PCUSA: Fewer members = smaller congregations

PCUSA Research Services: Fewer members = smaller congregations

Jack Marcum writes:

The key difference in these trends is not direction but magnitude. The numbers of both congregations and members have fallen steadily since 1983, but members have dropped at almost four times the rate of congregations.

As a result, the typical congregation’s size has dropped dramatically, from an average of 268 members and a median of 195 in 1983 to 152 and 97, respectively, in 2009. Over the same period, the share of congregations with 100 or fewer members increased from 36 percent to 51 percent.

Several consequences have ensued. Many congregations have larger facilities than they need and fewer resources for upkeep. Others can no longer afford a pastoral leader. More congregations in 2009 had no pastoral leadership of any sort (2,231) than was true just four years before (2,050).

Even so, when net membership losses began in the 1960s, no one set out to use this trend to reduce the size of most congregations. It just happened—the result of efforts, presbytery by presbytery and congregation by congregation, to keep the doors open.

The unintentional shift to smaller congregations requires an intentional response. The use of commissioned lay pastors is a major step already in place. More programs and resources tailored to the circumstances—and budgets—of smaller congregations would be another. After all, as the trend line of membership shows, there will likely be more rather than fewer such congregations in the near future.