List of the largest Protestant denominations

Template:Short description Template:Multiple image This is a list of the largest Protestant denominations. It aims to include sizable Protestant 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, while the most numerous national bodies accounted for more than 200 of the world's 800 million Protestants.

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 Protestant ecclesiology even when they constitute a single denomination. A good example is the Protestant Church in Germany, which differs denominationally and encompasses Lutheran, Reformed and United subchurches.

Denominational families

According to Christianity Global: A Guide to the World's Largest Religion from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, in 2020, in the World, there were:

• 644,260,000 Pentecostal and Charismatics, corresponding to 8.3% of the global population;
• 97,399,000 Anglicans (not including United Churches or Continuing Anglicans), corresponding to 1.2% of the global population;
• 84,192,000 Baptists (not including United Churches), corresponding to 1.1% of the global population;
• 77,792,000 United and Uniting Churches, corresponding to 1.0% of the global population;
• 70,432,000 Presbyterians, Reformeds and Congregationals (not including United Churches), corresponding to 0.9% of the global population;
• 69,894,000 Lutherans (not including United Churches), corresponding to 0.9% of the global population;
• 46,389,000 Methodists and Holiness Moviment (not including United Churches), corresponding to 0.6% of the global population; and
• 29,011,000 Adventists, corresponding to 0.4% of the global population.

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 World Evangelical Alliance is so far the only major transdenominational evangelical Protestant 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	Secretary-General Thomas Schirrmacher	New York City, NY, United States	Worldwide	600,000,000	Aims to unite Evangelicals worldwide.
Porvoo Communion	Anglican Lutheran	1992 Porvoo Cathedral, Porvoo, Finland	Co-chairmen Bishop Peter Skov-Jakobsen, Archbishop Michael Jackson	None	Europe	50,000,000	Communion of Anglican and Lutheran denominations in Europe.
Communion of Protestant Churches in Europe	Lutheran Reformed Methodist	1973 Hölstein, Switzerland	Secretary-General Mario Fischer	Vienna, Austria	Europe	50,000,000	Communion of Lutheran, Reformed, 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 World Communion of Reformed Churches, the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, the Anglican Communion 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	London, United Kingdom	Worldwide	85,000,000 or 101,998,251 - 110,000,000	Brings together Anglicans from all over the world, and is the largest of such organizations.
World Communion of Reformed Churches	Reformed	2010	General Secretary Najla Kassab	Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany	Worldwide	100,000,000 or 100,895,098 - 140,013,613	Brings together Calvinists, United and Uniting Churches from all over the world, and is the largest of such organizations. The WCRC is globally one the largest Protestant Communions as of 2025.
World Assemblies of God Fellowship	Pentecostal	1988	General Superintendent and Chairman Doug E. Clay	Springfield, Missouri, United States	Worldwide	86,143,293	Brings together a substantial Pentecostal population, although not the majority, as it is scattered in various independent Pentecostal denominations.
Lutheran World Federation	Lutheran	1947	General Secretary Anne Burghardt	Geneva, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland	Worldwide	78,431,111	Brings together Lutherans from all over the world, and is the largest of such organizations.
Baptist World Alliance	Baptist	1905	General Secretary Elijah M. Brown	Falls Church, Virginia, United States	Worldwide	51,054,804	Brings together a substantial Baptist population, although not the majority, as it is scattered in various independent Baptist denominations.
World Methodist Council	Methodist	1881	General Secretary Bishop Ivan M. Abrahams	Waynesville, North Carolina, United States	Worldwide	39,793,197	Brings together Methodists from all over the world.

National bodies

Although there are "mostly national" denominations like the United Methodist Church (mainly concentrated in the United States), or denominations with dispersed membership like the Apostolic Church and the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) (both with membership dispersed around the world) that have a far larger membership than required to be on this list, they operate worldwide and cannot be considered alongside other national bodies like, for example, the Church of Christ in Congo, which operates solely in the Democratic Republic of Congo and is not active beyond that country's borders.

The Church of England, the Church of Christ in Congo, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, the Assembleias de Deus and the Protestant Church in Germany constitute the most numerous national bodies with more than 20 million members each.

Name	Orientation	Foundation	Leadership	Headquarters	Region	Membership	Notes
Three-Self Patriotic Movement	State-regulated theology various Protestants	1951	Chairperson Fu Xianwei Secretary General Xu Xiaohong	Shanghai, China	China	38,000,000	It is the only Protestant denomination approved by the Chinese government. Its theology is regulated and controlled by the state.
Church of England	Anglican	1534	Supreme Governor King Charles III; Archbishop of Canterbury	London, United Kingdom	England	26,000,000	The country's established church.
Church of Christ in Congo	Methodists, Pentecostals, Baptists, Mennonites, Reformed, Evangelicals, United Protestants	1970	Bishop Pierre Marini Bodho	Kinshasa, Kinshasa Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo	Democratic Republic of the Congo	25,500,000	Federation of most Congolese Protestants. Largest United Protestant denomination worldwide.
Assembléias de Deus	Pentecostal	1911	General Superintendent José Wellington Bezerra da Costa	São Paulo, State of São Paulo, Brazil	Brazil	22,500,000	Fragmented into smaller units which together gather the vast majority of Brazilian Pentecostals. The largest Pentecostal denomination in the world.
Church of Nigeria	Anglican	1979	Primate of all Nigeria, Archbishop of Abuja Province Nicholas Okoh	Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria	Nigeria	22,000,000	Local province of the Anglican Communion.
Born Again Movement	Evangelicals, Charismatics, Chinese house church	1968		Henan, China	China	20,000,000	House church, not recognized by the Chinese government.
Protestant Church in Germany	Prussian, United, Lutheran, Reformed	1948	Praeses of the Synod Irmgard Schwaetzer Chairman of the Council of the EKD Heinrich Bedford-Strohm	Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany	Germany	18,566,035	Federation of most German protestants.
Church of Uganda	Anglican	1897	Archbishop of Uganda and Bishop of Kampala Stanley Ntagali	Namirembe Hill, Kampala District, Uganda	Uganda	13,311,801	Local province of the Anglican Communion.
Southern Baptist Convention	Baptist	1845	President Ed Litton	Nashville, Tennessee, United States	United States	12,722,266	The world's largest Baptist denomination, and the largest Protestant denomination in the United States.
Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus	Lutheran	1959	Bishop Dr. Wakseyoum Idossa	Addis Ababa, Chartered city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia	Ethiopia	12,000,000	The world's largest Lutheran denomination.
Fangcheng Fellowship	Evangelicals, Charismatics, Chinese house church	1971			China	10,000,000	House church, not recognised by the Chinese government.
Nigerian Baptist Convention	Baptist	1915	Rev. Dr. Samson Olasupo Adeniyi Ayokunle, President (and chief executive officer)	Ibadan	Nigeria	9,015,000	The world's second largest Baptist denomination.
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania	Lutheran	1963	Bishop Dr. Fredrick Onael Shoo	Arusha, Arusha Region, Tanzania	Tanzania	8,500,000	The world's second largest Lutheran denomination.
National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.	Baptist	1880	President Dr. Jerry Young	Montgomery, Alabama, United States	United States	8,415,100	The third largest Baptist denomination in the world. It is considered a black church with its membership being largely African American.
China Gospel Fellowship	Evangelicals, Charismatics, Chinese house church	1980s			China	8,000,000	House church, not recognized by the Chinese government.
Church of Christ in Nations	Reformed	1906	Rev. Amos Musa Mohzo	Jos, Plateau, Nigeria	Nigeria	8,000,000	The world's largest Reformed denomination.
Batak Christian Protestant Church	Lutheran	1861		Hutatoruan V, Tarutung, North Sumatra, Indonesia	Indonesia	6,333,000	The world's third largest Lutheran denomination, and the third largest Protestant one in Asia.
Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar	Reformed	1968	Pastor Ammi Irako Andriamahazosoa		Madagascar	6,000,000	The world's second-largest Reformed denomination.
Church of Sweden	Lutheran	1593	Archbishop of Uppsala Antje Jackelén	Uppsala, Uppsala County, Sweden	Sweden	5,484,000	The world's fourth largest Lutheran denomination, and the fourth largest Protestant one in Europe.
Anglican Church of Kenya	Anglican	1970	Jackson Ole Sapit	Nairobi, Nairobi County, Kenya	Kenya	5,000,000	Local province of the Anglican Communion.

Non-national bodies

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

Many sizeable non-national bodies happen to be Pentecostal. The list also includes the largest Adventist church (the Seventh-day Adventist Church), the largest Methodist church (the United Methodist Church) and the largest African initiated church (the Zion Christian Church) and the second largest Pentecostal denomination in the world, The Pentecostal Mission (TPM) or (New Testament Church/Universal Pentecostal Church/Ceylon Pentecostal Mission).

Name	Orientation	Foundation	Leadership	Headquarters	Region	Membership	Notes
Seventh-day Adventist Church	Adventist	1863	Ted N.C. Wilson	Silver Spring, Maryland, United States	Worldwide	23,684,237	The world's largest Adventist denomination. Brings together the vast majority of the world's Adventists.
The Apostolic Church	Pentecostal	1911/1916			Worldwide	15,000,000	Trinitarian Pentecostal denomination which emerged from the 1904-1905 Welsh Revival.
Zion Christian Church	African initiated			Zion City Moria, Limpopo, South Africa	Southern Africa	15,000,000	The world's largest African initiated church with Anglican, Pentecostal and evangelical influences.
United Methodist Church	Methodist	1968		None	Worldwide	9,984,925	The world's largest Methodist denomination.
New Apostolic Church International	Irvingian	1863	Chief Apostle Jean-Luc Schneider	Zürich, Switzerland	Worldwide	9,240,000
International Church of the Foursquare Gospel	Pentecostal			Los Angeles, California, U.S.	Worldwide	9,000,000
Church of God in Christ	Pentecostal			Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.	Worldwide	6,500,000
Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee)	Pentecostal	1886	Dr. Tim Hill	Cleveland, Tennessee, U.S.	Worldwide	7,000,000
United Pentecostal Church International	Oneness Pentecostal	1945	David K. Bernard	Weldon Spring, Missouri, U.S.	Worldwide	5,750,000	The world's largest denomination in Oneness Pentecostalism.

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