship Churches Evangelical Protestant 4 n.a. n.a.
Hindu Other Theology 3 n.a. n.a.
Buddhism Other Theology 7 n.a. n.a.
Totals (Unadjusted)*: 1,474 592,104  
Total (Adjusted)**:   735,704  
The population of these 8 counties (or equivalents) in 1990 was 985,026; in 2000 it was 1,231,311. The total population changed 25.0%. The unadjusted adherent totals of the religious groups listed above (592,104) include 48.1% of the total population in 2000. The adjusted total adherents (735,704) include 59.7% 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]