Jacksonville has a diverse religious population. The
largest religious group is Protestant; according to the Association of Religion
Data Archives (ARDA), in 2000 the Jacksonville metropolitan area had an
estimated 265,158 Evangelical Protestants, over 70% of whom were Southern
Baptists, and 89,649 Mainline Protestants, attending around 700 congregations.
Several of these are mega churches, including Bethel Baptist Institutional
Church, First Baptist Church downtown and Christ's Church (formerly Mandarin
Christian Church) on Greenland Road. The Episcopal Diocese of Florida has its
see in St
