Presbyterian Church (USA) membership plummeted in 2009, losing approximately 3 percent for a second year in a row.

According to statistics released by the Office of the General Assembly on June 29, the PCUSA suffered a net loss of 63,027 members, bringing its total membership to 2,077,138, precariously close to slipping below 2 million members.

Since 1965, when the combined statistics of PCUSA’s forerunners, the Presbyterian Church (US) and United Presbyterian Church (USA), peaked at 4.25 million members, the denomination has lost 3.18 million members.

But denominational leaders, who two months ago cut the General Assembly Mission Council’s budget by 14 percent ($13.2 million) over the next two years due to declining gifts, are looking on the bright side. In the official release of the statistics, Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons took the glass-half-full approach.

“The good news is that adult baptisms rose for the first time in at least four years. … The discouraging news is that while we’re gaining members, we’re still playing catch-up with the rate of decline,” he said.

“What continues to sadden me is that the overwhelming majority of the loss in membership is in the category of ‘other,’ which means these are brothers and sisters in Christ who did not die or transfer to another congregation, but probably quietly slipped out the back door.”

The total loss of members (categorized by certificate, death and other) was 160,857 members, which followed 2008’s loss of 172,869 members – the highest one-year total since 1983’s reunion. In all three categories, the losses were the lowest in 10 years, Parsons said in the news release. Based on a chart by PCUSA Research Services, the losses had their lowest levels in some cases in nearly 25 years.

The total gain in 2009 (categorized by profession of faith, re-affirmation and restoration; certificate or other) was 97,830, a 5,658 member (5.5 percent) drop from 2008. With the exception of 2009’s 158-member jump in the “other” category, the gains also were the lowest since 2006. Parsons didn’t acknowledge that fact in the news release.

The percentage loss for 2009 is second only to 2008’s 3.25 percent membership loss, and third to the highest percentage loss – 1973’s 3.76 percent drop.

What is not acknowledged in the denomination’s statement was the wholesale loss of congregations – most to closure and several large blocks of members looking for greener pastures. An overall loss of 94 congregations, as reported in the PCUSA’s statistics, includes the departure of 15 churches in 2009 to other denominations.

The number of dismissals to other denominations was down from 2008’s 25, Parsons said, but the statistics did not include the dozens of congregations that already had affiliated with another denomination but because they left without seeking permission still are being counted on the PCUSA’s rolls.

Attempts by The Layman to obtain additional information and comments from officials in Louisville, who released the annual statistical snapshot days before the start of the 219th General Assembly in Minneapolis, Minn., were unsuccessful Wednesday as the contact listed on the news release was out of the office.

The PCUSA’s news release also points to trends reported in the U.S. Congregational Life Survey, specifically the aging of its membership. According to that report, the median age of PCUSA members is 61, up from 58 in 2001.

“Four out of five worshipers in PCUSA pews today are age 45 or older,” the release states. “Related to this trend is a decrease in the share of PCUSA worshipers who have children living at home.”

Parsons ended the release with some optimism for the future, indicating that 7 in 10 PCUSA Presbyterians in the congregations surveyed expressed a sense of excitement about the their congregation’s future.

Obviously, no one asked the more than 529,000 members counted as losses in the “certificate” or “other” categories since 2006.

Source: http://www.layman.org/news.aspx?article=27184 [Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced in this article is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]