Lutheran Group Loses Some Followers
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the nation’s fifth-largest Protestant body, reports a baptized membership of 5.2 million, a loss of 6,830 members since 1998. The slight drop is in keeping with a 10-year decline of 73,309, or 1.4%.
Members who have undergone confirmation declined in 1998 by 4,033, to 3.8 million, and members counted as “communing and contributing” declined 14,337, to 2.5 million.
The denomination said 30.5% of baptized members attend worship in the average week, about the same as a decade ago.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church currently has 10,862 local congregations.
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