The Church of God (Cleveland, TN) in North Carolina

[1]
Adherents of the Church of God denomination that is headquartered in Cleveland, TN also experienced rapid growth between 1990 and 2000, rising in number by nearly 48% (Table 1 [2]). In fact, among the larger denominations, their growth rate was second only to that of the Catholic Church [3]. The congregations are relatively smaller, each averaging 185 adherents. Figure 3, above, shows that these congregations, while well represented in the Charlotte [4] metro area, are concentrated primarily in many of the state’s rural areas. Most notable is a belt along the Inner Coastal Plain [5] that crosses the state from Halifax [6] to Robeson County [7]. On the other hand, northeastern North Carolina contains most of the counties that contain no Church of God congregations.