The principles of the Affirmation of St. Louis and, to a lesser extent, the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, provide some basis for unity in the movement, but the jurisdictions are numerous, usually quite small in membership and often splinter and recombine. Many church bodies of more recent origin have referred to themselves as "Continuing Anglican" although they have no connection to the Congress of St. Louis and do not adhere to all of its principles. Some reports put the number of such jurisdictions at more than forty, but fewer than a dozen of the churches popularly called "Continuing Anglican churches" can be traced back to the meeting in St. Louis.