wfn.org | United Methodist Church marks its smallest membership drop

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

July 7, 1999  News media contact: Tim Tanton*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-21-71B{365}

By Tim Tanton*

The United Methodist Church's decades-long decline in membership continued
to slow down in 1998, with the denomination posting its smallest decrease in
its history.

The church lost 38,477 U.S. members for the year ended Dec. 31, according to
an unofficial tabulation by United Methodist News Service. The figure is
based on data provided by 64 of the denomination's 66 annual conferences.
The Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference (OIMC) didn't report its numbers,
and 77 Western Pennsylvania pastors failed to turn in membership data on
time, so the analysis uses 1997 statistics for those two conferences.

The church's U.S. membership stands at 8.4 million. Definitive figures will
be provided this fall by the churchwide General Council on Finance and
Administration (GCFA).

Membership figures have been sliding ever since the creation of the United
Methodist Church in 1968, when the Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren
denominations merged. At that point, membership was 11 million. Despite the
U.S. trend, the church rolls are growing elsewhere in the world,
particularly in Africa and the Philippines. With 1.4 million members in
those areas and Europe, the denomination's total membership is about 9.9
million.

The most recent drop in U.S. membership amounts to a 0.46 percent decrease.
It follows a loss of  44,005 (0.52 percent) in 1997. Using GCFA figures,
here's a look at the trend of losses for the past decade, with the
percentage decreases:

*	1998: 38,477 (0.46)
*	1997: 44,005 (0.52)
*	1996: 42,761 (0.50)
*	1995: 49,308 (0.58)
*	1994: 62,267 (0.73)
*	1993: 76,568 (0.89)
*	1992: 62,150 (0.71)
*	1991: 64,354 (0.73)
*	1990: 55,286 (0.62)
*	1989: 74,315 (0.83)
(Figures for 1993 and earlier reflect the inclusion of the Puerto Rican
church before it became an autonomous Methodist denomination.)

"We're clearly reaping the benefits of evangelism efforts and church growth
work in the annual conferences that are reflecting growth," said Steve
Zekoff, staff executive in the office of records and statistics at GCFA in
Evanston, Ill.

Last year, the Southeast Jurisdiction was the only one of the five U.S.
jurisdictions that had an overall increase in members, with a rise of 7,455.
The others posted losses: North Central down 19,232; Northeast down 18,702;
South Central down 936; and Western down 7,062. Again, the Northeast and
South Central figures reflect 1997 numbers for Western Pennsylvania and
OIMC.

North Georgia reported 6,373 new members in 1998, the largest increase of
any annual conference. Other big gains were posted by Central Texas, up
2,705; North Texas, up 2,559; Western North Carolina, up 2,285; Southwest
Texas, up 2,063; and North Carolina, up 1,966. All of those are in the South
Central and Southeastern jurisdictions.

Others reporting increases were Alabama-West Florida, Louisiana,
Mississippi, North Alabama,  North Arkansas, Oklahoma, Red Bird Missionary
(Appalachia), Rio Grande (Spanish-speaking), South Carolina, South Georgia
and Tennessee. 

West Ohio had the biggest decline, with the loss of 5,953. That conference
also had the largest decrease in 1997. Others that saw sizable drops
included Florida, down 3,818; Illinois Great Rivers, down 3,707; West
Virginia, down 2,547; California-Pacific, down 2,332; Nebraska, down 2,282;
Central Pennsylvania, down 2,223; and Minnesota, down 2,205. Another 16
conferences had membership losses of between 1,000 and 2,000. 

In all, 17 conferences reported increases in membership and 47 posted
decreases. Despite the membership trend, 35 out of 58 conferences reported
increases in average worship attendance. 

North Georgia and Central Texas figures represented the 23rd consecutive
annual increases for those conferences. Southwest Texas marked seven
straight years of membership growth, while Mississippi had six. Membership
reached a new high in North Texas and a 16-year high in Louisiana. South
Georgia had its first increase in a decade.

Northern New Jersey reported that it had 13,405 people in preparatory
membership, representing an increase of 891 over the previous year. Desert
Southwest had eight fellowships reporting unofficial membership of 350.
# # #
*Tanton is news editor for United Methodist News Service.

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United Methodist News Service
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