Progress Report

Ten years ago last week, the biggest merger in Protestant history created the biggest Protestant body in the U.S.--the Methodist Church. To celebrate the decennial, the Methodists published some statistics to warm every Wesleyan heart.

Membership in the new church has grown by 795,002--from 7,856,060 to 8,651,062--an increase of more than 10%. Contributions for use outside local churches zoomed from $11 million in 1940 to $28 million last year. The value of church property rose from $704,000,000 to $1,077,000,000. Most dramatic figure of all: though local mergers have reduced the number of churches, there are now 5,000 more Methodist Sunday schools (37,908) with an average attendance that has grown 18% in the last four years.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.