February 17, 2005

GENEVA – A one-year increase of 3.63 million Christians among member churches of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) put the total LWF membership at 65,927,334 in 2004, according to the latest statistical data from the LWF. LWF member churches around the world had 62.3 million members in 2003 and 61.7 million in 2001.

Including Lutheran churches that are not LWF member churches, membership among Lutheran churches increased by 3.57 million to 69,527,817, representing a growth of 5.4 percent. Lutheran churches worldwide had 65.96 million members in 2003 and 65.39 million members in 2001. Between 2003 and 2004, Lutheran churches that are not LWF member churches lost 60,177 members for a total of 3,600,483.

The 138 LWF member churches, the 11 recognized congregations and one recognized council in 77 countries recorded a membership increase of more than 5.8 percent. Last year, the number of LWF member churches increased from 136 to 138, including 135 churches with full membership in the LWF and three associate member churches.

The 15,000-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands merged with the country's two largest Reformed churches – the Netherlands Reformed Church and the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands – last year to form the 2.53million member Protestant Church in the Netherlands (PCN). The PCN is a member of both the LWF and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches.

Worldwide

• Between 2003 and 2004, membership in LWF member churches in Europe rose from 35,959,982 to 38,594,553 Christians. The increase was due largely to the PCN admission into the LWF last year.

• LWF member churches in Africa reported 14,079,022 members in 2004 – up 8.4 percent from 12,984,282 members in 2003.

• The number of Lutherans in Asia increased by almost 1 percent, bringing the continent's total to 7,391,102. Of this figure, the LWF member churches account for 7,229,661 members – up from 7,200,069 in 2003.

• Lutheran churches in Latin America and the Caribbean recorded a slight fall in membership, around 1 percent, bringing in a new total of 1,116,913. This includes 842,096 people in the LWF member churches – 5,069 fewer members than in the previous year, a 0.6 percent decrease.

• Membership fell by around 2.2 percent in Lutheran churches in Canada and the United States between 2003 and 2004. Of the total 8,250,658 Lutherans in the region 5,182,002 belong to the four LWF member churches there. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the second largest LWF member church recorded 4,984,925 members – a 2.25 percent decrease.

The membership statistics are based on information received from the LWF member churches, the recognized congregations and council, as well as from other Lutheran churches, organizations, mission bodies and congregations. The figures recorded for the year ending 2003 were used for churches that did not indicate any change in statistics by the end of January 2005.

The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as ecumenical and interfaith relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission and development work.

A one-page summary of the LWF Statistics 2004 is at http://www.lutheranworld.org/LWF_Documents/LWF-Statistics-01-2004.pdf and full details are at http://www.lutheranworld.org/LWF_Documents/LWF-Statistics-2004.pdf on the LWF Web site.

ELCA News Service
Pauline Mumia is English editor for Lutheran World Information, the LWF's information service based in Geneva, Switzerland.