Religious Congregations & Membership: 2000

Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations

Congregation: the local unit of any religious body participating in the 2000 study.

Members: all individuals with full member status (as defined by each religious body).

Total Adherents: all members, including their children and the estimated number of other participants who are not considered members; for example, the "baptized," "those not confirmed," "those not eligible for communion," "those regularly attending services," and the like.

ASARB—Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies

CMS—Church Membership Study. The name of previous studies in this series before religious bodies other than Christians were included.

RCMS—Religious Congregations and Membership Study. The name given to the 2000 study, changing the focus from "church" to "congregation."

GRC—Glenmary Research Center

Additional Resources:
• Methodology and Cautions
• Media release dated Sept. 20, 2002
• Key findings from study
• Key findings for specific religious bodies
• Resource people to contact
• History and background of the study
• Maps
• Data tables and rankings
• To preview 2000 study online
• To order