An indication that the boom in North American Protestantism may be tapering off came last week with the annual statistical summary issued by the National Lutheran Council. The number of Lutherans in the U.S. and Canada has grown to 8,456,863 (still the third largest denominational group, after the Baptists and Methodists), but it is a gain of only 1.7% compared to the average Lutheran gain of 3.1% during the past ten years. Largest numerical increase of the 14 reporting church bodies was registered, as it has been for the past 16 years, by the 2,469,036-member Missouri Synod, which had 57% of...
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