The Layman – August 2005 Volume 38, Number 3 – Posted August 8, 2005

Ask why the pews are empty After 39 years of membership losses averaging 48,524 Presbyterians per annum, it seems that somebody in Louisville would stand up and shout, “Why?” Especially now, when the losses during each of the last three years, on a percentage basis, have been the worst since the early 1970s. The three-year decline has totaled 131,645. Louisville ought to understand that, considering that the average per-member gift in the PCUSA is around $864 a year, the total lost revenue over the last three years exceeds $113 million. The stated clerk unveiled the latest decline – 43,175 members in 2004 – by casting blame on the churches. He describes the membership crisis as a “wake-up” call and urges more evangelism. But he misses the diagnosis. There are, in fact, growing evangelical congregations in the PCUSA. But they are the ones that are faithful to the gospel and more skittish about the leadership in Louisville. Some of them have already bolted because their members were unwilling to be part of a sinking denomination that doesn’t enforce its prohibition against ordaining practicing homosexuals, sanctions abortion, punishes Israel, decries capitalism, cozies up to Islam and slams President George Bush every chance it gets. Unless the wake-up call produces radical change, we believe the flight from the pews will accelerate. Many congregations are already queuing up for their exit passes. If any business experienced the losses that the PCUSA has accumulated, it would do one of two things: market studies to learn why business was plummeting, with the idea of changing its practices, or it would soon close its doors. But the leaders of the PCUSA appear not to understand the hemorrhaging. They have often casually dismissed the downfall as a product of social changes that began in the 1960s. Ask the departees In the past, denominational leaders have declared that the exodus from the PCUSA is mostly people leaving the denomination without landing in any other Christian church. But that’s wild conjecture. How do they know that? Have they asked those who left? So why don’t they ask the congregations to provide the names, addresses and telephone numbers of all the departees and then hire an independent pollster – say a George Gallup or a George Barna – to get some exit data? Maybe such a study would show that the great exodus is mainly to the Church of the Television or the Altar of the Outdoors – not to other denominations or independent congregations. The leadership in Louisville may not like the answers, and they may reject them, but they could no longer continue to operate under assumptions and to follow policies that increase the empty space and shorten the lifespan of the PCUSA.

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