The 2010 statistics are starting to come in.
The Presbyterian Church (USA) lost 61,047 members this year (-2.6%). It lost 97 churches (26 of which left for other denominations). It had 2,163 less baptisms than the previous year. It took in $73 million less than the year before. It has 74 less ministers.
The U.S. population this same year grew by over a million.
Next year, it will have less than 2 million members for the first time.
The United Church of Christ lost 31,500 members (3.5%). They are now around a million members.
The Episcopal Church is down 2.83%, with around 2 million members left.
The ELCA (Lutherans) dropped by 1.99% in 2009, or minus over 90,000 members, their largest annual drop. 2010 statistics are not yet available.
Dave,
It’s a good question, I think, about statistics from more conservative denominations as a basis of comparison. But also non-denominational and house churches as well. Yet I’m pretty certain that there’s a lot more in play in these stats than just the respective churches’ beliefs about the Bible, and it’s not all bad. That the brand of protestant, WASPy, instititional Christianity that dominated the first 60 years of the 20th century has fallen out of favor with a rapidly growing North American population is not a shock, and, in my view, signals some good things about what those churches are doing. Of course it points up critical things those churches have to address, lest they fade away into cultural obscurity (if we haven’t already). But there’s a lot more going on than the conservative churches thriving while the liberal ones die.
Pastor Jim,
The denominations you cite seem to be the more “liberal” ones, the ones less Bible-oriented. Maybe, with that in mind, those statistics can be considered good news. Do you have any statistics on the PCA, OPC, URC, LCMS, and others that are much more conservative and (dare I say it) Bible-believing? These are smaller denominations, granted, but the “way is narrow” and few find it. Thanks.
Dave