Seventh-day Adventist denomination - said to be 5th largest Christian denomination world-wide

BobRyan

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The Seventh-day Adventist communion was named in 1860 and organized as a denomination at Battle Creek Michigan in 1863.

It has grown since then to be called "the fifth-largest Christian communion worldwide" by ChristianityToday in Jan of 2015. (Maybe they should have said "Christian denomination worldwide")

"In 2014, for the 10th year in a row, more than 1 million people became Adventists, hitting a record 18.1 million members. Adventism is now the fifth-largest Christian communion worldwide, after Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Anglicanism, and the Assemblies of God."​

NOTE:
The numbers the SDA church has published in 2021 for 2020 is 21,723,000 baptized members and 25 million adherents.

COVID year 2020 is the first year in a long time that we fall below the "A pentecost influx of 3000+ baptisms every single day on average"
========= even before that... in 2011 "fastest growing U.S. church"

USATODAY -- 2011


" Adventists' back-to-basics faith is fastest growing U.S. church"​
"Newly released data show Seventh-day Adventism growing by 2.5% in North America, a rapid clip for this part of the world, where Southern Baptists and mainline denominations, as well as other church groups are declining. Adventists are even growing 75% faster than Mormons (1.4 percent), who prioritize numeric growth.​
For observers outside the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the growth rate in North America is perplexing."​

Note: as an example: 5 million in 1986 to 21 Million in 2020
=================

That is what non-SDA independent sources say about the Seventh-day Adventist church.

For Adventists the key is
1. Sola Scriptura testing of all "Fundamental Beliefs" when sharing our faith and welcoming people into this denomination. Every one of the FB must stand or fall based on scripture.
2. Accepting both the literal and symbolic elements in the Bible
  • Literal Creation week, Literal pre-mill appearing of Christ, literal rapture taking the saints to heaven as per John 14:1-3, 1 Thess 4:13-18
  • Literal lake of fire event in Rev 20
  • Literal bodily resurrection of Christ
4. Full acceptance of the "one God in three persons" doctrine of scripture
5. Full acceptance of "One Gospel" Gal 1:6-9 in both OT and NT where "The Gospel was preached to Abraham" Gal 3:8. And that Gospel is the New Covenant Gospel and is summarized as "saved by grace through faith".
6. A world wide educational, evangelistic and Healthcare network
7. Focus on the last warning message given to the world in Rev 14 "The Three Angel's Messages". A mission like Noah, like John the baptizer... etc a final message for mankind from Rev 14 and 18 prior to the Rev 16 plagues and Rev 19 appearing of Christ.

I may add more to this list later.
=================================

Since there is apparently "some confusion" as to what a denomination IS -- an example is given here to assist the objective unbiased reader.

from: Southern Baptist Convention - Wikipedia

The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination, and the largest Protestant[2][3] and second-largest Christian denomination in the United States"

Fast Facts - SBC.net
14,089,947 members

There are of course other Baptist denominations and some of them do not allow for open communion with Southern Baptists, so in general they do not all consider themselves to be part of "the Southern Baptist" denomination as it is referenced above.

So I reject the idea that ChristianityToday is in some way "dishonest" or "evil" due to the choices they make for how to categorize groups .. Different people will wish to do it differently - I am ok with people having differences.
 
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BobRyan

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So this is not to say there have been no "growing pains" as the church membership rapidly expanded - but the basics have held true nonetheless .

=====================


From: Adventist.org

Dec 2019 Adventists reported 1,321,047 baptisms in the previous year. Divided by 365 that is 3619 baptisms per day on average.

Number if atheists still counted as SDA because they were added as members as infants – 0

Number of non-attending still counted as SDA because they were added as members as infants – 0

Number counted as SDA just because they were born in a certain nation – 0

Acts 2 – had 3000 join in one single day. – so having an average of 3600+ each day of the year – is a “Pentecost per day”

==================

Here is another group having a similar top 4 list as ChristianityToday's "Top Four"
The 10 Biggest Christian Denominations in the World - Generation95

Interesting "top four" in that group - are very close to ChristianityToday.

1. - Catholic 1.3 B
2. - Pentecostal ISM (with Assemblies of God as part of it at 67M) - 280 M
3. - Eastern Orthodox 240 M
4. - Anglican 85 M

So when they get to 5 - they take all Baptist denominations and lump them into one single denomination

============= So "how many denominations" do we have?

How many Methodist denominations?

7 methodist denominations lumped into 1 - by "some" (apparently ChristianityToday did not lump them)

"There are seven World Methodist Council denominations in the United States:"
from : 10 Things Everyone Should Know about the Methodist Church.

=================

How many Presbyterian denominations?

answer: - at least three.
https://www.pcusa.org/site_media/media/uploads/theologyandworship/epcecopcusa_comparisonchart_6_20_2014.pdf#:~:text=Comparison of Basic Beliefs and Viewpoints of Three,of Presbyterians (ECO), and Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC)

(apparently ChristianityToday did not lump them)

======================

How many Lutheran Denominations?

List of Lutheran denominations - Wikipedia

(apparently ChristianityToday did not lump them)

=================

There IS a "certain value" in comparing "Apples to Apples"
 
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BobRyan

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As noted in the OP - the Bible has two great and historic "last warning message" examples

1. Noah - regarding the flood
2. John the baptizer - regarding the advent of the Messiah

And so we should expect a Rev 14 message as we see it - as the last warning message to mankind before the Rev 16 - seven last plagues and the Rev 19 appearing of Christ that begins the Rev 20 millennium and raptures the saints to heaven as John 14:1-3 and 1Thess 4:13-18 predict (so also Matt 24 and 2 Thess 2)
 
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tampasteve

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2. Accepting both the literal and symbolic elements in the Bible
  • Literal Creation week, Literal pre-mill appearing of Christ, literal rapture taking the saints to heaven as per John 14:1-3, 1 Thess 4:13-18
  • Literal lake of fire event in Rev 20
  • Literal bodily resurrection of Christ
Can you elaborate what parts are seen as symbolic?
 
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Albion

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The Seventh-day Adventist communion was named in 1860 and organized as a denomination at Battle Creek Michigan in 1863.

It has grown since then to be called "the fifth-largest Christian communion worldwide" by ChristianityToday in Jan of 2015. (Maybe they should have said "Christian denomination worldwide")

I don't doubt that the SDA denomination is growing while many other denominations are slipping. HOWEVER, it's the fifth largest denomination in the world ONLY because it is organized as a unified, worldwide entity.

Most denominations are legally constituted separately from nation to nation. Therefore, religions nose-counters treat each national unit of those churches as separate denominations for statistical purposes, even if they are all united as members of their denomination's federations or communions, etc. and hardly differ from each other, country to country.

There are, for example, more Baptists in the USA than there are Seventh-day Adventists in the entire world.
 
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tall73

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Nurture, retention, reclamation: Can you hear their cry?

The Seventh-day Adventist Church is losing members at an alarming rate. Even though the evangelism in our churches is winning people, we lose about 49 of every 100 baptized. This hemorrhaging of our members cannot continue. It is expected to get worse, especially in countries where soul winning is difficult; and if it continues, entire conferences maybe closed for lack of members.

General Conference Secretary G. T. Ng, in addressing this issue, made a serious statement: “This 49 percent apostasy rate is alarming and is a serious drain on the human and financial resources of the church.”

 
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dqhall

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The Seventh-day Adventist communion was named in 1860 and organized as a denomination at Battle Creek Michigan in 1863.

It has grown since then to be called "the fifth-largest Christian communion worldwide" by ChristianityToday in Jan of 2015. (Maybe they should have said "Christian denomination worldwide")

"In 2014, for the 10th year in a row, more than 1 million people became Adventists, hitting a record 18.1 million members. Adventism is now the fifth-largest Christian communion worldwide, after Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Anglicanism, and the Assemblies of God."

from: Adventists: Can Ben Carson's Church Stay Separatist?


========= even before that... in 2011 "fastest growing U.S. church"

USATODAY -- 2011


Adventists' back-to-basics faith is fastest growing U.S. church - USATODAY.com

" Adventists' back-to-basics faith is fastest growing U.S. church"

"Newly released data show Seventh-day Adventism growing by 2.5% in North America, a rapid clip for this part of the world, where Southern Baptists and mainline denominations, as well as other church groups are declining. Adventists are even growing 75% faster than Mormons (1.4 percent), who prioritize numeric growth.

For observers outside the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the growth rate in North America is perplexing."​

=================

That is what non-SDA independent sources say about the Seventh-day Adventist church.

For Adventists the key is
1. Sola Scriptura testing of all "Fundamental Beliefs" when sharing our faith and welcoming people into this denomination. Every one of the FB must stand or fall based on scripture.
2. Accepting both the literal and symbolic elements in the Bible
  • Literal Creation week, Literal pre-mill appearing of Christ, literal rapture taking the saints to heaven as per John 14:1-3, 1 Thess 4:13-18
  • Literal lake of fire event in Rev 20
  • Literal bodily resurrection of Christ
4. Full acceptance of the "one God in three persons" doctrine of scripture
5. Full acceptance of "One Gospel" Gal 1:6-9 in both OT and NT where "The Gospel was preached to Abraham" Gal 3:8. And that Gospel is the New Covenant Gospel and is summarized as "saved by grace through faith".
6. A world wide educational, evangelistic and Healthcare network
7. Focus on the last warning message given to the world in Rev 14 "The Three Angel's Messages". A mission like Noah, like John the baptizer... etc a final message for mankind from Rev 14 and 18 prior to the Rev 16 plagues and Rev 19 appearing of Christ.

I may add more to this list later.
Someone made a mistake. Wikipedia listed more than four Protestant churches with greater worldwide membership than the Seventh Day Adventists. They claimed there are 800 million to 1 billion Protestants.
List of the largest Protestant denominations - Wikipedia

There are 85,000,000 Anglican members worldwide.
A more diverse, conservative Anglicanism is growing
There are 75,000,000 Lutherans in 148 Lutheran World Federation churches.
More than 77 million Lutherans in 148 LWF member churches
The World Methodist Council lists a 51,000,000 Methodist’ Communion.
Statistical Information – World Methodist Council
There are 48,000,000 Baptists in 126 nations.
https://www.baptistworld.org/member-unions/
 
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tampasteve

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Someone made a mistake. Wikipedia listed more than four Protestant churches with greater worldwide membership than the Seventh Day Adventists. They claimed there are 800 million to 1 billion Protestants.
List of the largest Protestant denominations - Wikipedia

There are 85,000,000 Anglican members worldwide.
A more diverse, conservative Anglicanism is growing
There are 75,000,000 Lutherans in 148 Lutheran World Federation churches.
More than 77 million Lutherans in 148 LWF member churches
The World Methodist Council lists a 51,000,000 Methodist’ Communion.
Statistical Information – World Methodist Council
There are 48,000,000 Baptists in 126 nations.
https://www.baptistworld.org/member-unions/
I would imagine it is because these are super-denominational groupings rather than one organized unit like the Seventh Day Adventist Church. IOW, the Lutheran World Federation is a federation of different Lutheran denominations and not a single denomination in itself, even though the member churches hold the same beliefs overall and all identify as "Lutheran", but are organized on a national basis (for the most part) as opposed to a global body.
 
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DamianWarS

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I don't doubt that the SDA denomination is growing while many other denominations are slipping. HOWEVER, it's the fifth largest denomination in the world ONLY because it is organized as a unified, worldwide entity.

Most denominations are legally constituted separately from nation to nation. Therefore, religions nose-counters treat each national unit of those churches as separate denominations for statistical purposes, even if they are all united as members of their denomination's federations or communions, etc. and hardly differ from each other, country to country.

There are, for example, more Baptists in the USA than there are Seventh-day Adventists in the entire world.
Which makes a point that depending on how you count you can come up with different results. That christianity today source has Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Anglicanism, and the Assemblies of God as the top 4 positions. All of those have more unified bodies but I would wager in Protestantism baptisms would be at the top but each country is autonomous and separate.

The AOG is number 4 and the AOG has strong missions values and tends to set up direct connections to all the counties they reach but in more developed/western countries they have their own Pentecostal fellowships outside of the AOG for example Canada has the PAOC.

Now the PAOC is not all across Canada and in the province of Newfoundland it has an autonomous denomination separate from the PAOC called the PAONL. None of these have any significant theological differences with each other but would be counted separately. They are all very missons forward so there will be AOG churches across the world and there will be PAOC churches across the world (and PAONL churches). T

That's just two countries and how essentially the same denomination is counted and split differently and spread all over the world. I would think it would be more realistic to count American metrics than the world which would give unbalanced counts.
 
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Irkle Berserkle

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As we move ever deeper into the End Times, I really don't think "keeping score" tells us anything. The numbers of the truly faithful are far more likely to dwindle than explode. The Mormons can wow you with their numbers. Nothing against the SDA, but the only SDA church in my community closed last year and is now an eyesore.
 
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The Liturgist

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I don't doubt that the SDA denomination is growing while many other denominations are slipping. HOWEVER, it's the fifth largest denomination in the world ONLY because it is organized as a unified, worldwide entity.

Most denominations are legally constituted separately from nation to nation. Therefore, religions nose-counters treat each national unit of those churches as separate denominations for statistical purposes, even if they are all united as members of their denomination's federations or communions, etc. and hardly differ from each other, country to country.

There are, for example, more Baptists in the USA than there are Seventh-day Adventists in the entire world.

It’s not the fifth largest generation. Not even close. See my post here: SDA Basic Belief 27: God Will Give the Earth to Satan’s Angels

The author of the article @BobRyan is referring to just ignored or overlooked several denominations, including the Oriental Orthodox, the Lutherans, the Methodists, the Baptists and even the Calvary Chapel. I believe the SDA is in the 10th or 11th place, at best, with some uncertainty because Baptist denominations do not count the children in their churches as members, and this skews the numbers.
 
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The Liturgist

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So this is not to say there have been no "growing pains" as the church membership rapidly expanded - but the basics have held true nonetheless .

Maybe, but you still have to add about 40 million members to be the fifth largest denomination.
 
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The Liturgist

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Another member, @icedragon101 , helpfully substantiated my claim with a link from Wikipedia, which apparently has more recent data than I do, showing a narrowing gap between the Evangelical Church in Germany and the SDA, suggesting that the former will overtake the latter in a few years time: SDA Basic Belief 27: God Will Give the Earth to Satan’s Angels

This is why the SDA needs to embrace members like @icedragon101 rather than criticizing them, and study seriously the reform agenda they propose.
 
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The Liturgist

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I don't doubt that the SDA denomination is growing while many other denominations are slipping. HOWEVER, it's the fifth largest denomination in the world ONLY because it is organized as a unified, worldwide entity.

Most denominations are legally constituted separately from nation to nation. Therefore, religions nose-counters treat each national unit of those churches as separate denominations for statistical purposes, even if they are all united as members of their denomination's federations or communions, etc. and hardly differ from each other, country to country.

There are, for example, more Baptists in the USA than there are Seventh-day Adventists in the entire world.

The article BobRyan linked to actually went on the basis of communions, not individual churches, but if you count individual churches, the SDA is still not the fifth largest, but around 9th or 10th place, because each of the communions in that list has one particularly massive church, except for the Reformed World Alliance, which is massive as a communion, and there are two other large churches not in communion with anyone. If you look at my thread you can see my posts and also take a look at the data provided by @icedragon101 which corroborates it.
 
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The Liturgist

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By the way, several months ago we had this same discussion, and at the time I also showed the SDA was not the 5th largest (albeit with an older dataset). If someone is aware of what thread that debate was in, it would be interesting to bring up.

I don’t see what’s wrong with being the 10th or 11th largest church; it is still an impressive achievement which makes the SDA larger than any of the mainline Protestant churches in the US. I wish there were still 21 million mainline Protestants.

Also there seem to be statistical anomalies regarding the size of the Romanian Orthodox Church from different sources; if the larger figure of roughly 30 million members that I had previously seen is correct, that pushes the SDA to 12th place. Which is still impressively large.
 
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Summary of Statistics as of September 30, 2020

Churches 92,186
Companies 72,749
Church Memberships 21,760,076
Total Accessions 562,056
Summary of Statistics as of December 31, 2019

Churches 91,140
Companies 72,605
Church Membership 21,556,837
Total Accessions 1,321,047

Seventh-day Adventist World Church Statistics 2020 - Adventist.org
 
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Albion

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The article BobRyan linked to actually went on the basis of communions, not individual churches, but if you count individual churches, the SDA is still not the fifth largest, but around 9th or 10th place, because each of the communions in that list has one particularly massive church, except for the Reformed World Alliance, which is massive as a communion, and there are two other large churches not in communion with anyone. If you look at my thread you can see my posts and also take a look at the data provided by @icedragon101 which corroborates it.

I still am persuaded that it depends on how the church in question is organizationally structured. Some are treated as one entity wherever in the world they appear. The SDA is of that kind. Others, including most of the best-known denominations, are counted separately in each nation in which they have been legally planted, incorporated, etc., resulting in there appearing to be hundreds of separate church bodies of what also appears to be one church body.
 
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Daniel Marsh

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2000 11,687,239 6.84%
2001 12,320,844 5.42%
2002 12,894,015 4.65%
2003 13,406,554 3.98%
2004 13,936,932 3.96%
2005 14,399,072 3.32%
2006 15,115,806 4.98%
2007 15,660,347 3.60%
2008 15,921,408 1.67%
2009 16,307,880 2.43%
2010 16,923,239 3.77%
2011 17,479,890 3.29%
2012 17,881,491 2.30%
2013 18,143,745 1.47%
2014 18,478,982 1.85%
2015 19,126,438 3.50%
2016 20,008,779 4.61%
2017 20,727,347 3.59%
2018 21,414779 3.32%
2019 21,556,837 0.66%

Church Membership Statistics
 
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DamianWarS

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It’s not the fifth largest generation. Not even close. See my post here: SDA Basic Belief 27: God Will Give the Earth to Satan’s Angels

The author of the article @BobRyan is referring to just ignored or overlooked several denominations, including the Oriental Orthodox, the Lutherans, the Methodists, the Baptists and even the Calvary Chapel. I believe the SDA is in the 10th or 11th place, at best, with some uncertainty because Baptist denominations do not count the children in their churches as members, and this skews the numbers.
The OP runs with a quote from an article and by these numbers seems to suggest this is a good thing.
 
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