Bert Haloviak, director of Archives and Statistics for the world SDA Church, told the 58th General Conference Session that, "Church membership grew from 10,939,182 at the beginning of 2000 to 13,936,932 at the end of 2004, Haloviak reported.
However, he added, nearly 1.5 million left membership during the time period 2000 to 2005. "The bottom line for this quinquennium is that for every 100 accessions, more than 35 others decided to leave," he told delegates. "That total is considerably more than the 24 subtracted for every 100 added as reported at our last session" in 2000.
Despite a fast growth rate during the last five years, when considering the number of those leaving the church compared to how many joined, this is the "lowest growth rate since the 1960 to 1964 period." See Complete Story here.
This is an amazing exodus for a small denomination such as the SDA Church, barring any major scandals. I believe that more and more, people are turning away from the negative carcitures of other Christians and the focus on legal requirements rather than the gospel of Christ. Any thoughts?
1 comments:
Very interesting!
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