Number of Christian Denominations
Mike Ervin
How many Christian denominations in the world ? A comprehensive report.
The short
answer: authoritative researchers who try to count denominations
report on the order of 45,000 distinct Christian denominations worldwide - but
that number depends strongly on how you define “denomination,” and other
reasonable counting methods produce different totals.
Executive Summary
- The most frequently cited figure
is ≈45,000 denominations, based on the World Christian Database (Center
for the Study of Global Christianity, Gordon-Conwell). This is a
catalogue-style count that treats named denomination networks (national
bodies, international communions, independent denominational families) as
separate entries.
- Other authorities or popular
accounts may give different numbers because there is no single universal
definition of “denomination.” Some counts exclude small independent
congregations, others collapse national branches under a single global
body, and still others count every distinct local congregation — which
would produce a vastly larger number.
- The high count reflects real
fragmentation (historical schisms, theological splits, national branches,
and many independent and charismatic churches), especially within
Protestant and Pentecostal movements. Major data on movements and growth
(e.g., Pentecostal expansion) help explain why fragmentation has
accelerated in the Global South.
What
researchers mean by “denomination”. Methodology matters.
Counting
denominations requires choices. The World Christian Database (WCD) treats named
networks (for each country) as the unit - it lists thousands of distinct named
denominations across the world’s countries. It explicitly distinguishes
denominations (organized, named groupings) from individual congregations (which
are not counted unless they belong to a named network). That approach yields
the widely quoted ≈45,000 figure. If you instead:
- collapse all national branches
into a single global denomination (e.g., count “Baptist” as one), or
- include every independent local
congregation as its own “denomination,”
you get much smaller or much larger numbers respectively. The counting
rules drive the result.
But we first need to ask - where does this phenomenal number of 45,000 denominations come from?
- It is the WCD, the World Christian Database /
Center for the Study of Global Christianity (Gordon-Conwell) which compiles
denomination lists by country and reports roughly 45,000 denominations
(published references and WCD summaries make this claim). These WCD datasets
and status reports explain the counting conventions.
- Academic and popular summaries
often repeat that WCD figure (e.g., university blogs and reference
articles). Wikipedia maintains long lists of denominations and population
tallies for major bodies, but it does not present a single global count
because of definitional complexity.
Why
Christianity is so denominationally fragmented?
Key
historical and structural reasons:
- Early schisms - e.g., the
East–West (Great) Schism (1054) and later Oriental/Eastern splits produced
the major historical families (Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox,
Assyrian, etc.).
- The Protestant Reformation (16th
century) created multiple distinct traditions (Lutheran, Reformed,
Anglican, Anabaptist, etc.).
- Further theological and polity
splits — disputes over doctrine, sacraments, church governance, and
practice created hundreds of national and regional bodies.
- National and colonial history - many denominations fractured into national branches or new national
denominations during/after colonial eras.
- Revivalist / charismatic /
Pentecostal movements - the explosive growth of Pentecostal and
charismatic Christianity throughout the 20th and 21st centuries spawned
many independent churches and small networks (often locally named).
- Pew
Research documents Pentecostal/charismatic growth as a major modern trend.
Rough
breakdown by “families” (context, not a count of denominations)
- Catholicism: a single communion
from an institutional perspective (the Roman Catholic Church plus Eastern
Catholic sui iuris churches) - numerically the largest single Christian
church, but not “denominations” in the Protestant sense. (See national
Catholic statistics for membership figures.)
- Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental
Orthodoxy, Assyrian Church: historic ancient families with multiple
autocephalous churches.
- Protestant tradition(s):
extremely diverse — mainline denominations (Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist,
Reformed/Presbyterian), plus an enormous number of Baptist bodies,
independent evangelical churches, and restorationist groups.
- Pentecostal/Charismatic: a major
and rapidly growing stream that includes both large denominations and
innumerable smaller independent churches - a primary source of new
denominational entries in WCD.
Regional Patterns and Trends
- Global South growth: Africa,
Latin America, and parts of Asia have seen rapid growth in Pentecostal and
independent churches, increasing the number of locally named denominations
and networks. Pew and other researchers document Pentecostal expansion as
central to this trend.
- Ecumenical initiatives vs.
fragmentation: organizations such as the World Council of Churches (WCC)
assemble a limited number (hundreds) of member churches (WCC currently
lists ~350+ member churches), showing a contrast between organized
ecumenical membership and the much larger pool of denominational
identities worldwide.
How to
interpret the “astounding” number
- It is real, and explainable. The
45,000 figure indicates that Christianity is not only numerically large
but organizationally very diverse. That diversity reflects centuries of
theological debate, cultural adaptation, and recent rapid growth of
independent movements.
- It is not the only valid measure.
If you want a sense of how Christians are grouped socially and
institutionally, look at membership counts of the largest bodies (Catholic
Church, major Orthodox communions, major Protestant communions). If you
want to study theological diversity, examine denominational families and
doctrinal categories rather than raw counts of named networks.
Sources
and recommended further reading
- World Christian Database / Center
for the Study of Global Christianity (Gordon-Conwell, the primary source for
the ≈45,000 denomination claim and the methodology used.
- Pew Research Center - excellent
for movement-level analysis (Pentecostal/Charismatic growth, geographic
distribution).
- World Council of Churches - example of an ecumenical body and its membership (≈350+ member churches).
- Wikipedia / compiled lists - useful quick reference to see how many named groups are listed (helpful
for sampling the variety and names).
Final Takeaways
“≈45,000 denominations” is the
best single headline you’ll see, but treat it as a definitional, not
absolute, fact. It’s a snapshot based on cataloguing named denominational
networks by country; different counting rules produce different totals.
Number of Christian Denominations
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