Religious organizational change

[wil]

The ebb and flow


Over the last five years, several major religious organizations have undergone significant changes. The United Methodist Church split, with over 7,600 congregations leaving due to disagreements over LGBTQ+ issues to form the more conservative Global Methodist Church.

The Southern Baptist Convention has also experienced a decline in membership and has disfellowshipped churches that allow women to be pastors.

The Catholic Church has seen a global increase in population, especially in Africa, and has made some organizational shifts, including the establishment of new dioceses.

Pandemic changes to in person vs online in western world is one thing, but the rest of the world another. Christianity remains the world's largest religion, but Islam is the fastest-growing. While religious affiliation has declined in some Western countries, it is growing significantly in Africa and Asia. The number of people with no religious affiliation has also increased globally, though projections suggest this trend may slow or reverse.

 

[TheLightWithin]

Intriguing.
I've heard that the Mormon church is growing globally but shrinking or at best holding steady in the US.

A Year Unlike Any Other: The Church Reports Record Global Growth

Into the context of religion’s leveling decline comes encouraging news about the accelerating growth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org

Mormonism is still growing, but slowly

(RNS) — There's something for everyone to cheer — or boo — in the most recent data on the LDS church.

religionnews.com

I read somewhere that Unity church was growing, and the AI bot seemed to think so, but the easiest support article I could find was from 30 years ago! Hardly current!

Church Growth: Why Unity Grows While Mainline Churches Decline | Fillmore Faith

Seeking Unity: A Sociological Analysis Of Factors Which Draw Spiritual Seekers To The Unity Church Of Christianity by Rebecca Gittrich Whitecotton

www.truthunity.net

Apparently the Baha'i faith is growing faster than the world population, and faster than most religions, but everything I could find indicating it seems a little dated as well.

The Bahai Religion: Why is it Growing and Where is it Going?

The Bahai religion is the fastest growing religion in the world. Bahai is also the second most dispersed religion next to Christianity. Courses in Bahai have begun to spring up in academic institutions around the country and their houses of worship draw millions of interested people each year...

scholarworks.wmich.edu

How Many Baha’is?

The Baha'i Faith is the only religion to have grown faster in every United Nations region over the past 100 years than the general population.

bahaiteachings.org

Behind the Bahá'í faith, one of the fastest growing new religions

In our World of Worship series, we're exploring different ways people practice faith and religion around the globe. In this installment, we're looking at one of the fastest growing religions in the world, the Bahá'í faith. There are now more than 100,000 Bahá'í communities worldwide. Dana...

www.cbsnews.com

I think things sometimes take unexpected turns, too, so it's hard to know which way the wind will blow.

You have to have a really motivated group of people over the course of decades to grow a religion or any organization or social movement.

 

[Dhammañāṇa Bhikkhu]

Giving up, and try to take the worldly benefits by still using death lables. It's common to make incapability into virtues, it's common to give up higher for low, common to give up heavens for sensual joy, common to act corrupt instead of resolute.

 

[Vasu Devan]

In fairness, change as constant, means it is happening for many religions all over. The West has enjoyed an infusion of Eastern philosophy while now, as I know from experience, Christianity is enjoying growth in India. It's still a minority religion and prolly always will be here but in Christian states like Kerala there is an increase in Hindus converting to Christ. Personally, I don't think it means much cos Hinduism is still strongest religion followed up Islam and a heavy growth in Hindu nationalism over past years has resulted in them dishing it out tween each other but, eh, the world keeps turning regardless.

 

[Aupmanyav]

I gave my reply here: Compilation of arguments against the existence of Jesus