Today the Office of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) released the general membership statistics for 2008.  There  is the full table of membership numbers and financial information, a table that breaks out the financial information, and a table of miscellaneous information, like the largest presbyteries and racial ethnic breakdown.

In addition there is a statement from the Stated Clerk, Gradye Parsons, another from the Director of Racial Ethnic and Women’s Ministries Rhashell Hunter, and one from the Director of Evangelism and Church Growth Eric Hoey.

I expect that we will have to wait a bit longer for the presbytery breakdowns on the Comparative Statistics site.

First the numbers:
Membership declined from 2,209,546 at the end of 2007 to 2,140,165 at the end of 2008.  That is a net decline of 69,381 members or 3.1%.  This is slightly higher than the 2.5% loss in 2007.

Gains by profession or reaffirmation of faith were 64,701.  Gains by certificate transfers were 28,691. And gains by other means were 10,136.  All of those categories showed a decrease from their 2007 numbers.

The church transferred 34,101 members from the Church Militant to the Church Triumphant (i.e. deaths), and transfered 34,340 members to other denominations that we are in communication with by certificated transfer.  An additional 104,428 were simply removed from the rolls.  And every one of these values was higher than in 2007.

The denomination had a net loss of 69 churches, or 0.64%, decreasing from 10,820 to 10,751.  And the denomination had a net loss of ministers of 82, or 0.38%, from 21,368 to 21,286.  The number of ministers per church stayed about even at 1.97 in 2007 and 1.98 in 2008.  The average number of members per church declined from 204.2 in 2007 to 199.1 in 2008.

In the financial numbers the contributions declined slightly from $2.162 billion to $2.137 billion, a decrease of $24 million or 1.1%.  However, on a per-member basis the giving rose from $978.54 to $998.94.  A ray of hope in though economic times.

The other significant improvement is highlighted by the Rev. Rhashell Hunter where she points out that racial ethnic membership has risen from 4.7% in 1998 to 7.5% in 2008.  Not the hoped for 10% but still a significant improvement.

Now, the reality check:  For those that are looking for an easy answer to the decline by saying that churches are moving to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church take a close look at the numbers.  From the Layman’s chart I count at most 10 churches and about 8,000 members that have left the PC(USA) in 2008 to find a better theological fit.  Interestingly the just-released 2008 statistics show 25 churches transferred in 2008 and 65 dissolved.  That leaves 59 churches and 130,768 members who left under other circumstances.  While theological differences may be one cause for membership decline the numbers don’t show a mass exodus to a sister denomination.  In fact in his piece Gradye Parsons correctly points out that people tend to drift away from the church.  That is where the PC(USA) must concentrate to stop the membership loss.

Now, down off soap box and on to other things.