New Congregations & Resources Added

Data for 1,460 congregations from 89 different church organizations have been added to Church of God Network’s (CGN) Congregation Map, and 172 resources were added to the COG Resource Center.

There are 740 United States congregations represented in the dataset, including one congregation in Puerto Rico. The average number of congregations in each state is 14 with only Delaware and Rhode Island not having multiple congregations. The top ten states with the most congregations is broken out in Table 1 below.

There are 96 different countries represented within the 1,460 congregations. It is interesting to note that there is only one congregation in China and none in Russia. Europe is also fairly sparse with only the United Kingdom having double digit congregations. In contrast, the Church of God is heavily represented in South America and Africa. The top twenty countries with the most congregations is broken out in Table 2 below.

The 172 resources include Dive, a vibrant Facebook group for young people; Feastgoer, a site dedicated to helping members find a place to attend for the Feast; and COG Matching, a Church of God dating website. There are also numerous archives of sermons and videos and many Bible study resources.

The 89 church organizations featured on CGN’s Congregation Map represent a large portion of the Church of God congregations. While many within the Church of God assume that there are 300-400 different Church of God organizations, that number can be deceiving (if it is even accurate). That figure would doubtless include dozens if not hundreds of small independent groups or house churches that incorporated purely to comply with United States tax law and, therefore, don’t have multiple congregations or even a web presence. There are likely less than 100 church groups that have multiple congregations and even fewer that have a centralized headquarters with paid staff.

CGN will regularly add congregations and resources to the website, as we continue to bolster an already robust dataset for the Church of God Community. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter and check the website regularly to see when new data are added.