THE CHURCHES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 26, 22 May 1914, Page 4

THE CHURCHES.

A writer in the “Lyttelton Times” remarks that it is interesting to notice the growth of the membership of the Christian Churches in New Zealand between the census of 1886 and 1911, a period of twenty-five years, and to observe how nearly the various denominations have maintained their relative positions in popular esteem. The following figures show the percentage the members of each of the principal denominations boro to the total population at the beginning and the end of the period;—

Denominations 18S6. 1911. Church of England 40.17 41.14 Presbyterians ... 22.59 23.32 Roman Catholics ... 13.94 13.97 Methodists ... 9.55 9.43 Other denominations 7.14 6.53 It will be seen from the above figures that while there has been a tendency among the large denominations to increase relatively in numerical strength the tendency among the smaller denominations has been in the opposite direction. The number of males in the Church of England, Presbyterian and Roman Catholic denominations is larger than the number of females, hut in the smaller denominations the women predominate, in the Salvation Army there being 48.84 per cent, of men and 51.16 per cent of women, and in the Seventh Day Adventists 41.32 per cent of men and 58.68 of women. In the Methodist Church the sexes are almost evenly balanced, and among the persons grouped as of “no denomination” or “no religion” the men are in a large majority, the Atlieists, for instance, numbering 83,75 per cent of men and only 16.25 per cent of women.