List of the largest Protestant denominations

This is a list of the largest Protestant denominations. It aims to include sizable

communions, federations, alliances, councils, fellowships, and other denominational organisations in the world and provides information regarding the membership thereof. The list is inevitably partial and generally based on claims by the denominations themselves. The numbers should therefore be considered approximate. Protestant bodies being considered in this article are divided into:

• transdenominational bodies with more than 50 million members
• international bodies with more than 10 million members
• national bodies with more than 5 million members
• non-national bodies with more than 5 million members

In 2010, the most numerous international bodies accounted for more than a half of worldwide Protestant population,^{[note 1]} while the most numerous national bodies accounted for more than 200 of the world's 800 million Protestants.^{[note 2][1]}

Transdenominational organisations are very large and often characterized by overlapping membership as opposed to international and national bodies. Some of the national groupings cannot be considered churches in mainstream

subchurches.

Lists of the largest Protestant bodies

Transdenominational bodies

Transdenominational bodies include people across all denominations that participate in a movement which goes beyond their Protestant branch, like Evangelicalism, the Charismatic movement, or the Neo-charismatic movement. These are of international scope.

The

organization that operates internationally. It represents 600 million Christians. The Porvoo Communion brings Lutherans and Anglicans in Europe into a common communion.

Name	Orientation	Foundation	Leadership	Headquarters	Region	Membership	Notes
World Evangelical Alliance	Evangelical	1846 London, England[2]	Secretary-General Thomas Schirrmacher	New York City, United States	Worldwide	600,000,000[3]	Aims to unite Evangelicals worldwide.
Porvoo Communion	Lutheran	1992 Porvoo Cathedral, Porvoo, Finland	Co- Bishop Peter Skov-Jakobsen, Archbishop Michael Jackson	None	Europe	50,000,000[4]	Lutheran denominations in Europe.
Communion of Protestant Churches in Europe	Methodist	1973 Hölstein, Switzerland	Secretary-General Mario Fischer	Vienna, Austria	Europe	50,000,000[5]	Methodist and United denominations in Europe.

International bodies

International bodies tend to bring together only one Protestant branch which shares common founders, tenets and history. Among the most sizeable international bodies are the Anglican Communion, the World Communion of Reformed Churches and the Lutheran World Federation – each with more than 70 million members.

Name	Orientation	Foundation	Leadership	Headquarters	Region	Membership	Notes
Anglican Communion	Anglican	1867 Lambeth Conference, London, England	Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby	London, United Kingdom	Worldwide	85,000,000[6]	Brings together Anglicans from all over the world, and is the largest of such organizations.
World Communion of Reformed Churches	Reformed	2010	General Secretary Chris Ferguson	Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany	Worldwide	80,000,000[7]	Brings together Calvinists from all over the world, and is the largest of such organizations.
World Methodist Council	Methodist	1881	General Secretary Bishop Ivan M. Abrahams	Waynesville, North Carolina, United States	Worldwide	40,000,000[8]	Brings together Methodists from all over the world.
Lutheran World Federation	Lutheran	1947	General Secretary Anne Burghardt	Geneva, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland	Worldwide	75,000,000[9]	Brings together Lutherans from all over the world, and is the largest of such organizations.
World Assemblies of God Fellowship	Pentecostal	1988	Chairman Doug E. Clay	Springfield, Missouri, United States	Worldwide	69,189,381[10][11]	Brings together a substantial Pentecostal population, although not the majority, as it is scattered in various independent Pentecostal denominations.
Baptist World Alliance	Baptist	1905	General Secretary Elijah M. Brown	Falls Church, Virginia, United States	Worldwide	48,000,000[12]	Brings together a substantial Baptist population, although not the majority, as it is scattered in various independent Baptist denominations.

National bodies

Although there are "mostly national" denominations like the

and is not active beyond that country's borders.

The

constitute the most numerous national bodies with more than 20 million members each.

Name	Orientation	Foundation	Leadership	Headquarters	Region	Membership	Notes
Church of England	Anglican	1534[note 3]	King Charles III; Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby	London, United Kingdom	England	26,000,000[13]	The country's established church .
Church of Christ in Congo	United Protestants[14]	1970	Bishop Pierre Marini Bodho	Kinshasa Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo	Democratic Republic of the Congo	25,500,000[15]	Federation of most Congolese Protestants. Largest United Protestant denomination worldwide.
Three-Self Patriotic Movement	State-regulated theology various Protestants	1951	Chairperson Fu Xianwei Secretary General Xu Xiaohong	Shanghai, China	China	23,000,000[16]	It is the only Protestant denomination approved by the Chinese government. Its theology is regulated and controlled by the state.
Assembléias de Deus	Pentecostal	1911	General Superintendent José Wellington Bezerra da Costa	São Paulo, State of São Paulo, Brazil	Brazil	22,500,000[17]	Fragmented into smaller units which together gather the vast majority of Brazilian Pentecostals. The largest Pentecostal denomination in the world.
Protestant Church in Germany	Reformed	1948	Chairman of the Council of the EKD Heinrich Bedford-Strohm	Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany	Germany	20,200,000[18]	Federation of most German protestants.
Born Again Movement	Chinese house church	1968		Henan, China	China	20,000,000[19]	House church, not recognized by the Chinese government.
Church of Nigeria	Anglican	1979	Primate of all Nigeria, Archbishop of Abuja Province Nicholas Okoh	Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria	Nigeria	18,000,000[20]	Local province of the Anglican Communion.
Southern Baptist Convention	Baptist	1845	President Ed Litton	Nashville, Tennessee, United States	United States	13,200,000[21]	The world's largest the largest Protestant denomination in the United States .
Church of Uganda	Anglican	1897	Bishop of Kampala Stanley Ntagali	Kampala District, Uganda	Uganda	11,000,000[22]	Local province of the Anglican Communion.
Fangcheng Fellowship	Chinese house church	1971			China	10,000,000[23]	Chinese government .
Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus	Lutheran	1959	Bishop Dr. Wakseyoum Idossa	Addis Ababa, Chartered city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia	Ethiopia	8,310,129[24]	The world's largest Lutheran denomination.
China Gospel Fellowship	Chinese house church	1980s			China	8,000,000[25]	House church, not recognized by the Chinese government.
National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.	Baptist	1880	President Dr. Jerry Young	Montgomery, Alabama, United States	United States	7,500,000[26]	The second largest African American .
Nigerian Baptist Convention	Baptist	1915	Rev. Dr. Samson Olasupo Adeniyi Ayokunle, President (and chief executive officer)	Ibadan	Nigeria	6,500,000[27]	The world's third largest Baptist denomination.
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania	Lutheran	1963	Bishop Dr. Fredrick Onael Shoo	Arusha, Arusha Region, Tanzania	Tanzania	6,500,000[28]	The world's second largest Lutheran denomination.
Church of Sweden	Lutheran	1593	Archbishop of Uppsala Antje Jackelén	Uppsala, Uppsala County, Sweden	Sweden	5,600,000[29]	The world's third largest Protestant one in Europe.
Anglican Church of Kenya	Anglican	1970	Jackson Ole Sapit	Nairobi County, Kenya	Kenya	5,000,000[29]	Local province of the Anglican Communion.

Non-national bodies

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2017)

These denominations operate worldwide and cannot be considered alongside other national bodies.

Many sizeable non-national bodies happen to be

Ceylon Pentecostal Mission

).

Name	Orientation	Foundation	Leadership	Headquarters	Region	Membership	Notes
Assemblies of God	Pentecostal	1914/1988	George O. Wood		Worldwide	69,189,381[10]	The world's largest Pentecostal denomination.
Seventh-day Adventist Church	Adventist	1863	Ted N.C. Wilson[30]	Silver Spring, Maryland, United States	Worldwide	21,912,161[31]	The world's largest Adventist denomination. Brings together the vast majority of the world's Adventists.
The Apostolic Church	Pentecostal	1911/1916			Worldwide	20,000,000	Trinitarian Pentecostal denomination which emerged from the 1904-1905 Welsh Revival.
Zion Christian Church	African initiated				Southern Africa	15,000,000	The world's largest African initiated church with Anglican, Pentecostal and evangelical influences.
United Methodist Church	Methodist	1968			Worldwide	12,000,000	The world's largest Methodist denomination.
New Apostolic Church International	Irvingian	1863	Chief Apostle Jean-Luc Schneider	Zürich, Switzerland	Worldwide	9,240,000[32]
International Church of the Foursquare Gospel	Pentecostal				Worldwide	9,000,000
Church of God in Christ	Pentecostal				Worldwide	6,500,000
Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee)	Pentecostal	1886	Dr. Tim Hill	Cleveland, Tennessee	Worldwide	7,000,000[33]
Jesus Is Lord Church Worldwide	Full Gospel	1978	Bro. Eddie Villanueva	Manila, Philippines	Worldwide	1,000,000[34]

See also

• Protestantism by country
• List of Christian denominations by number of members
• List of Christian denominations
• List of the largest Protestant churches in the USA
• List of religious organizations

Notes

References

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23. ISBN 9781101032411
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29. ^ ^{a b} Svenska kyrkan i siffror Svenska kyrkan
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34. ^ "About Bro Eddie and JIL". Retrieved 20 April 2023.