Evangelical Covenant Church

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Denominational Profile

Notes

The Evangelical Covenant Church, a Swedish Pietist church, was founded in 1885 as a merger of the Swedish Lutheran Mission Synod and the Swedish Lutheran Ansgarius Synod to form the Swedish Evangelical Mission Covenant Church of America. In 1937 the "Swedish" was dropped; in 1957 the word "mission" was dropped; and in 1983 the words "of America" were dropped.

Membership Data

Year Clergy Churches Members
1925 442 320 33,550
1929 493 398 40,460
1935 480 430 44,153
1937 - 441 44,930
1940 - - 45,634
1942 - - 46,881
1944 - 446 48,000
1946 - - 49,003
1950 - - 50,679
1951 488 489 51,850
1953 508 476 52,085
1954 519 488 53,388
1956 545 493 55,311
1957 574 497 56,321
1958 473 497 57,414
1959 607 514 59,396
1960 613 510 60,090
1961 621 513 61,108
1962 641 518 62,389
1964 659 532 64,685
1965 656 533 65,780
1966 665 521 64,950
1967 660 517 65,496
1968 676 514 66,021
1969 654 531 67,522
1970 650 527 67,441
1971 671 526 68,428
1972 671 523 68,711
1973 683 524 69,922
1974 683 508 69,960
1975 704 513 71,808
1976 717 512 73,458
1977 716 515 74,060
1978 751 520 74,678
1979 770 529 76,092
1980 803 539 77,737
1981 818 542 79,523
1982 897 550 81,324
1983 863 554 82,943
1984 900 561 84,185
1985 912 566 85,150
1986 930 570 86,079
1987 973 575 86,741
1988 1,260 584 87,750
1989 1,264 592 89,014
1990 1,267 590 89,735
1991 1,028 596 89,648
1992 1,028 596 89,648
1993 992 597 89,511
1995 - - 91,458
1997 1,110 622 93,414
1998 1,117 628 96,552
1999 1,117 636 98,526
2000 1,259 800 101,003
2002 1,096 718 103,549
2003 1,297 734 105,956
2004 1,256 757 115,620
2005 1,512 775 117,962
2006 1,833 783 114,283

Data were taken from the National Council of Churches' Historic Archive CD and recent editions of the Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches. Denomination descriptions provided by Dr. J. Gordon Melton, Director, Institute for the Study of American Religion (ISAR). [More information on data sources]