Believer's Baptism - Prevalence

Prevalence

Statistics based on membership totals reported by various denominations state that churches that practice infant baptism represent about 80% of Christians. However, these statistics do not reflect the fact that different denominations use different criteria for counting members, so that the percentage probably is somewhat lower. Infant-baptizing churches count young children as members while denominations that practice believer's baptism do not, and churches that practice believer's baptism generally do not consider individuals with formal church membership who do not also actively practice Christian spirituality (for example, see Cultural Catholic) to be true Christians and members.

Many churches that practice believer's baptism also practice congregational self-government, which makes it difficult for statisticians to collect complete data. These and other factors make comparisons of church membership statistics suspect. The fastest growing branches of Christianity, although much smaller than the leading pedobaptistic churches, include evangelical and Pentecostal churches, which nearly always practice credobaptism.

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