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Church of the Lutheran Confession (1960 - Present) - Religious Group

Religious Family: Lutheran
Religious Tradition: Evangelical Protestant
Description: The Church of the Lutheran Confession was organized in 1960 at Watertown, South Dakota, by congregations and clergy who had formerly belonged to the various Lutheran denominations that had comprised the Synodical Conference, a Lutheran ecumenical body. With the loss of doctrinal unity within the conference, they felt compelled to leave.
Official Site: http://www.clclutheran.org/

Maps: Church of the Lutheran Confession1

Adherence Rate per 1,000 (1990)

Congregations (2020)



Top 5 Church of the Lutheran Confession States (1990)1 [View all States]

Rank State Congregations Adherents Adherence Rate
1 South Dakota 12 821 1.18
2 Minnesota 14 2,603 0.59
3 Wisconsin 9 1,692 0.35
4 North Dakota 2 197 0.31
5 Wyoming 1 105 0.23

Top 5 Church of the Lutheran Confession Counties (1990)1 [View all Counties]

Rank County Congregations Adherents Adherence Rate
1 Perkins County, SD 1 187 47.56
2 Mellette County, SD 1 86 40.24
3 Edmunds County, SD 2 161 36.96
4 Swift County, MN 2 290 27.04
5 Cherry County, NE 1 128 20.29

Top 5 Church of the Lutheran Confession Metro Areas (1990)1 [View all Metro Areas]

Rank Metro Congregations Adherents Adherence Rate
1 Mankato, MN Metro Area 3 1,096 13.35
2 Jamestown, ND Micro Area 1 171 7.69
3 Watertown, SD Micro Area 1 140 6.17
4 Aberdeen, SD Micro Area 3 210 5.26
5 Austin, MN Micro Area 1 185 4.95

Church of the Lutheran Confession, Members (1972 - 2006)2


Church of the Lutheran Confession, Ministers & Churches (1972 - 2006)2


Church of the Lutheran Confession, Trends (1972 - 2006)2

YEAR MEMBERS MINISTERS CHURCHES
1972 9,490 70 69
1973 9,616 71 68
1974 9,667 71 68
1975 9,790 74 72
1976 9,817 77 74
1977 9,688 78 72
1978 9,316 75 72
1979 9,340 73 72
1980 9,426 73 72
1981 9,210 74 70
1982 8,986 74 67
1983 8,898 71 66
1984 8,863 74 67
1985 8,910 79 67
1986 8,852 78 68
1987 8,717 78 67
1988 8,655 72 67
1989 8,738 77 69
1990 8,753 82 69
1991 8,722 82 70
1992 8,798 77 70
1993 8,718 82 69
1994 8,864 80 71
1995 8,783 82 70
1996 8,958 89 72
1997 8,768 85 74
1998 8,628 86 72
1999 8,631 86 72
2000 8,671 90 75
2001 8,643 94 76
2002 8,492 89 77
2003 8,390 90 77
2006 8,390 90 87
       

Sources

1 The 2020 data were collected by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB) and include data for 372 religious bodies or groups. Of these, the ASARB was able to gather data on congregations and adherents for 217 and on congregations only for 155. [More information on the data sources]

2 All data on clergy, members, and churches are taken from the National Council of Churches’ Historic Archive CD and recent print editions of the Council’s Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches. The CD archives all 68 editions of the Yearbook (formerly called Yearbook of the Churches and Yearbook of American Churches) from 1916 to 2000. Read more information on the Historic Archive CD and the Yearbook.

Membership figures are "inclusive." According to the Yearbook, this includes "those who are full communicant or confirmed members plus other members baptized, non-confirmed or non-communicant." Each denomination has its own criteria for membership.

When a denomination listed on the Historic Archive CD was difficult to identify, particularly in early editions of the Yearbook, the ARDA staff consulted numerous sources, including Melton’s Encyclopedia of American Religions and the Handbook of Denominations in the United States. In some cases, ARDA staff consulted the denomination’s website or contacted its offices by phone. When a denomination could not be positively identified, its data were omitted.

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