The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has released its 2019 statistical report — showing a continuing decline in the number of Presbyterian congregations, ministers and members, although the rate of decline may be slowing.
The PC(USA) membership dropped by 50,635 in 2019, down from 1.35 million active members 2018 to 1.30 million members in 2019 (a decrease of 3.7%). The membership loss the previous year – from 2017 to 2018 – was 62,375 members (down 4.4%) and 67,714 members from 2016 to 2017 (down 4.5%).
The denomination lost 120 congregations in 2019 – leaving the PC(USA) with 9,041 congregations. The declines last year include 95 congregations that were dissolved (compared to 108 in 2018) and 24 dismissed to other denominations (compared to 34 in 2018).
There also were declines in the number of baptisms (down 708, with 10,401 baptisms in 2019) and youth professions of faith (down 555, with 9,023 in 2019).
In 2019, the PC(USA) reported that 19 new churches were organized and 176 new worshipping communities started. The number of new worshipping communities has been on the rise – with 114 founded in 2016, 144 in 2017, and 158 in 2018.
The PC(USA) remains a denomination of mostly small churches – with nearly two-thirds (62.2%) having 100 members or fewer.
Demographically, the PC(USA) skews white (89.2%), female (58%) and older (25% ages 56 to 70 and 31% ages 71 and older, but only 12% age 25 and younger).
The number of PC(USA) ministers also dropped by 177 – from 19,243 in 2018 to 19,066 in 2019. The number of ordinations also declined slightly, from 224 in 2018 to 206 in 2019 (a drop of 18 people). But the number of candidates for ordination increased by 49 – from 654 in 2018 to 703 in 2019.
An ongoing debate in theological education has been: Will the PC(USA) and other denominations be likely to face a pastoral shortage, as more ministers retire?
Here’s a nugget of good news for the PC(USA): The number of churches being dismissed to other denominations is considerably less a few years ago, when congregations unhappy with the PC(USA)’s decisions to open the doors more broadly to include LGBTQIA+ people left for more conservative denominations.
At a meeting of mid council leaders in October 2017, the PC(USA)’s stated clerk, J. Herbert Nelson, reported that 303 congregations (with more than 121,000 members) had left for ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians over the previous five years. And those departures to ECO represented just over half (52%) of all the dismissals during that time period, with another 43% going to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
In a statement accompanying the release of the 2019 statistics, Nelson spoke of immigrant communities as the source of future growth of the PC(USA). He said in part:
“Church planting in immigrant communities is leading the way towards our current and future church growth. However, this area of potential growth is being stunted by marginalization. Many of these groups represent communities that received training from PC(USA) missionaries. Some of their faith perspectives are interwoven with cultural dynamics that are inconsistent with U.S.-born beliefs such as ordination of women, communal accountability, and dynamics of worship. We must bear the hard question as to whether we will accept these communities into full membership rather than created categories that marginalize their participation in the PC(USA).”
A summary of the 2019 statistical report can be found here: Combo Press Release
