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PC(USA) records steepest membership loss since reunion in 1983

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by

mwkruse
in

Presbyterian News Service: PC(USA) records steepest membership loss since reunion in 1983

LOUISVILLE — Membership in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) fell by 69,381 in 2008, the Office of the General Assembly (OGA) has announced in its annual statistical report, continuing a trend that began in the mid-1960s.

Total membership of the denomination is now 2,140,165.

According to the Research Services office of the General Assembly Council (GAC), the 2008 decline was the PC(USA)’s largest numerical and percentage net membership loss since Presbyterian reunion in 1983.

Almost 104,000 people joined the PC(USA) last year, but that good news was more than offset by the 34,101 Presbyterians who died, the 34,340 who were members of the 25 congregations that left the PC(USA) for other denominations, and the staggering 104,428 who were removed from the rolls by their sessions without apparently joining any other church.

In a statement released with the annual statistical report, General Assembly Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons noted that those who have “gradually drifted away from our congregations” are a particular cause for concern.  …

Comments

6 responses to “PC(USA) records steepest membership loss since reunion in 1983”

  1. Dana Ames Avatar
    Dana Ames

    “Gradually drifting away” is a concern for many churches, including EOrthodox ones.
    The time in my local PCUSA church was blessed, and the people were a blessing. I knew when I first arrived there that it would be temporary; didn’t know it would take nine years to figure out which direction to take… And my pastors were very supportive even when it meant that I was actually leaving. In hindsight, I arrived there already looking through Eastern “lenses” at some aspects of theology and what it means to follow Jesus.
    I was received into Orthodoxy on June 7 (O. Pentecost), and for the first time as a Christian I am conscious that with this current big change I have been coming *to* something, rather than moving *away from* something. Of course both things happened, but the “positive” thing is greater than the “negative” thing for the first time.
    Dana

    Reply
  2. Michael W. Kruse Avatar
    Michael W. Kruse

    I think most PCUSAers would consider your departure a healthy one … not a cause for alarm. The challenge is those who lose connection and drift away … seemingly with no follow up or care from their congregations. PCUSAers, in particular, are often so concerned about not being pushy that when it comes to evangelism and follow-up with troubled members, we fail to provide appropriate pastoral care.

    Reply
  3. Dana Ames Avatar
    Dana Ames

    Or some people think that “pastoral care” is what we pay the pastor to do, so we don’t need to…
    D.

    Reply
  4. Michael W. Kruse Avatar
    Michael W. Kruse

    You have a point there.

    Reply
  5. ZZMike Avatar
    ZZMike

    Dana: I think you’ve taken much the same path as Jaroslav Pelikan.
    One problem with people leaving PCUSA is that the only ones likely to be left behind are the liberals, which will have the effect of driving off the remaining conservatives, leaving only the even more liberal.

    Reply
  6. Michael W. Kruse Avatar
    Michael W. Kruse

    I don’t know Mike. The “fade aways” appear not to be given to any particular theological persuasion. Liberals are fading away too.

    Reply

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