There has been a lot of talk in most mainline churches (including the UMC) lately about decreasing numbers and what this means for the future of these denominations. But contrary to popular opinion, some recent articles indicate that these denominations are not alone in these declines.
A recent statement by Frank Page, president of the Southern Baptist Convention said that if nothing is done, they will lose 22,000 churches by the year 2030. No, that is not a typo, he did say 22,000 churches. That is half the churches they currently have. This year they also had their third year of decline in baptisms, reaching the lowest number since 1987. Since believers baptism is the key piece of how Baptists identify themselves this is a crucial statistic.
While current membership stands at just over 16 million, many people believe this is an inflated number. There have recently been several motions to have churches purge their membership roles of inactive people, but these have been rejected for fear of what the true numbers would like look. They, like the Methodists of years past, like being the largest Protestant denomination in the country.
Another conservative denomination has also seen a drop-off in membership. The Presbyterian Church in America (this is not the PCUSA which is the one most people are familiar with) saw their first numerical decline last year since their founding in 1973. The moderator said this loss was attributable to a purge in membership rolls from a megachurch in Florida, but that they should be concerned about deeper trends. The PCUSA also recorded their largest one year loss ever.
So what do we do about this? That is a topic we will spend a lot more time discussing in the near future.
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