Churches in Kentucky

Religious Landscape of Kentucky

Kentucky straddles the border between the Midwest and the South, and its religious life reflects both traditions. The Southern Baptist Convention is the dominant denomination, with over 2,400 congregations making the Kentucky Baptist Convention one of the largest state conventions in the SBC. The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and independent Christian Churches have an outsized presence here, as Kentucky was one of the birthplaces of the Stone-Campbell restoration movement in the early 19th century. Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, affiliated with the independent Christian Churches, is one of the largest congregations in the nation with over 22,000 weekly attendees. The Catholic Church has a strong concentration in the Louisville metro area and north-central Kentucky, where German and Irish immigrants settled in large numbers. The Archdiocese of Louisville is one of the oldest in the interior United States. Churches of Christ are numerous in south-central and western Kentucky. United Methodists are present throughout the state, with particular strength in eastern Kentucky's Appalachian communities. Kentucky's adherence rate of about 53% is above the national average, and church life remains deeply woven into the state's social fabric.