Primary Denominations of Christianity (wikipedia.com)
As an enthusiast of religious history and architecture I have visited many churches over the years. Many many churches. Churches of all ages and denominations. I estimate that over time I have probably made pilgrimages to hundreds of churches, perhaps more than five hundred. I have honestly lost count.
I was recently asked how many churches I have visited, and how many I intend to visit. And then a speculative question arose:
Exactly how many churches are there in the world?
To be clear, this was a reference to the number of church buildings, not the number of denominations or congregations. And honestly I had no real idea. There are currently between 2.3 and 2.5 billion Christians in the world, about a third of the total global population. While this includes many semi- and minimally active members, it begs the question, exactly how many church buildings would be needed to accommodate this entire number? I did the math, and estimating that a typical church could accommodate an average of around three hundred people at a time, that would mean there were around eight million church buildings on Earth.
I Googled the question “how many churches are there in the world” to see if I was close. It turns out, I wasn’t.
According to quora.com, the estimated number of church buildings accommodating Christian congregations is approximately 37 million. That’s one for every 65 people. The same website indicates that there are 34,000 Christian denominations in the world (we’ll get back to that in a bit).
Seems a bit high, but hey, who am I to question the World Wide Web?
The number in the United States, according to The Christian Post, is a more realistic 300,000. With an estimated 228.1 million Christians in the United States (including non-actives), that’s an average of 760 members per congregation. If this ratio is projected to the whole world, that gives us a much more down to earth figure of 3.1 million church buildings.
However, the United States is famous for its very large congregations, which could skew the numbers. This is especially true where megachurches are concerned, as these routinely have regularly attending congregations in the thousands.
Based on the above very rough analysis, I estimate that there are probably between eight and sixteen million church buildings in the world.
Which brings us to a logical follow-up question: How many denominations of Christianity are there in the world?
Please Don’t discount nor moderate my previously sent comment even if you don’t publish it….
I left your comment unchanged, however I removed the link.
P.S. I appreciate your site very helpful…thanks!
“no unifying testament, written by Him”? Would it matter if He wrote one? Everything recorded in the Bible (KJV) was given through the prophets, and why people can’t see the unifying Testament given by Him through man is; they are not looking for it “by studying the scriptures alone for themselves”.
God sent down through Jesus, the Holy Spirit down to John the unifying path for the world and especially for the churches, your primary interest it appears, and if by only two texts from that book Sir Isaac Newton even wrote from, we can know what God askes of the church and us and those who fit these descriptions saw it in Jesus Himself (the image) in the first church as it went into the Dark ages (Rev. 12:17) and when it emerged as the remnant (last day church) from that age of prophetic testaments (Rev. 14::12) to the end time people you and me. (Rev. 22:14) If you see the unifying testament from God the Father (Rev. 1:1) to us today check out my search and studies on what can or should unify the churches today but they as the first one (Matthew 23:36-39) they wouldn’t listen nor accept HIs word and testimony convinced they were right in all things, when He was right in front of them. Like would happen today, book by Him or not, should He be here saying the same things?
I think the reason there is so many churches is a lot harder to the wrong thing then the right thing. It is easier to start a new church to justify the the wrong way. It is hard to turn the orther cheek.
It has been my experience that many new churches are started ostensibly to get back to “true” Christianity. In reality, many new churches are created over power struggles.
The approximate number of Christian denominations in the United States was my search criteria.
I am not searching for an exact number, but an approximate range would be a good to know.
Good job Howard. My real interest is ” why so many “.
Thanks
I think its basically because every independent church, which includes most Baptist and Non-Denominational Churches, are counted as individual denominations.
The graph is incredibly misleading.
The Catholic Church was founded by Christ Himself and left Saint Peter the Keys. Peter was first pope, and picked his successor himself, Pope Linus, also mentioned in Scripture.
There has been no break away by the Catholic Church, and She alone has survived every empire and attempt to overthrow Her.
The Catholic Church was not a result of the schism, as shown here in 11th century. The red bar should have been depicted at the very beginning. Every single denomination flows from the Catholic Church.
God bless.
Your point is correct (sort of). There is no doubt that the Roman Catholic Church grew directly out of the early Church, along with several of the Orthodox Churches. It did not ‘branch off’ from the early church. However, it was not distinctly ‘Roman Catholic’ until many centuries later. The office of the Pope did not exist until at least the 3rd century, and there wasn’t even a Latin language Bible until St. Jerome completed the Vulgate in the 4th century. I don’t even know if it was called the Roman Catholic Church prior to the Great Schism with the Greek Orthodox Church.
Sorry, but the Catholic church was not founded by Jesus Christ. He did not assign Peter as the pope. Read the scripture again. And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Jesus was talking about the ‘Rock of Truth, of His being the Son of God’ upon the truth that Jesus IS THE SON OF GOD he would build His church, not on Peter, a denier who disowned Jesus the night of Judas’ betrayal. You mis interpret scripture to fit your beliefs….
You shouldn’t really trust Quora, most times there are just armchair experts that do no more than get answers from Google. It is like Yahoo answers. Knowing this it takes away from your credibility.
Well, I really do try my best to be as accurate as possible. In the case of this article, I did try to get my hands on the best info available. I am very open-minded about comments, so if you have better sources I will be delighted to let you post them. Thanks!
hello how are you. please may l have the current numbers of church denomination worldwide.
Everything I know is in this article. Sorry I can’t help further!
So what is your count?
I estimate that there are probably between eight and sixteen million church buildings in the world
like FOR Howard Kramer to contact by email his. Info to talk to his I have Questions that he may answer to. I need help on
Thank this is great work he doing .
You are welcome!
There are at least 33000 denominations of Christianity in the united states alone due to the fact that Jesus Christ left no unifying testament, written by Him, to insure Christianity had the spiritual path christians are meant to follow. Churches get organized through interpreting the holy book, the bible.Followers arise to believe that their church is THE ONE AND ONLY church Jesus Himself would attend. It is exceptionally confusing. Not until the unity of religions choose to glorify God and praise Him, with the personal attitude that the reason for our being ,is to glorify God and learn His attributes. When we are listening to the Holy Spirit in our heart and soul, we can convert our faith into spiritual action. We develop a good character and are honest, kind, just, loving and serve to carry on an ever advancing civilization.
Agreed
What is your faith? Neat way to see the world!
It’s strange that the Catholic Church is the oldest church Christian of course, it was founded by Jesus Christ himself. So it’s the Catholic Church is the one true church why are there so many other Christian churches yes I know that there were many bad popes but that wasn’t an excuse for someone to start another church. Christ established One Church. And he said the Gates of Hell will not Prevail against it. You did not say the gates of hell would not try which they do often enough. The Pope’s are human, just like us and there are some that made big errors just like us. You stick with what you believe when it gets tough you don’t run away. And the word Catholic means universe Church. I’m not a scholar I don’t have a college degree but I read and I pray and I asked God to guide me.💖🕊🕊
It will take someone a lot smarter than me to figure out why there are so many different churches in the world.
Hmmmm – too bad the bishops of Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem and Constantinople aren’t around anymore to comment. on the (mostly political) events of 1054 AD.
I would love to have first hand accounts of what really happened!
There is no proof there ever was a “Jesus”, so there is no “true church”. There were many different Christian cults, and each thought they were the “ONE”. And they fought each other, often violently. The violence part happens because the theology of the Bible creates paranoia: a supposedly all-powerful god is having an eons-long battle with a devil, a devil this god supposedly created. These two fight over who gets human “souls” after they die. That is the most illogical theology on the planet: “all-powerful” does not allow for a devil fighting this all-powerful god!. However, in this stupid theology this devil supposedly can change shape (a snake in one story; in another story devils enter the bodies of pigs, So, it was assumed by the gullible that this devil could also enter and take over humans. Who, then, could you trust? Even your mother might get possed by this unlikely devil. Therefore the paranoia-driven wars between the cults These fights were upsetting the economy and peace of the Roman Empire, so in 335 A.D. Emperor Constantine made all the cults gather at Nicene (in Turkey) to work out what Christianity was! They made stuff up, signed an agreement, a business agreement, and that started the Roman Catholic Church. That, not this Jesus figure.. But then the violence got worse! Read history! Also, there was no Bible; there were many, and none were the same. The oldest surving Bible is only 1000 years old and is in Russia. No complete bible exist from earlier times! So, no one knows what earlier bibles said. The Bible as most know it today was created by an Englishman, Alcuin of York around 800 A.D.He wrote the Bible as we know it!
I could go on and on, but, no, the Catholic Church was not founded by a guy called Jesus. Cheers! Will Knutsen..
I would love to know the full true history of the beginning of Christianity. Wish I had a time machine!
The King James Bible teaches that there is one church and Jesus Christ is the head of the church or as it is also called the Body of Christ. Colossians 1:18…And he is the head of the body, the church. 1 Corinthians 12: 12-14…For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member but many….Every person in the whole world that has been born- again past and present, is a part of the church or the body of Christ. The reason that there are so many different denominations in the world today can be understood by looking up the word. One word that is used to describe denomination is “a sect” which means “a group that has separated from an established church”. Also referred to as apostate. The Apostle Paul in 1Timothy 2:1 said this…Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils… This falling away started in Paul’s day and continues today. This is why all Christians must learn the proper method of reading the King James Bible and not follow anyone blindly. Make sure that what you are being taught is backed by the Bible. We are living in the last times and last days and Christ could come back at any moment and take the church from off the earth and back to heaven. There are good ministers and many good Christians in the world today that have nothing to do with denominational churches. If you want to know what church they belong to, read the book of Acts. What they did, we do. I do not have the room or the time to show you how a church is to be established. If you read Ephesians 4: you will see the ministry that will produce the charismatics that are listed in verses 12-16. Read 1 Corinthians chapters 12: 13: and 14:. One more note. The Catholic church was not founded by the Apostle Peter who according to scripture, never started any church nor was it the original church. It had its origin in Rome about 400 bc when apostate Christians mingled with the Babylonian religion. God Bless.
Nazarene elect first woman Bishop/General Superintendent. German-born Rev. Dr. Carla Sunberg has been promoted from President of The Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City, to a General Superintendent/Bishop. She was a Missionary in Russia, USSR for 13 years.
Bishop Sunberg has earned a number of advanced degrees in religion, and honored with several honorary D.D.’s
Thw Church of the Nazarene International has grown to 29,000 local congregations with 29,000 pastors
since 1908.
Thanks for the additional information!