here are 13,400 active ministers, with 7,135 of those ministers serving as installed pastors of congregations.

According to released by the PCUSA General Assembly Mission Council’s Research Services, of the 10,657 congregations in the PCUSA, more than half have fewer than 100 members, and 34 congregations have no members at all.

In 2009, the PCUSA experienced:
· a net loss of 94 congregations; the highest number in 10 years.
· a loss of 160,857 members or just under 3 percent of its membership, which now stands at 2,077,138.
· 18 churches were opened, 88 were dissolved, 15 were dismissed and 17 merged.

…for the first time, in terms of members per congregation, more than half of all PCUSA churches fell below the 100 member threshold. As a denomination, the median membership in 2009 was 97.

With just over 2 million members spread over 10,000 congregations, it comes as no surprise that larger congregations account for a disproportionate share of the total. Just 15 congregations at the top of the list account for more than 70,000 members. A full half of the PCUSA’s membership is accounted for by just 1,500 congregations.

The remaining 8,500 congregations share the residual million members. If those million members were evenly distributed, the PCUSA would have 8,500 churches with 117 members.

When it comes to clergy, the story is equally interesting. There are 13,400 active ministers, with 7,135 of those ministers serving as installed pastors of congregations. One wonders why there are 2,231 congregations without pastoral leadership in a denomination where there are 6,265 ministers who are not serving installed pastorates.