Jehovah's Witnesses the fastest growing denomination in the United States

In the following segment from the ABC World News, that first aired on February 16, 2011, it was reported that the Jehovah's Witnesses are the fastest growing denomination in America:



In the related online ABC World News article, "Membership of Pentecostal Church, Jehovah's Witnesses Up, Protestant Down" we read:

The Jehovah's Witnesses, known for their door-to-door preaching, had the largest growth of any single denomination. They believe secular society is corrupt, and that Armageddon is imminent. Famous members include Venus and Serena Williams. Membership shot up 4.37 percent in a year. (link)

And from the website of the National Council of Churches, we get the following statistics:

Total church membership reported in the 2011 Yearbook is 145,838,339 members, down 1.05 percent over 2010.
The top 25 churches reported in the 2011 Yearbook are in order of size:
1. The Catholic Church, 68,503,456 members, up .57 percent.
2. Southern Baptist Convention,16,160,088 members, down.42 percent.
3. The United Methodist Church, 7,774,931 members, down1.01 percent.
4. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6,058,907 members, up 1.42 percent.
5. The Church of God in Christ, 5,499,875 members, no membership updates reported.
6. National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc, 5,000,000 members, no membership updates reported.
7. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, 4,542,868 members, down1.96 percent.
8. National Baptist Convention of America, Inc., 3,500,000 members, no membership updates reported.
9. Assemblies of God, 2,914,669 members, up .52 percent.
10. Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), 2,770,730 members, down 2.61 percent.
11. African Methodist Episcopal Church, 2,500,000 members, no membership updates reported.
11. National Missionary Baptist Convention of America, 2,500,000 members, no membership updates reported.
13. The Lutheran Church-- Missouri Synod (LCMS), 2,312,111 members, down 1.08 percent.
14. The Episcopal Church, 2,006,343 members, down 2.48 percent.
15. Churches of Christ, 1,639,495 members, no membership updates reported.
16. Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, 1,500,000 members, no membership updates reported.
17. Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Inc., 1,500,000 members, no membership updates reported.
18. The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, 1,400,000 members, members, no membership updates reported.
19. American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A., 1,310,505 members, down 1.55 percent.
20. Jehovah’s Witnesses, 1,162,686 members, up 4.37 percent.
21. United Church of Christ, 1,080,199 members, down 2.83 percent.
22. Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee), 1,076,254 members, up .38 percent.
23. Christian Churches and Churches of Christ , 1,071,616 members, no membership updates reported.
24. Seventh-Day Adventist Church. 1,043,606 members, up 4.31 percent.
25. Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc. 1,010,000 members, down 59.60 percent (due in part to a new methodology of counting members). (link)

The total for the Jehovah's Witnesses is a bit misleading, for they are the sole denomination that I know of which only counts ACTIVE members in their membership total. A more accurate comparison with the other denominations would be the attendance numbers of their yearly "Memorial Service", which for the United States in 2010 was 2,485,231. (Full, worldwide statistics available online HERE.)

I find these statistics quite interesting, and given some recent cryptic comments made by the American Reformed "pastor" David King (link to post) in the combox of THIS RECENT THREAD at the blog of the secretive, post-deleting, gent who goes by the name "Turretinfan", thought-provoking.
[FYI - I see that "Turretinfan" has yet again deleted a number of my responses in the above mentioned thread; seems I need to reproduce those posts here at AF in a new thread.]


Grace and peace,

David