PCUSA membership loss rate increases 25.4 percent The Layman Online Monday, May 1, 2000 The membership loss rate for the Presbyterian Church (USA) increased by 25.4 percent from 1998 to 1999, according to statistical data released by the office of the stated clerk on May 1. A loss of 27,473 Presbyterians in 1999 reduced total membership in the denomination to 2,560,201. That's an attrition rate of 1.1 percent. The 1998 attrition rate was 0.83 percent. It was 0.85 percent in 1997. In preceding years, the attrition rate averaged more than 1 percent, peaking at 1.6 percent in 1994 with 43,930 members lost. That was the year that the ReImagining God controversy erupted in the PCUSA. No single event in 1999 launched a similar exodus, but the presentation of Women of Faith Awards to two lesbian activists and a leader in the ReImagining God movement generated a strong backlash. The 1999 data said contributions by Presbyterians increased slightly, by 6 percent to $726 per member. Membership in the Presbyterian Church (USA) has declined steadily since the 1960s, when Presbyterian denominations that now comprise the PCUSA counted more than 4 million members.

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