wfn.org | Commentary: Is the denomination 'dying'?

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

Jan. 19, 2000 News media contact: Tim Tanton·(615)742-5470·Nashville, Tenn.
10-21-71B{019}

A UMNS Commentary
By the Rev. J. Richard Peck*

There's been plenty of talk about declining United Methodist membership.

Most people point to the fact that there were 10.8 million United Methodists
in the United States in 1968, the year the Methodist Church merged with the
Evangelical United Brethren Church. Today however, there are 8.4 million
members.

Citing only those statistics ignores the rapid growth of the denomination in
the Philippines and parts of Africa.

This figure also leads to the false assumption that members are leaving for
other denominations. In fact, more than twice as many people transfer into
the denomination as out of it.

One of the best-kept secrets in the denomination is that we have reported
increases in attendance for the past six years, and early reports from
annual conferences assure us that we will soon report seven years of
consecutive increases. Most church consultants say attendance is a more
important measure of church vitality than membership, as a name on a church
roll can mean next to nothing.

Talk of membership decline also ignores the fact that recent increases in
giving have outpaced inflation. Moreover, the denomination continues to be
the second largest in the United States and there is a United Methodist
church in nearly every ZIP code.

If these add up to a dying church, it's a pretty lively corpse. 
# # #
*Peck is editor of Newscope and church resources including The Book of
Resolutions and the Daily Christian Advocate.

Commentaries provided by United Methodist News Service do not necessarily
represent the opinions or policies of UMNS or the United Methodist Church.

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United Methodist News Service
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