Reflections on Membership Decline in the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Guest Editorial by the Rev. R. Milton Winter, pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Holly Springs, Miss.
and stated clerk of St. Andrew Presbytery

Once again the stated clerk of the General Assembly has announced a membership loss for our Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) — 43,175 in 2004. As a presbytery clerk, I help compile these figures and offer some reflection about their meaning.

I am convinced that Presbyterians are more meticulous record keepers than almost any communion. Denominations that do not make per capita assessments on membership have little incentive to review their rolls. This is especially true where statistical increase is the prime criterion for ministerial advancement.

At least it can be said that in our churches the statistical report and the actual situation are usually congruent. I am amazed at how few are present at Sunday services in proportion to the reported membership in some “megachurches.”

I also note that in our own denomination, statistical records from — say — sixty years ago — do not seem to have been kept with quite the stringency that we insist on now. Keeping figures for our presbytery, I notice that most losses occur in the “other” category, and that these usually occur after a pastor has left and before a new one is called. One Atlanta church recently “pruned the roll” and re-classified 3,000 to inactive status. This caused a statistical “hiccup” felt across our denomination!

By other measures — such as financial contributions in congregations — our denomination makes good progress. Still membership loss is real, and we must be alert to the challenge.

Many of our churches are located in small towns and rural places, where for generations the young have left for urban areas. It is said that now a growing Presbyterian church needs proximity to five things: (1) an interstate highway, (2) a college or university, (3) a federal court, (4) a regional medical center, and (5) a Super Wal-Mart.

Almost all our fast-growing congregations are in suburbs of cities. I read an article recently pointing out the same situation among Presbyterians in Ireland. This is simply reality, but I believe our members in small towns and rural places deserve an educated, thoughtful ministry whether the congregations be large or small. Jesus, after all, preached in the villages of Galilee as well as in Jerusalem.

People argue that we should reach out more to the young. But sometimes Presbyterians do their best work among older people, and so perhaps we ought also to focus on things we do well. Our opportunity in the Bible Belt to offer women a place where they may serve on equal terms is a feature of church life that we seldom emphasize.

Arguments are made that “people are leaving” the Presbyterian Church because it is too liberal. Obviously some do. Others say they feel out of place in a church that is too conservative. Studies fail to identify one simple explanation for our membership loss. But it is worth noting that conservative denominations such as the Orthodox Presbyterian and the southern Churches of Christ are also losing members.

I have seen little discussion of one factor I think is important — at least to give perspective on our situation. It is the decline of the middle class. Presbyterians are almost all members of the middle class. Scholars have said that Calvinism created the middle class. A good discussion can be had whether churches ought to be class-based — and the teaching of Jesus would lead us to doubt it. But whether Presbyterianism created the middle class or simply benefits from it, there is no denying that the demographic segment from which we draw our members is under stress.

Here are some phenomena in our culture that are shrinking in membership or support: garden clubs, civic organizations such as Rotary and the Lions, Masons and related fraternal orders, symphony, theatre, opera, ballet, art museum subscriptions, and listeners to public radio. Fewer and fewer vote or volunteer for the armed forces. So also with daily newspapers, network TV news, the number who play bridge, and even tickets to major league baseball and movie theaters!

Giving to charity as a percentage of the national income is down, and fewer apply to our national military academies. Test scores, grades in schools, along with books checked out of public libraries — same downward spiral. Fewer and fewer take liberal arts courses in universities, and if America did not have a liberal immigration policy we could not fill all our needs in mathematics, medicine and science. Some might further point to declining dollars in budgets for medical research, poverty and encouraging the arts.

Politicians are divided about how to address these concerns, but Republicans and Democrats are aware of the situation, for the middle class pays the largest share of taxes. What have all these things in common with churches? They are institutions and activities the middle class supports. The membership decline in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is almost exactly paralleled by the decline in the number who have savings accounts.

Yet some churches — both conservative and liberal — are growing. Which is to say, we are not helpless against all odds. As realtors say, “location” is very important, but there are also small churches in unpromising locations throughout our synod that carry on faithful ministries and which, for example, contribute far in excess of the denominational average.

To say that some churches are strong should not allow us to lose sight of the larger concern: that the overall growth of religion in America (counting all churches) is not keeping up with the growth of the general population.

A fact we must draw from this is that those who care for the church must attend to the health of the wider community in which the church seeks to do its work. It is not merely a matter of doctrine and strategy or the gifts of individual ministers and members; for the church and its community depend on one other.

Yet, when we see the plight of the poor, and the conditions of life in the third world, we are not excused from one moment from our calling to minister on behalf of God’s least, last, and lost — and this is something I think Presbyterians in the Synod of Living Waters do well.

The church is not called to its ministry only after it attains ideal conditions. As Christ said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9). God asks of us only that we be faithful — and if there is success, that, like faith itself, is the result of Christ’s action, not our works.

I submit that the church will find strength not merely by tinkering with the order of worship or the tempo of the choir, but by a renewed focus on the biblical callings of preaching, teaching and pastoral care. Such a prescription is never easy, but it is the one program for success that Christ has promised to bless.