wfn.org | United Methodist membership continues down, attendance up

["NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Feb. 21, 2003	News media contact: Joretta Purdue7(202) 546-87227Washington 
   10-21-71B{100}

By United Methodist News Service*

U.S. membership in the United Methodist Church has continued to decline, but
overseas gains have offset the decrease so that total worldwide membership
remains about 9.8 million. In addition, average attendance at Sunday morning
worship services has grown substantially.

Some 8.3 million U.S. members and 1.5 million in Europe, Africa and the
Philippines make up the denomination's total, according to official
statistics for 2001 (the latest available), compiled by the denomination's
General Council on Finance and Administration in Evanston, Ill. That's a drop
of slightly more than 43,200 from 2000. 

The number has fallen since 1965, when the combined membership of the
church's two predecessor denominations totaled 11.5 million. The United
Methodist Church was formed in 1968 by the union of the Methodist Church and
the Evangelical United Brethren Church.

Of the 8.3 million United Methodists in the United States, 44,539 are clergy,
and the rest are lay members.

Average weekly attendance at the main worship services was reported at
3,546,695 - the first time in more than five years that it topped 3.5
million. This gain of just more than 59,000 may reflect the increase in U.S.
church-going after Sept. 11, 2001, and the launch of Igniting Ministry, the
denomination's campaign of hospitality and outreach earlier that month.

Growth in the church outside the United States has continued, rising from an
estimated 1.4 million to 1.5 million in 2001, an increase of 369,000 over 10
years. In Africa, where membership is 1.26 million, about 77,000 were added
in the last year. The comparable report from 10 years earlier indicated more
than a half-million new members on that continent. The Philippines has
184,509 members, but reporting difficulties in previous years make a valid
comparison impossible. The central conferences of Europe, including those in
some former Eastern Bloc countries, have dropped to 74,361 members from
80,968 the previous year.

In terms of ethnic membership in the United States, the 2001 statistics show
that the church has about 420,000 African Americans and blacks, 70,800
Asians, 51,800 Hispanics, 20,000 Native Americans and 10,000 Pacific
Islanders. 

U.S. members are divided into five geographical jurisdictions. The largest is
the Southeastern Jurisdiction, with more than 2.9 million lay and clergy
members. South Central has 1.8 million; North Central, almost 1.6 million;
and Northeastern, 1.5 million. The smallest in membership is the largest in
territory: The Western Jurisdiction has 430,556 members.

The decline was largest in the North Central Jurisdiction (from the Dakotas
through Ohio), which reported a loss of 21,566 members. The Northeastern
Jurisdiction (from West Virginia and Maryland north to the St. Lawrence
River) lost almost 20,000. The Western Jurisdiction (all the states extending
from Montana to the west and south, except New Mexico, and including Alaska
and Hawaii) counted 5,393 fewer members. 

Modest increases were reported in the two largest jurisdictions, both in the
South. The Southeastern Jurisdiction, which stretches from Virginia to
Mississippi, gained 2,422 members, and South Central added 1,180 new members.
South Central extends from Nebraska to Texas and from New Mexico to Missouri
and Louisiana.

"Our local church reports from the past five years present clear challenges
for our denomination, particularly in view of U.S. population projections
through the year 2010," said Don House, an economist from Bryan, Texas, and a
member of the general council. "To retain our current overall membership
concentration (which is 3 percent of the U.S. population), we must turn an
average loss of 40,000 members per year to an average gain of 70,000 per
year."

United Methodism's rate of decline in the United States slowed during the
late 1990s, but it has increased again in the first two years of the 21st
century. A loss of 36,500 members in 2000 followed a drop of 34,000 in 1999.
Previous annual declines from 1998 back were 40,500, 44,000, 43,000 and
49,000, respectively. From 1990 to 1994, annual declines varied from 55,000
to 67,000 members.

# # #

* Information for this story was provided by Beth Babbitt Borst, director of
the Department of Statistics at the General Council on Finance and
Administration in Evanston, Ill. 

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
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