The following are excerpts of a study developed by the Presbyterian Panel, analyzing the members, ordained elders, and ordained ministers of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).It reflects responses from more than 3,500 individuals, sampled in fall 2005. A more complete analysis can be found at www.pcusa.org/research/panel .
From 1990-2003, 5 percent of our Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s 11,000+ churches grew by net one member. In the years 2001-2005, that number slumped to less than 1 percent demonstrated growth in worship attendance and membership.
To put that in other terms, 70 percent of our fastest growing churches in the 1990's have lurched into decline in membership and/or worship attendance. The slide proved remarkably omnipresent, as though a field of thoroughbreds suddenly pulled up winded.
What follows are my early ruminations on this millennial effect. Perhaps no single factor accounts for this dispiriting downturn among even vanguard churches, but together they may help explain the phenomenon.
Recently every congregation should have received the report from the General Assembly entitled Statistics, January 1-December 31, 2005 (for a fee of $10). In it records from every Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) church can be found concerning the number of active members, gains and losses in membership, officer information, and financial receipts and expenditures. Using these figures as a basis, the General Assembly can look for denominational trends on membership changes, pledging, giving to mission causes in and out of the Presbyterian church, and investments and endowments.
Anecdotal evidence suggests, however, that these numbers do not tell us everything we want to know about the nature and vitality of the local church. How do you understand the statistics from your own congregation? How do you evaluate whether or not your church is alive and filled with the Holy Spirit? Which graphs tell you that you are growing or on a downward slide to the point of no return?
One of those end-of-the-millennium polls found that 52 percent of all Americans pray every day and that 56 percent report that someone in their family usually says grace at family meals (Hargrove and Stempel, www.shns.com ). Is it merely a coincidence that the Faith Communities Today (FACT2000) national survey of congregations conducted at about the same time found that 51 percent of all U.S. congregations gave "a great deal" of emphasis to personal devotional practices in their preaching and teaching and that 54 percent of U.S. congregations gave "a great deal" or "quite a bit" of emphasis to family devotions? Or, does this provide striking evidence that what we do in our congregations does make a difference?
Assuming the latter, then the FACT2000 survey also suggests that old-line Protestants are less likely than persons from other faith groups to pray every day, are less likely to engage in family devotions, and indeed are less likely to engage in any of the home or personal religious practices mentioned in the FACT2000 study.
The U.S. Congregational Life Survey takes a look at what works in the areas of evangelism and church growth. Responses from fast-growing churches debunk common myths. Used with permission.
It is widely felt that too many ministers are leaving local church ministry today, and often for preventable reasons.
As part of the Pulpit and Pew Project at Duke Divinity School we were commissioned to gather new data on why this is happening. We carried out a large study in 2002 and 2003, and we published Pastors in Transition in 2005 (Eerdmans Press). Here we summarize some findings.
We studied five denominations: Assemblies of God, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Presbyterian (U.S.A.), and United Methodist. We defined the target group:
"We are interested in everyone who was ordained in the past, who served in parish ministry full-time or part-time, and within the last eight years has left parish ministry in either of two ways: (1) left parish ministry for non-parish ministries recognized by their ordinations, especially hospital chaplaincies, military chaplaincies, campus ministers, teachers, and professors; or (2) left church ministry entirely. We will not study (1) persons temporarily without a job who are now actively seeking a parish ministry job, (2) persons who have retired or who have moved from full-time to part-time parish ministry, and (3) persons who left the parish to take denominational jobs such as presbytery staff or district superintendent."
We aimed for a random sample of about 200 from each denomination. Each denomination helped with sampling and mailing. No names were asked. Questionnaires went out in spring 2002, and the response rates varied from 19 percent in the Assemblies of God to 54 percent in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The Presbyterian response rate was 38 percent. The numbers of cases were: Assemblies of God, 174; ELCA Lutheran, 291; Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, 106; Presbyterian, 173; and United Methodist, 219. Later we interviewed 90 of the former pastors by phone.
Interfaith activity among faith communities has more than tripled since 2000, according to the latest national survey of U.S. faith communities.
The survey, sponsored by the Cooperative Congregational Studies Partnership, found that slightly more than two in 10 (22.3%) congregations reported participating in an interfaith worship service in the past year. Nearly four in 10 (37.5%) congregations reported joining in interfaith community service activities.
These figures are from Faith Communities Today 2005 (FACT2005) survey of 884 randomly sampled congregations of all faith traditions in the United States. The survey updates results from a survey taken in 2000, before the September 11, 2001 attacks.
How will we reach the next generation of Presbyterians? As we strive to grow our congregations and get the attention of younger families and singles, it may be time to look at how we tell our story.
Today, almost every household has a personal computer. According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project April 2006 report (www.pewinternet.org), more than 147 million Americans (73%) are Internet users. Ipods, cell phones, e-mail and blogs have become a way of life for most of our younger generation. Yet so often we only offer our sermons on cassette tapes and our announcements on flyers. Are we missing an opportunity to connect with the under thirty segment of our population?
God is at work. The devil is in the details.
"The world is littered with statistics, and the average person is bombarded with five statistics a day," says the BBC Web site. They footnote that claim with, "This is an example of a made-up statistic."
It was in that spirit that Mark Twain popularized that great quote, "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics."
We at the Outlook have been combing through studies of the Church -- Presbyterian and beyond--asking what statistics might we publish that would rise above that cynical analysis, and would, in fact, help our readers better serve the greater purposes of God?
The answer: lots. Studies upon studies. Page limitations forced us to leave out many other reports we wanted to include.
Posted Sunday, September 3rd on Rick's weblog: https://what-i-see.blogspot.com/2006/09/sisters-and-brothers-i-have-written.html
Sisters and Brothers,
I have written and spoken often about my conviction that our witness as people of faith should, wherever possible, be a positive one. What we as followers of Jesus are for is far more compelling than what we are against, and we must accept the challenge to live out Jesus' absurd conviction that we are most secure, and most right with God, when we love our enemies.
It is that desire to be a witness for Christ that has led me to become a reservist with Christian Peacemaker Teams. It is what has compelled me to be involved in the work of trying to save the lives of folks who are dying in the desert. It was what compelled me to become the Director of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship with the hope of creating a corps of Presbyterians who will offer nonviolent accompaniment wherever sisters and brothers in our partner churches are at risk around the world.
Though I remain firm in that core commitment to offer positive, Christ-centered, alternatives to violence, I also believe that there are times when evil is so strong, and so interwoven into the fabric of our culture, that God demands that we rise up in protest.
The Presbyterian Publishing Corp. -- responding to criticisms of a new book it has published that asserts American military and political leaders were involved with planning the 9/11 attacks -- issued a news release Aug. 11 stating that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) does not endorse the claims the book makes.
The controversial book -- Christian Faith and the Truth Behind 9/11: A Call to Reflection and Action -- was written by David Ray Griffin, a retired professor of philosophy and theology at Claremont School of Theology in California.
Since its publication by Westminster John Knox Press earlier this summer, Griffin's book has riled up Presbyterians who have argued that Westminster shouldn't have published the book and that it is bringing more trouble down on an already divided, declining denomination.
© 2006. Used by permission.
BARRANQUILLA, Colombia--While accompaniment of Latin Americans by North Americans is generally understood to protect bodies threatened by illegal armed groups and berserk military strategies, people here say it is equally good for the soul.
"We probably won't know what the changes are within ourselves until we look back, but it is impossible to come here and not be changed," says 27-year-old Traci Smith of Batavia, Ill., and a spring graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, who is ending six weeks of accompaniment of threatened church human rights workers this week.
She's sitting in the rain-soaked courtyard of the Presbyterian secondary school here, where a spectacular thunderstorm has abruptly soiled an outdoor dance, one event amidst the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Presbyterian Church of Colombia (PCC). The storm turned the city's concrete streets into gullies and cut the electricity in this middle-class neighborhood, where the school has operated for more than 100 years.
Sometimes it's hard to look at the news. What's happening in the world, in places like Lebanon and Israel and Iraq and the Sudan, is often so painful.
And Presbyterians who are serious about wanting peace in the world sometimes don't know what to do.
But as complicated as world politics can be, many Presbyterians do feel an obligation, sometimes a calling, to work for peace and for a more loving and just world. In times of turmoil, what does that look like? What can "ordinary" Presbyterians and congregations do to be peacemakers?
The answer, to some extent, depends on the person. Some are comfortable with quieter involvement, with prayer and reading and discussion, trying to understand. Others feel pulled to action and advocacy. For some Presbyterians, the pain of the world is so strong that it demands that they do something to try to make a difference.
c. 2006 Religion News Service
Jihaad Abdul-Majid has often found inspiration in the words and deeds of Islam's prophet Muhammad, from his acts of compassion and charity to his counsel that followers treat women fairly and help the poor.
At the same time, other sayings that implied female inferiority and intolerance toward other religions troubled the 23-year-old student at the University of Louisville in Kentucky.
"These issues have pushed me to seek more knowledge," said Abdul-Majid, who recently enrolled in an online course about the hadith, the collected stories of what Muhammad and his closest companions said and did.
Muslims hold the hadith second only to the Quran as a source of Shariah law and personal guidance. For centuries, Muslims have hotly debated the hadith, often coming to vastly different conclusions about what lessons to draw from Muhammad's life.
c. 2006 Religion News Service
The Verse: "A nation led by a woman shall not prosper."
The Context: This verse is part of a longer hadith, or narration about the life of Muhammad, recounting the story of how a Persian king executed one of the Islamic prophet's messengers, sparking his anger against the empire. Muhammad made the statement after the king died and his daughter became ruler.
c. 2006 Religion News Service
Advocacy groups are pressuring Congress to take broader action to alleviate the plight of refugees who have been caught in a tangle of new regulations designed to keep terrorists from entering the United States.
Refugee Council USA, which includes numerous faith-based organizations, estimates that as many as 20,000 refugees worldwide are being denied asylum in the United States because their activities fall within broad new U.S. definitions of helping terrorist organizations. Many of the refugees, from countries like Myanmar, Colombia, Liberia, and Cuba, are living in refugee camps in other countries.
What the world needs now ... yes, is love, sweet love.
But what the world also needs now ... is some Presbyterian, intelligent, paradoxical, ambivalent, nuanced thinking.
What IS Presbyterian, intelligent, paradoxical, ambivalent, nuanced thinking?
Let's start by contracting that into an acrostic: PIPAN. PIPAN thinking is the ability to see issues in multifaceted ways without losing one's mind in the process. It can hold together affirmations that at least appear to be contradictory and yet are true only if each affirmation is retained.
For example, PIPAN thinking affirms that God is one, and that God is three.
PIPAN thinking affirms that Jesus is fully human, and that Jesus is fully divine.
It proclaims that God is totally sovereign, and that humans are held responsible for their thoughts, words, and deeds.
When I think of the classical Nicene marks of the church, I tend to think of four immovable inscriptions pointing to intimidating standards: "One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic." Somehow these marks seem very distant and removed from our church life. Pondering these marks we need to be reminded that the life of the church is rooted in the Triune God whose life is not marked by immovable, petrified divinity but by shocking, self-giving, other-embracing grace as revealed through the life, death, and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God does not exist in some kind of divine solitary isolation. The very heart of the divine life is community, the relationship of mutual self-giving love between the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Dynamic images of a dance rather than that of rigid hierarchy better expresses this understanding. The Triune God becomes the model for the life of the church. It, then, ought not be a hierarchical, self-seeking institution, but a community of self-giving and loving people, called, gathered, and shaped by the Triune God.
In the waning hours of the 217th General Assembly--the last morning, when nothing much of substance is brought to a tired bunch of commissioners ready to put their packed bags onto planes go home after an intense eight days--former moderator Rick Ufford-Chase rose to the microphone for a point of personal privilege. He had lain awake troubled by one statement the Assembly had approved and that concerned a matter close to his heart: borders. Most people know of Ufford-Chase's heart-felt work in Border Links. We have heard the stories of desperate people risking, and sometimes losing, their lives just for the opportunity to work in the U.S. so their families in impoverished areas of Mexico might live.
Circus-goers munching on pink cotton candy watch their favorite performing animals. At center ring, elephants saunter in, doing some heavy prancing as each links its trunk to a mate's tail ahead, lumbering in a circle. With music blaring, a trainer tosses them treats for standing on their hind legs. Sometimes, these gargantuan animals of the Midway are decked out with lacey pink sashes around their necks. How harmless and lovable they appear.
In the wild where elephants may become savage, a safari guide sternly warns tourists not to get near them. A charging bull elephant on the rampage is a killer beast.
Preachers recognize an elephant has invaded sanctuaries as it monopolizes every sector in national life. The elephant is the war in Iraq.
Preachers who desire longevity in their pulpits intentionally avoid mentioning the elephant. They fear pointing their gospel guns at the war, lest parishioners get upset and leave. Worse, disgruntled worshippers possess power to give a minister who preaches the "whole counsel of God" a pink slip.
This is a tough movie to sit through. "Intense" is an understatement. It brings back all the horror, puzzlement, and shock of 9/11, and then it becomes oh, so personal.
John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage) begins this day like any other: awake at 3:30 a.m., he stumbles to get dressed in the dark without waking his sleeping wife (Maria Bello). He quietly looks in on his four children, all snug in their beds, before he takes the George Washington Bridge into the City, where he works as a Port Authority policeman. He's a veteran sergeant. He sees himself as a true professional: someone who rarely smiles, who is all business. He thinks that a certain amount of distance from his men is necessary for them to maintain proper respect for his rank."
Three recent developments have been of particular importance for efforts to uphold the rule of law and end the scandal of U.S.-sponsored torture and abuse in detention facilities abroad.
The first is the epoch-making Supreme Court decision, handed down at the end of June, in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. The Court ruled that the president is not authorized to create special military tribunals to conduct the trials of Guantanamo detainees. These tribunals failed to meet minimum standards of fairness as required under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, or in a federal district court. Creating tribunals with inadequate legal safeguards oversteps the bounds of executive authority.
Now that the dust is beginning to settle on the decisions of this last General Assembly meeting, the meaning of the amended PUP report is finally becoming clear. The Office of the General Assembly (OGA) has published a document called "Constitutional Musings #11 on Examining Officers." Item six of this paper states, "An individual may declare a scruple concerning the appropriateness of a mandatory provision. But a governing body cannot excuse a mandatory provision, for it lacks the power to set aside a provision of the Constitution. However, a candidate may still be ordained or installed so long as she/he is still willing to comply with the mandatory provisions."
Editor's Note: This article was written for "Seasons" the newsletter of the Presbyterian Church at Tenafly (N.J.) that the Rev. Lindner serves as a parish associate. The church of 400 lies a few miles outside of New York City. Four persons related to the congregation were killed when the World Trade Center Towers collapsed on September 11, 2001.
Five years ago during those terrible days that followed the attack on the World Trade Center, the Children's Ministry Team asked me to meet with a group of our children to discuss with them the events of that day and their feelings. It was September 30, 2001, the second Sunday following 9/11 when I gathered a group of our Sunday School children together.
After we spoke for a few minutes I took out a pad and pen. When talking with groups of children I often make notes of the discussion. I do this partly to record and remember all that children have shared with me. Another reason is to avoid eye contact with children. I find that groups of children will more authentically engage with one another when they do not have adult eye contact for referral about "right" and "wrong" responses.
c. 2006 Religion News Service
There is no better place to forget that the United States is at war than in church. Three years after the invasion of Iraq, stories of bloody bombings and mounting casualties still top each day's news, but remain conspicuously absent from the discourse of most neighborhood churches.
For many of these congregations, the war in Iraq hits home only when they bury a soldier whom they last knew as a pimply member of the youth group with big dreams for the future. Until then, they may close their eyes and pray for peace, asking God to protect those in harm's way. Few, however, will ask with eyes wide open how people of faith are called to respond to this particular war. As a member of the clergy for more than 20 years now, I have some idea why this is so.
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