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        <title>Christian Daily International | Denominations</title>
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            <title>Christian Daily International | Denominations</title>
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        <copyright>Christian Daily International © 2026</copyright>
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                <title><![CDATA[Nearly 1 in 3 Germans favor uniting Protestant and Catholic churches, poll finds]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/nearly-1-in-3-germans-favor-uniting-protestant-and-catholic-churches-poll-finds</link>
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                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[A church tower rises above the village of Oberreute in the Allgäu region of Bavaria, Germany.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ iStock/Moritz Kertzscher ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ A church tower rises above the village of Oberreute in the Allgäu region of Bavaria, Germany. Nearly a third of Germans say the country’s Protestant and Catholic churches should unite, according to a survey commissioned by the German evangelical magazine IDEA. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Wed, 28 Oct 2026 14:11:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Nearly a third of Germans say the country's Protestant and Catholic churches should merge, according to a new poll reported by the German evangelical magazine IDEA. Catholics were the most supportive of any Christian group surveyed.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Nearly a third of Germans say the country's Protestant and Catholic churches should merge, according to a new poll reported by the German evangelical magazine IDEA. Catholics were the most supportive of any Christian group surveyed.
The survey, carried out for IDEA by the polling institute INSA-Consulere, found that 31% of respondents agreed the two churches should unite. A slightly larger share, 34%, disagreed. Another 28% said they did not know, and 7% gave no answer.
Views divided along confessional lines. Catholics backed a merger by a clear margin, while Protestants in both the regional churches and the smaller free churches were more likely to oppose it. The poll was taken as Germany's two largest churches continue to report membership losses that have left them representing less than half the population.
Catholics in favor, Protestants opposed
Among Catholic respondents, 44% supported a union and 30% opposed it. Members of the regional churches — the mainline Protestant bodies that make up the Evangelical Church in Germany, known as the EKD — leaned the other way, with 35% in favor and 42% against.
Opposition was strongest among free church members, a category that includes independent evangelical congregations. Half of them rejected a merger, while 39% favored one.
Women were somewhat more open to the idea than men, at 33% compared with 29%. By age, the youngest and oldest respondents were the most supportive. Among 18- to 29-year-olds and among those over 70, 35% favored a merger. The lowest level of support, 24%, came from people aged 60 to 69, with the remaining age groups falling between 28% and 33%.
INSA polled 2,010 German citizens online from Oct. 23-26, IDEA reported. Respondents were asked to give their view of the statement that the Protestant and Catholic churches should unite.
According to IDEA, the results are representative of Germany's adult population and also by gender, age and region.
Two churches in long-term decline
Both churches have been losing members for decades. In April 2025, Christian Daily International reported that people with no religious affiliation had for the first time outnumbered Catholics and Protestants combined. Data for 2024 from the research group Fowid put the unaffiliated at 47% of the population, compared with 45% for the two churches together.
Each church lost roughly 580,000 members in 2024, according to that report. Fowid also found that only 5% of Germans attend a religious service at least once a month.
The decline continued last year. The EKD reported about 17.4 million members at the end of 2025, a drop of 3.2% from the previous year. The Catholic Church in Germany counted about 19.2 million, down from 19.8 million. Combined, the two churches represented about 44% of the population, Christian Daily International reported in September.
Growth in a smaller evangelical body
Some evangelical groups report movement in the opposite direction. The Federation of Free Evangelical Churches in Germany, known by its German initials FeG, said in August that baptisms on profession of faith in its congregations rose from 1,491 to 2,624 over four years, an increase of about 76%.
The federation's comparison begins in 2021, when public health restrictions limited church gatherings and baptisms in Germany. It counted 40,933 members in 504 congregations at the end of 2025.
Those numbers remain small in a country of about 84 million people. Evangelicals as a whole are estimated to make up around 2% of Germany's population.
The question put to respondents in the IDEA survey did not specify what form a union of the two churches would take or how it might be achieved.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Episcopal Church membership has dropped by nearly 500K since 2015]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/episcopal-church-membership-has-dropped-by-nearly-500k-since-2015</link>
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                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[The Christian Post]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Washington National Cathedral]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ iStock / Chansak Joe ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Washington National Cathedral. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Fri, 23 Oct 2026 06:23:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[The Episcopal Church's years-long decline continued in 2025, with the denomination having nearly 500,000 fewer members than a decade earlier, according to a new report.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
The Episcopal Church's years-long decline continued in 2025, with the denomination having nearly 500,000 fewer members than a decade earlier, according to a new report.
The Episcopal Church released an analysis of its 2025 Parochial Report, which found that the liberal Mainline denomination had about 1.425 million members last year. By comparison, the denomination reported a total of 1.917 million members in 2015, or around 492,000 fewer members. 
"Membership continues its slow decline, a trend that has persisted for decades," the report states. 
In-person Sunday worship attendance has fallen from about 600,000 in 2015 to about 407,000 last year. The 2025 figure is also slightly lower than in 2024, when the denomination reported Sunday worship attendance of more than 413,000.
The analysis also counted 6,673 open parishes and missions last year, down slightly from 6,707 in 2024. Baptisms dipped slightly as well, from 19,624 in 2024 to 19,316 in 2025, according to the report.
Like many Protestant denominations in the United States, The Episcopal Church has seen a considerable decline in membership over the past several decades.
In 2010, the denomination reported that its number of active baptized members in its domestic dioceses had dropped below 2 million, with an overall total of 2.125 million when including overseas dioceses. 
Many factors have contributed to the decline in membership and attendance, but the denomination's increasingly progressive theological direction has alienated some.
In 2003, for example, when The Episcopal Church consecrated the Rev. Gene Robinson as its first openly gay bishop, scores of congregations and a couple of dioceses left in protest.
In October 2025, the denomination released its 2024 Parochial Report, which, unlike past annual reports, did not include a total membership count.
At the time, The Episcopal Church's Office of Public Affairs said in a statement that the report reflected "responses to new and revised questions that were compiled by former members of the House of Deputies Committee on the State of the Church and approved by the Executive Council in October 2023 and January 2024."
"The committee experimented with new ways to ask about and count total churchwide membership, and the data collected revealed confusion in how churches understood and reported this topline number," the office said. "The presiding officers are collaborating to devise a process that provides clearer data on total membership in future years."
Originally published by the Christian Post.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[German Free Evangelical federation elects first general secretary under new structure]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/german-free-evangelical-federation-elects-first-general-secretary-under-new-structure</link>
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                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Sascha Rützenhoff was elected the first general secretary of the Federation of Free Evangelical Churches in Germany and takes office Jan. 1, 2027.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ FeG ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Sascha Rützenhoff was elected the first general secretary of the Federation of Free Evangelical Churches in Germany and takes office Jan. 1, 2027. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Thu, 22 Oct 2026 16:46:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[The Federation of Free Evangelical Churches in Germany has elected longtime staff leader Sascha Rützenhoff as its first general secretary, a post created as part of a restructuring of the denomination's national leadership.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
The Federation of Free Evangelical Churches in Germany has elected longtime staff leader Sascha Rützenhoff as its first general secretary, a post created as part of a restructuring of the denomination's national leadership.
Delegates at a special federal assembly in Coburg, in the Franconia region of Bavaria, chose Rützenhoff for a six-year term on Saturday, the federation, known by its German abbreviation FeG, said in a press release. The meeting also filled four of five new leadership posts overseeing ministry "focus areas."
The elections put into practice structural changes approved at the federation's regular assembly in Solingen on Sept. 25-26. Under the new model, the federation's national secretaries become regional secretaries concentrating on church development, while focus areas organize work that cuts across departments. The federation comprises 504 independent congregations with 40,933 members.
Rützenhoff will join President Henrik Otto and Managing Director Guido Sadler in a three-member executive leadership on Jan. 1, 2027. That team forms part of a wider extended leadership body.
A member of the federation's leadership for 14 years, Rützenhoff has headed its domestic mission department, FeG Inland-Mission, as a federal secretary since 2013.
'An enabler'
In remarks to delegates, Rützenhoff said he takes Jesus as his model for leadership. Titles, positions and recognition matter less than a willingness to accept responsibility in service to others, he said.
"I see myself as an enabler," Rützenhoff said, according to the federation. He compared the national office to a Formula 1 pit crew, in which specialists work toward one goal: getting the driver back on the track quickly. The shared mission should take priority over the interests of individual departments, he said. Church life, he added, takes place in local congregations, and the national headquarters should serve them.
"I want to help ensure that the FeG Federation is and remains this: a community of life and service," Rützenhoff said. He asked delegates to extend him trust as the new office takes shape.
Otto said the search began well before the nomination and weighed both internal and external candidates. The federation looked for someone theologically articulate, experienced in leadership and personnel management, familiar with the different streams within the movement and able to guide change, he said.
Thomas Koch of the federation's personnel committee cited Rützenhoff's strategic ability, management experience and network of contacts. His knowledge of the churches and national structures would allow him to begin without a long orientation period, Koch said.
Wider leadership appointed
Earlier in the day, the federation's standing committee elected leaders to six-year terms for four of the new focus areas. Katharina Steinhauer will lead church planting, Dirk Ahrendt evangelism, Bernd Kanwischer church development and Merle Schwarz leadership development.
No candidate was nominated for the fifth area, which focuses on reaching young people. The federation's leadership will arrange an interim solution, according to the press release.
Founded in 1874 and headquartered in Witten, the federation belongs to the Association of Evangelical Free Churches and the Council of Christian Churches in Germany. It is also associated with the Evangelical Alliance in Germany. Otto has served as president since 2024.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[United Methodist Church's US membership falls by 174,000 in 2025: report]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/united-methodist-church-s-us-membership-falls-by-174-000-in-2025-report</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/united-methodist-church-s-us-membership-falls-by-174-000-in-2025-report</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[The Christian Post]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[During the opening worship service of the United Methodist General Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, on April 23, 2024, five United Methodist bishops from around the world celebrate communion with participants.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Paul Jeffrey, UM News ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ During the opening worship service of the United Methodist General Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, on April 23, 2024, five United Methodist bishops from around the world celebrate communion with participants. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Thu, 22 Oct 2026 11:43:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[The United Methodist Church’s reported U.S. membership fell by more than 170,000 in 2025, according to a new report from its General Council on Finance and Administration.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
The United Methodist Church’s reported U.S. membership fell by more than 170,000 in 2025, according to a new report from its General Council on Finance and Administration.
The UMC General Council on Finance and Administration announced last week that it had released a statistical insights report on its member congregations in the United States.
The report drew from data based on 20,158 U.S.-based congregations that filed a report for 2025 and 21,176 U.S.-based congregations that filed a report for 2024. Of those numbers, 20,089 churches filed a report in both years, while 1,087 filed in 2024 but not 2025, and 69 filed for the first time last year. 
According to the numbers, while the UMC had around 3.988 million members in the U.S. in 2024, that total dropped to around 3.814 million members last year, or a decline of 4.36%.
In-person worship attendance for U.S.-based churches declined from approximately 1.074 million in 2024 to approximately 1.041 million in 2025, while online worship attendance declined from approximately 1.037 million to about 986,000.
A spokesperson for the GCFA explained to The Christian Post that the decline in membership and worship attendance were due to multiple factors, including removal or correction through charge conference action, being withdrawn from profession membership, removal by transfer to other UMC congregations, removal by transfer to other denominations, removal due to death, or correction of previous reporting errors.
“There is no one single reason for the decline,” explained the GCFA spokesperson. “People also profess their faith and come into the denomination for various reasons, so the membership number is a blend of those that departed and new members.”
“GCFA’s role is to gather and report the statistics that annual conferences submit, so we’re not able to say how much any particular factor contributed to the change.”
The report does not focus on the UMC congregations based abroad, especially Africa, where the mainline Protestant denomination has experienced considerable growth in recent years.
While membership and attendance dropped, the report also found that UMC congregations in the U.S. saw increases in the number of small groups (62,531 in 2024 versus 63,589 in 2025) and professions of faith apart from confirmation (24,081 in 2024 versus 25,444 in 2025), an increase of 5.66%. Baptisms fell 3.76%, and congregation closures fell from 960 the year before to 540, while 214 active congregations began as new church starts, according to the report.
GCFA General Secretary Caitlin Congdon said in the announcement that she hopes “this analysis will encourage congregations and conferences as they look at what God is doing through their ministries.”
“Every number in this report represents United Methodists worshiping, serving, and giving faithfully in their communities,” said Congdon. “UMC Statistical Insights lifts up those bright spots so the whole connection can celebrate them and learn from one another.”
For decades, the UMC experienced considerable internal debate over whether to amend their Book of Discipline to allow for the blessing of same-sex unions, the ordination of noncelibate homosexual clergy and the funding of LGBT advocacy groups.
Although efforts to change the rules at General Conference every four years failed, theological progressives within the UMC often refused to follow or enforce the Book of Discipline.
At a 2019 special session of General Conference, delegates passed a temporary measure allowing for churches to disaffiliate from the UMC due to the ongoing debate on LGBT issues.
From 2019 to 2023, more than 7,600 mostly theologically conservative churches successfully disaffiliated from the UMC through the process, according to numbers compiled by UM News.
Many other congregations are continuing to attempt to leave the denomination since then, with ongoing legal battles taking place in South Carolina and Maryland, among other areas.  
Originally published by the Christian Post.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Global Methodist Church cuts ties with seminary over ‘doctrinal commitments’]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/global-methodist-church-cuts-ties-with-seminary-over-doctrinal-commitments</link>
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                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[The Christian Post]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[United Theological Seminary of Dayton, Ohio.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Emily Barnes/United Theological Seminary ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ United Theological Seminary of Dayton, Ohio. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Fri, 16 Oct 2026 06:22:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[The Global Methodist Church has cut ties with an Ohio-based seminary, with the theologically conservative denomination citing multiple differences, including “doctrinal commitments.”]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
The Global Methodist Church has cut ties with an Ohio-based seminary, with the theologically conservative denomination citing multiple differences, including “doctrinal commitments.”
GMC announced last week that it was ending its relationship with United Theological Seminary (UTS), a Dayton-based institution that had been an approved school for the denomination since 2024.
In emailed comments to The Christian Post on Tuesday, a GMC spokesperson said the decision to sever ties came after the GMC Ministry and Higher Education Commission completed its review of UTS.
“The Commission’s review identified differences in doctrinal commitments, institutional alignment, and clergy formation,” the spokesperson said. “It concluded that United did not sufficiently align with the GMC’s standards for institutions preparing its clergy.”
“We appreciate United’s contributions to theological education and Christian ministry. The GMC remains committed to preparing clergy in accordance with the Church’s doctrine and beliefs.”
Although the denomination no longer identifies UTS as an approved academic institution for clergy preparation, the change will not affect current seminary students.
“Global Methodist students who matriculated at United on or before December 31, 2026, may complete their current educational program and have it recognized toward applicable GMC educational requirements,” the GMC spokesperson added.
“Those students remain subject to the requirements of their respective candidacy and ordination processes. Recognition of an educational program is one part of the ordination process; this decision preserves that recognition for qualifying students.”
Currently, the GMC has 10 officially approved institutions, nine with six-year approval from the denomination and one — Ashland Theological Seminary — with three-year provisional approval.
The other nine entities are: Asbury Theological Seminary, Beeson Divinity School at Samford University, Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, Mid America Christian University, Oklahoma Wesleyan University, Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University, Wesley Biblical Seminary, West Africa Theological Seminary, and Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University.
UTS President Mark Teasdale told CP via email that the seminary had developed courses specifically for GMC students seeking ordination and had launched a GMC House of Study to help them receive mentorship and access to required courses.
“The decision was not prompted by a difference in mission, vision or values,” said Teasdale. “The GMC is at an early stage in the development of its denominational identity, having just clarified the Articles of Faith.”“In 2026, United is celebrating its 155th year as a seminary formed in the Pietist heritage of the Evangelical United Brethren denomination, which emphasizes holding to orthodox Christian teachings while building relationships across the church.”
According to Teasdale, the GMC House of Study will remain active at UTS, and the seminary “will continue to welcome GMC students who are not seeking ordination, such as through its Doctor of Ministry and Doctor of Theology degrees.”
The GMC was officially launched in 2022 and currently boasts over 7,000 congregations, the majority of which had left The United Methodist Church due to its debate over LGBT issues.
Originally published by The Christian Post.]]></content:encoded>
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