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Then, the next
table is titled “Statistical Tables.” That adds
all of the numbers together. Notice that the
“Fellowship Groups” listed on the table are
“a cappella Churches of Christ.”
However, within the a cappella churches, as we all know,
there are some other fellowship groups, so to speak.
[Statistical Tables below, with explanations by John Phillis
following:]
Statistical Tables
Fellowship
Groups
The
major fellowship groups with the a cappellaChurches of
Christ are arranged according to the number of congregations,
members, adherents, and attendance in order to show the relative
size of each.
Information published in the year 2000 from The Churches of
Christ in the United States
| Character |
Churches |
Members |
Adherents |
Attendance |
| Mainstream |
9,806 |
1,101,280 |
1,434,467 |
1,076,041 |
| Non-institutional |
2,000 |
119,272 |
155,143 |
132,890 |
| Non-class |
543 |
21,641 |
27,920 |
22,232 |
| NC |
340 |
10,533 |
13,923 |
11,403 |
| NC p |
208 |
11,108 |
14,187 |
10,881 |
| One Cup |
551 |
17,583 |
22,762 |
19,221 |
| OC a |
442 |
14,725 |
19,151 |
16,202 |
| OC b |
38 |
809 |
1,035 |
883 |
| OC c |
36 |
1,420 |
1,784 |
1,473 |
| OC (unknown) |
35 |
629 |
792 |
663 |
| Mutual Edification |
129 |
4,270 |
5,229 |
4,594 |
| Other |
3 |
69 |
92 |
76 |
| TOTAL |
13,032 |
1,264,115 |
1,645,613 |
1,255,056 |
Notice the
“TOTALs”; there are over 13,000 congregations, ranging
all the way from some of the large mega-congregations all the way
down to these little congregations with just a handful of
families. You see the total members [in the
year 2000] of about 1,264,000; total adherents [in
the year 2000], about 1,656,000; and then
attendance [in the year 2000],
about 1,255,000.
Now, the
“Fellowship Groups,” as they are referred to, I think
that probably most of us are familiar with these, but I just point
out that the “mainstream” congregations (these titles
are not chiseled in stone, but this is a common reference) would
include us, the Northeast congregation.
There are the
“non-institutional” congregations, and we’ll talk
a little bit about that group as we talk about the 20th
Century church.
The
“non-class,” there are a couple of delineations there;
then there is also the “one cup.” The various
designations of the “one cup” group, the OC a; the OC
b; the OC c—I don’t remember exactly what the breakdown
is, but among our one-cup brethren, there are some differentiations
among themselves about whether the loaf is broken,
or each individual breaks it’s own piece. I’m
pretty sure that the OC c is a designation for those who use
fermented wine for the communion service.
The
“mutual edification” group; what is mutual
edification? That may be a term you’re not familiar
with. The “mutual edification” group consists of
those brethren who do not believe in having located
preachers.
The
“other” group? Well, I can’t help you with
that. I’m not sure what the “other”
is.
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