This morning my Google Alert for Anabaptist led me to Religious Demographics in America, from which I excerpt forthwith:
| Which groups are the net winners and losers in the dynamic process of shifting religious affiliation?
The group that has experienced the greatest net loss by far is the Catholic Church. Overall, 31.4% of U.S. adults say that they were raised Catholic. Today, however, only 23.9% of adults identify with the Catholic Church, a net loss of 7.5 percentage points. […] It is also interesting to see which childhood faiths people leave behind. […] Roughly half of those raised as Protestant (52%) retain their childhood religious affiliation…. Overall, then, 80% of those who were raised as Protestant are still Protestant, either within the same denominational family in which they were raised (52%) or within another Protestant family (28%). […] Of all of the Protestant families, Baptists, Adventists and Lutherans have the highest retention rates, at roughly 60% each. The Holiness, Anabaptist and Congregationalist families, by contrast, have much lower retention rates, below 40% each. […] Two of the religious groups with the lowest retention rates are Jehovah’s Witnesses and Buddhists. |
As an Anabaptist of the Mennonite brand, I’m troubled by our low retention rate. 😥
I wonder, though, what our congregation’s retention rate works out to be.
What about yours?
I also wonder what our congregation’s acquisition rate is. Especially from the ranks of the heathen.
What about yours?
You have to wonder how much of that low retention rate is due to MC issues, I know they loose quite a few. The Amish as I understand have the highest rate -over 90% But it would be edifying to see a study of rates in our (conservative or A-M Churches)