CHICAGO (ELCA) -- With an additional 1.6 million members registered in the past year, the number of Lutherans worldwide rose from 61.5 million in 1998 to 63.1 million in 1999, according to statistics compiled by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) based in Geneva, Switzerland.
Membership in the LWF also increased, with 59.4 million Lutherans in 1999 compared to 57.8 million the previous year. During the same period the number of LWF member churches rose from 124 to 128; 125 are full members while three are associate members.
Membership in the world's largest Lutheran church -- the Church of Sweden -- remained steady in 1999 as compared to 1998 at 7.5 million members. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America -- the second largest in the LWF constituency -- had 5.17 million members in 1999, showing a slight decrease of about 6,800 from the previous year's 5.18 million.
Lutheranism grew the most in Asia last year. In 1999 there were more than 6.5 million Lutherans in the LWF member churches in Asia compared to 4.8 million the previous year.
The Protestant Christian Batak Church (Indonesia) -- the largest of eight Lutheran churches in the island nation -- had more than 2.9 million members in 1999, compared to about 1.5 million in 1998. Membership in the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church -- the largest Lutheran church in the sub-continent of India -- rose from 400,000 in 1998 to 700,000 last year.
Africa showed the most growth from 1997 to 1998 -- from 9.0 million to 9.3 million Lutherans. Last year, LWF member churches in Africa had more than 9.6 million members -- another notable increase of 300,000 from the previous year.
Europe, where more than half of the world's Lutherans are still to be found, registered a slight downward trend in 1999 compared to 1998. LWF member churches in Europe had more than 37.01 million Lutherans in 1999, a decrease of more than 79,000 people below the previous year's 37.09 million.
Latin American churches recorded lower membership figures in 1999 compared to the previous year. LWF member churches in this region had 1.13 million members in 1998, this figure went down to about 834,000 in 1999.
Of the total 8.57 million Lutherans in North America in 1999, 5.39 million were in LWF member churches, compared to the previous year's overall of 8.58 million and 5.4 million for the latter category. -- -- --
The membership summary is at http://www.elca.org/co/lwf1999.html It's based on information provided by the LWF member churches, LWF recognized congregations and other Lutheran churches or bodies in contact with the federation. The figures of the previous year are indicated for those churches that had not provided any change of statistical data by Dec. 15, 1999.
* Pauline Mumia is English editor for Lutheran World Information in
Geneva. Janet Bond-Nash of the LWF Office for Communication Services
compiled the statistics.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html
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About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 2.8 million members in more than 8,500 worshiping communities across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands.," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer Martin Luther.
For information contact:
Candice Hill Buchbinder
Public Relations Manager
Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org
