Reprinted with permission from The North Carolina Atlas Revisited. Managing editor: Alfred W. Stuart.
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). In fact, among the larger denominations, their growth rate was second only to that of the Catholic Church. The congregations are relatively smaller, each averaging 185 adherents. Figure 3, above, shows that these congregations, while well represented in the Charlotte metro area, are concentrated primarily in many of the state’s rural areas. Most notable is a belt along the Inner Coastal Plain that crosses the state from Halifax to Robeson County. On the other hand, northeastern North Carolina contains most of the counties that contain no Church of God congregations.