Affirming church statistics show a large expansion in listed inclusive congregations over the period measured by GayChurch.org. Its directory grew from 3,025 churches at the end of 2003 to 7,457 at the end of 2013, while the homepage later described more than 11,000 inclusive churches worldwide. A separate United Church of Christ comparison, based on 2018 figures and published in a 2019 study, examined membership, worship attendance, growth, and closure rates for Open and Affirming congregations.
Contents
- Directory growth from 2003 to 2013
- Annual additions and data cleaning
- Denominations represented in the directory
- The leading denominations in 2009
- Countries and long-term directory expansion
- UCC Open and Affirming congregation comparisons
Directory growth from 2003 to 2013
GayChurch.org’s annual affirming church surveys recorded steady directory expansion through the 2000s and early 2010s. The figures below refer to the number of churches in the directory at each year-end, not to every affirming church that existed in the world.
| Year-end | Churches listed | Reported change from prior year |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 3,025 | — |
| 2004 | 3,508 | 483 |
| 2005 | 3,746 | 238 |
| 2006 | 4,230 | 484 |
| 2007 | 4,806 | 576 |
| 2008 | 5,301 | 495 |
| 2009 | 5,916 | 615 |
| 2010 | 6,459 | 543 |
| 2011 | 6,826 | 367 |
| 2012 | 7,117 | Not specified |
| 2013 | 7,457 | 340 |
The directory added 483 churches between the end of 2003 and the end of 2004, according to the [GayChurch.org 2004 Affirming Church Survey]. The increase was 238 churches in 2005, followed by 484 in 2006. By the end of 2006, the directory contained 4,230 churches, compared with 3,025 three years earlier ([GayChurch.org 2003 Affirming Church Survey]; [GayChurch.org 2005 Affirming Church Survey]; [GayChurch.org 2006 Affirming Church Survey]).
Growth continued in 2007 and 2008. The directory reached 4,806 churches at the end of 2007, a reported increase of 576, and 5,301 at the end of 2008, an increase of 495 ([GayChurch.org 2007 Affirming Church Survey]; [GayChurch.org 2008 Affirming Church Survey]). The largest explicitly reported one-year addition in this sequence was 615 churches in 2009, taking the directory to 5,916 ([GayChurch.org 2009 Affirming Church Survey]).
The directory reached 6,459 churches by the end of 2010, 6,826 by the end of 2011, 7,117 by the end of 2012, and 7,457 by the end of 2013 ([GayChurch.org 2010 Affirming Church Survey]; [GayChurch.org 2011 Affirming Church Survey]; [GayChurch.org 2012 Affirming Church Survey]; [GayChurch.org 2013 Affirming Church Survey]). The 2013 figure represented a reported net gain of 340 churches.
Annual additions and data cleaning
The reported year-to-year changes were not uniform. The sequence included increases of 238 churches in 2005, 367 in 2011, and 340 in 2013, as well as larger increases of 576 in 2007 and 615 in 2009. These numbers describe directory movement during the named measurement periods; they do not establish a single growth rate for all affirming congregations.
The 2010 survey adds an important qualification. GayChurch.org reported a major clean-up that removed well over 100 outdated entries. The same survey said Episcopal churches set a new one-year record for church additions in 2010 ([GayChurch.org 2010 Affirming Church Survey]). Therefore, a directory total can reflect additions and removals at the same time. The 2010 total of 6,459 should be read as the listed total after that year’s reported clean-up, rather than as a simple count of newly affirming churches.
The 2009 and 2013 summaries also use different kinds of measures. The 2009 survey reported 5,916 listed churches, while the 2013 survey reported 7,457 and called the change a net gain. A net gain incorporates the balance of entries and removals, so it should not be treated as the same measure as gross additions.
Denominations represented in the directory
The number of denominations represented also changed across the survey years. GayChurch.org reported 56 denominations in the 2006 directory, 68 in 2007, and 65 in 2008 and 2009. The 2013 survey reported 72 different denominations ([GayChurch.org 2006 Affirming Church Survey]; [GayChurch.org 2007 Affirming Church Survey]; [GayChurch.org 2008 Affirming Church Survey]; [GayChurch.org 2009 Affirming Church Survey]; [GayChurch.org 2013 Affirming Church Survey]).
These totals show denominational breadth, but they do not mean that every denomination contributed the same number of churches. The 2006 survey said the United Church of Christ led the directory with more than 785 churches, while Episcopal churches ranked second. In 2007, the United Church of Christ still led with more than 813 churches ([GayChurch.org 2006 Affirming Church Survey]; [GayChurch.org 2007 Affirming Church Survey]).
The 2007 survey supplied counts for several major groups: Episcopal churches had 749 affirming churches, Presbyterian churches had 661, and Lutheran churches had 622. The 2008 survey again identified the United Church of Christ as the leader, with more than 865 churches ([GayChurch.org 2007 Affirming Church Survey]; [GayChurch.org 2008 Affirming Church Survey]).
The 2013 survey reported that five denominations—the United Church of Christ, Episcopal, Lutheran ELCA, Presbyterian, and United Methodist denominations—accounted for 4,623 churches. GayChurch.org described that total as close to 70% of the 2013 directory ([GayChurch.org 2013 Affirming Church Survey]). This indicates that the directory included many denominations, while a smaller group supplied a substantial share of listed congregations.
The leading denominations in 2009
The 2009 survey gives the most complete single-year comparison among the largest denominational groups in the supplied historical figures.
| Denomination or group | Affirming churches listed in 2009 |
|---|---|
| United Church of Christ | 991 |
| Episcopal | 921 |
| Presbyterian | 765 |
| Lutheran | 690 |
| United Methodist Church | 634 |
Together, these five denominations accounted for close to two thirds of the 5,916-church directory, according to GayChurch.org’s 2009 survey. The survey also said mainline U.S. denominations accounted for close to 94% of the directory ([GayChurch.org 2009 Affirming Church Survey]).
The same source compared listed churches with broader denominational totals for two groups. It reported that 765 of 11,000 Presbyterian churches had requested to be listed, described as 7%. For Episcopal churches, 921 of 7,000 parishes had requested to be listed, described as 13% ([GayChurch.org 2009 Affirming Church Survey]). These percentages are source-reported comparisons for 2009 and should not be generalized to later years or to all churches outside the directory.
The denominational counts also help put the directory total in context. The five listed groups were not the entire directory: their combined count was 4,001 churches, while the full 2009 directory contained 5,916. The survey’s “close to two thirds” description is the appropriate source label for the concentration measure; no further share is required to interpret the comparison.
Countries and long-term directory expansion
GayChurch.org reported international reach alongside directory growth. The 2008 and 2009 surveys each said the directory included churches from 30 different countries. The 2013 survey reported coverage of 47 countries, while another version of that 2013 survey summary said 46 different countries ([GayChurch.org 2008 Affirming Church Survey]; [GayChurch.org 2009 Affirming Church Survey]; [GayChurch.org 2013 Affirming Church Survey]). Because the 2013 summaries differ by one country, both source-reported figures should remain explicit rather than being reconciled into an unsupported single number.
The 2008 survey also described three broad historical periods in the directory’s development. It said the first 20 years, from 1970 through 1990, produced 1,000 churches. It said the 1991–2001 period doubled that total to more than 2,000 welcoming churches, and that the 2002–2006 period doubled it again to more than 4,200 welcoming churches ([GayChurch.org 2008 Affirming Church Survey]). These are historical source descriptions of directory milestones, not independent estimates of all affirming churches during those periods.
GayChurch.org’s homepage later described the current directory as having more than 11,000 inclusive churches around the world and called it the largest inclusive and affirming church directory in the world ([GayChurch.org homepage]). No measurement date was supplied for that homepage figure, so it is best treated as an undated current-description figure rather than as a year-specific continuation of the 2013 survey.
UCC Open and Affirming congregation comparisons
The United Church of Christ’s 2018 comparison, published in the [UCC 2019 ONA study], measured differences between Open and Affirming, or ONA, churches and non-ONA churches. It found that ONA churches had 31% more members than non-ONA churches and almost 33% higher worship attendance. These are comparative findings for the 2018 comparison, not directory counts.
The study also reported average new-member figures. ONA UCC churches added an average of 11.1 new members in 2018, while non-ONA UCC churches added an average of 7.4 new members. The averages describe the groups in the study; they do not indicate that every congregation added that number.
The closure and merger comparison covered the period from 2014 to 2018. During that period, 1.8% of ONA churches closed or merged, compared with 2.4% for the overall UCC average and 3.2% for non-ONA congregations ([UCC 2019 ONA study]). The three percentages refer to different comparison groups and the same stated period.
| 2014–2018 comparison group | Churches that closed or merged |
|---|---|
| ONA churches | 1.8% |
| Overall UCC average | 2.4% |
| Non-ONA congregations | 3.2% |
Taken together, the UCC figures provide measures of membership, attendance, new members, and organizational continuity for one denominational study. They should be kept separate from GayChurch.org directory totals: the directory figures count listed churches across denominations and countries, while the UCC study compares congregation-level outcomes within the United Church of Christ.