wfn.org | Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Membership Decline Slowed in 1997

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

12-May-1998 
98176 
 
    Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Membership 
    Decline Slowed in 1997 
 
    by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.-The bad news within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) 1997 
statistical report is that membership in the 2.6 million-member 
denomination continued to decline. 
 
    The good news is that the membership loss in 1997 was 30 percent less 
than that of the previous year. 
 
    Figures released by the Office of the General Assembly show total 
membership of the PC(USA) at 2,609,191 at the end of 1997 - a decline of 
22,275 from 1996.  The decline in 1996 was nearly 34,000 and has not been 
less than 30,000 in any year since Presbyterian reunion in 1983. 
 
    "I will not be really happy until the figures show growth," General 
Assembly stated clerk the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick told the Presbyterian 
News Service.  "But we are finally going in the right direction." 
 
    Kirkpatrick acknowledged that "one year doesn't make a trend, but I 
hope this is the start of one." 
 
    Kirkpatrick, who will formally report the membership and stewardship 
results to the upcoming 210th General Assembly in Charlotte, said he saw 
two particularly hopeful signs in the 1997 membership numbers. 
 
    "There was a significant increase in the number of adult professions of 
faith," he noted, "which means we Presbyterians are taking evangelism 
seriously."  Adult baptisms increased by 774 to a total of 13,872 in 1997. 
Membership gains by adult profession of faith increased by nearly 1,500 to 
a total of more than 97,000. 
 
    "The other significant figure to me," Kirkpatrick added, "is the 
decline in losses attributed to `other.'" That category, he explained, 
includes those church members "who have gone from the active roll to the 
inactive roll and then nowhere.  Our biggest problem for many years has 
been `backdoor losses' - persons who are not lost just to the Presbyterian 
Church, but to any church." 
 
    Kirkpatrick said the decline in "other" losses "shows we're doing a 
better job of nurturing our members."  The other losses category declined 
by 10,316 last year, to 106,321. 
 
    Other significant statistics from the report: 
 
      * baptisms of children grew by almost 2,000 to 41,057 
      * registered church school attendance declined by 25,433 to 1.07 
        million 
      * the number of elders - male and female - increased by 316 to just 
        over 111,000 
      * the number of deacons - male and female - decreased by 1,157 to 
        73,600 
      * the number of churches declined by 33 to 11,295, though 32 new ones 
        were chartered 
      * the number of ministers grew by 75 to 20,858 
 
    Kirkpatrick said the financial figures are also promising.  He noted 
that all giving by Presbyterians reached a new high in 1997 of nearly $2 
billion.  Giving to General Assembly mission increased by $2 million and 
the percentage of fully paid per capita apportionments by presbyteries "is 
the highest in several years." 
 
    Kirkpatrick praised "the faithfulness of presbyteries in meeting their 
per capita obligations even when a few congregations failed to pay theirs." 
He said efforts by some groups to withhold per capita to protest various 
actions and programs of the General Assembly "appears to be fizzling." 

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