Faiths & Denominations

Multistory brick church building with arched multicolored windows and arched doorway on street corner
African Methodist Episcopal Church
The African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after white Methodist ...
Amish
The Amish have attempted five times during the twentieth century to develop communities in Arkansas. All five ...
Anglicans
Arkansas Anglicans are individuals and parishes that, while having some historical connection with the Episcop...
Single story red brick church building with three white crosses in the ground
Assemblies of God
The Assemblies of God is an evangelical, Pentecostal organization that was founded in Arkansas in 1914. It has...
group of white girls in white shirts and long skirts standing in line two-by-two
Associate Reformed Presbyterians
The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARP) was organized in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1782. It was ...
Bahá'ís
The Bahá’í faith originated in Persia (present-day Iran) in the mid-1800s as a movement within a minority ...
Two-story building with arched windows and prominent inset cross on hill
Baptists
Baptists make up the largest Protestant Christian group in Arkansas, characterized by the practice of baptism,...
Exterior "Chua Pho Minh Vietnamese Buddhist Temple" with temple architecture with flower dragon roof ornaments
Buddhists
Buddhists in Arkansas are represented by ethnic immigrants who bring to the state the religious practices of t...
Single-story clapboard church with trees
Christadelphians
Christadelphians have had a presence in Arkansas since 1852, but their impact upon the state is difficult to m...
White men and women gathered outside brick church building with tall central tower and fence on dirt road
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
The Christian movement called “Disciples” (among other names) came to Arkansas in the 1830s. Ministers who...
Church building with arched windows and bell tower
Christian Scientists
aka: Christian Science
aka: Church of Christ, Scientist
Despite smaller numbers of followers than other denominations in Ar...
Single story church building with large parking lot and sign saying "New Hope"
Church of God in Christ (COGIC)
The Church of God in Christ (COGIC) is a predominantly African-American Pentecostal Christian denomination, he...
white rectangular stone with "Parley Parker Pratt" at top surrounded by black iron fence
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
aka: Mormons
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes shortene...
Multistory building with square bell tower and covered porch
Church of the Nazarene
The state of Arkansas was one of the cradles for the early expansion of the Church of the Nazarene, America’...
Single-story stone building with arched entrance and "Church of Christ" written above the glass doors
Churches of Christ
The churches of Christ make up the second-largest religious fellowship in Arkansas in regular attendance numbe...
"Horrible" newspaper clipping
Cobbites
The Cobbites were a religious group that began in White County in 1876 under the leadership of the Reverend Co...
Red church pavilion and buildings behind a fence with red and white banner and gate
Cowboy Churches
Cowboy churches are a version of Christian worship typified by a relaxed “come-as-you-are” ethos and gener...
Multistory wooden abandoned building with peeling paint and boarded windows
Cumberland Presbyterians
Beginning in 1812, the Cumberland Presbyterian (CP) denomination sent missionaries to preach the Gospel and es...
Ecumenical Catholic Communion (ECC)
The Ecumenical Catholic Communion (ECC) is an independent Catholic denomination, not in communion with the Rom...
postcard showing tall brick church building with ivy growing on it
Episcopalians
The Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas encompasses the geographic boundaries of the state of Arkansas. The diocese ...
White man in white clerical robes with two older white women in dresses
Greek Orthodox
The ancient Christian Greek Orthodox Church claims a founding by Jesus Christ and his apostles, as described i...
Hindu man in collared shirt slacks praying to shrine in closet with  strand lights incense
Hindus
An estimated 15,000 Hindus were living in Arkansas by the first decades of the twenty-first century. This smal...
"Calamity prophet in epistle to public" newspaper clipping
Incoming Kingdom Missionary Unit
One of Arkansas’s quirkiest religious groups, the Incoming Kingdom Missionary Unit, located at Gilbert (Sear...
Interfaith Arkansas
Interfaith Arkansas is an ecumenical and interfaith organization bringing together several religious groups fo...
Building with stone walls and three stone front columns with parking lot
Jehovah's Witnesses
Since early in its history, the religious movement known as Jehovah’s Witnesses (or the Watchtower Bible and...
Group of white Jewish children in stage costumes
Jews
Jews have always been a tiny minority of Arkansas’s population, yet their history in the state is long and d...
Kelleyite Churches of Christ
The Kelleyite Churches of Christ constitute a small Christian denomination located in west central Arkansas. I...
Lutheran School parade along wooded road with participants holding round signs representing various school cities, photograph hand-signed "Pappe and Doepke"
Lutherans
Lutherans have lived in Arkansas since the end of the eighteenth century, although the first Lutheran churches...
Street with ornate church and parked cars on the right and two-story building on the left
Methodists
Methodism came into what is now Arkansas at least two decades before statehood, just as it had been brought to...
Two-story corrugated metal building with sign "Huda Academy" and fenced playground
Muslims
Islam is the world’s second-largest religion, with 7 million Muslims living in the United States and more th...
Nahziryah Monastic Community
aka: Purple People
Nahziryah Monastic Community is a remote esoteric spiritual center ...
Pentecostal Church of God
The Arkansas District of the Pentecostal Church of God is, with 150 churches, the largest district within the ...