Sampson County, North Carolina has 233 churches in the Churches List directory, 3 of them verified and 34 with a published website. The 2020 US Religion Census counted 207 congregations and 40,988 adherents across 29 religious bodies in the county. That is 694 adherents per 1,000 residents of its 59,042 people.
| Religious body | Congregations | Adherents | Per 1,000 pop. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southern Baptist Convention | 66 | 18,135 | 307.2 |
| Non-denominational Christian Churches | 25 | 8,444 | 143.0 |
| Catholic Church | 3 | 3,534 | 59.9 |
| United Methodist Church | 20 | 2,548 | 43.2 |
| African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church | 11 | 1,830 | 31.0 |
| National Missionary Baptist Convention, Inc. | 8 | 1,728 | 29.3 |
| Convention of Original Free Will Baptist Churches | 6 | 696 | 11.8 |
| Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) | 6 | 608 | 10.3 |
| Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) | 19 | 585 | 9.9 |
| National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. | 1 | 500 | 8.5 |
| Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) | 6 | 403 | 6.8 |
| United Holy Church of America, Inc. | 9 | 362 | 6.1 |
Source: 2020 US Religion Census (Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies). Per-1,000 rates divide reported adherents by the county's 2020 Census population (59,042). Largest 12 bodies by adherents shown.
Pastor Wesley Hamilton, Music Minister Buster west, Youth Minister Chris Dudley.
Tijuana Lesesne
Directory traditions here: Baptist Churches (83) · Non-Denominational (51) · Methodist (18) · Church of God (10) · Pentecostal (10) · Disciples Of Christ (8) · Christian (5) · Evangelical (5) · Holiness (5) · United Methodist (5)
Church registers are among the richest genealogical sources: baptisms, marriages, and burials often predate civil records. The FamilySearch catalog holds microfilmed church records for many North Carolina counties, filed by denomination and parish name: search Sampson County church records on FamilySearch (free account). Cross-reference with the historic-register churches above and the cemeteries listed on each church's page.
FEMA has issued 25 disaster declarations covering Sampson County since records began in 1953, most recently in 2026. The most frequent cause: hurricane (17 declarations). Churches have historically served as shelters and relief hubs in these events; congregations can register preparedness plans with their county emergency management agency.
Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries.
Directory listings are mapped to Sampson County through the US Census Bureau's 2020 ZCTA-to-county relationship file: each ZIP Code Tabulation Area is assigned to the county holding the largest share of its land area, so a small number of churches in ZIP codes that straddle county lines may be attributed to a neighboring county. Congregation and adherent counts come from the 2020 US Religion Census and are reported by the religious bodies themselves. Population is the county's April 2020 decennial-census base from the US Census Bureau's population-estimates program; per-1,000 adherence rates divide reported adherents by that figure. Corrections to any listing go through the corrections page.