Christ calls us to be salt and light, not Splenda and reflective tape.
By Tim Laitinen, The Aquila Report.
Sometimes, success can be measured by failure.
This time, success can be found by considering an article exploring the membership free-fall afflicting America’s largest Presbyterian denomination, the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA). Just in the past four years, 463 local congregations have disassociated themselves from the PCUSA, representing a loss of about 21% of its membership.
Considering the fact that many Presbyterian churches are long-time, prominent fixtures in their communities, troubles in the PCUSA often become fodder for the secular media, not just chatty church-goers. Many of the disassociating congregations have been forced to endure a rigorous, expensive legal process to salvage their buildings and property from the clutches of the increasingly desperate denomination. It has not been pretty.
Why are so many congregations leaving their venerable denomination? It’s a mixture of things, starting with many Presbyterians becoming weary and resentful over the PCUSA’s ownership claims on buildings and property local congregants have funded, often over decades and through generations. And considering how valuable some of these church buildings are – Highland Park Presbyterian’s exquisite campus in Dallas, for example, is worth an estimated $70 million – that represents a lot of money parishioners have invested in their local churches, often under the assumption that control over the facility rests with the congregation, not the denomination.
More importantly, however, has been the PCUSA’s official stance on a variety of controversial social, moral, and religious issues – a stance that has been trending liberal for decades now. Advocates of change within the denomination like to preach inclusivity and charity, while traditionalists try to champion scripture, not culture, as the barometer by which Presbyterianism should be run. Intra-church wars have been waged over female pastors, gay elders, and gay marriage, with the denomination officially adopting liberal positions on each issue.
In a way, the PCUSA’s distress resembles a microcosm of what has gone on in Amercian society as a whole. But it hasn’t worked out well for either the denomination, or our country.
You see, the broader conflict within the PCUSA is far more tragic than property rights and women pastors. Increasingly, it stems from the willingness of many Presbyterians to diminish the role of scripture, the authority of God, and the historic interpretation of Christian doctrine when it comes to crafting a theological template to evaluate controversial issues.
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Let me start with a quote from that great theologian Chevy Chase: “It was my understanding that there would be no math.”
I don’t know that I disagree with anything Tim Laitinen says in this article, but I’m not sure about his math. In 2011 the PCUSA had 1,952,287 members. In 2015 they had 1,572,660. I believe that’s a loss of about 20%, close to Tim’s 21%.
However, the majority of PCUSA membership losses come not from churches that have left, but for other reasons (death, transfer, inactive, etc). I don’t know of any easy way to know how many of the transfer or certificate loses were from churches leaving (other than literally researching the membership number from each congregation that left), but it’s pretty safe to say that number isn’t close to 100%.
So, Tim’s number has to be wrong and I’m curious where it came from.
I wonder how long it be before the louisville sluggers start coming down on members of the Fellowship Community, just about the only group in the pcusa that still has some onservative clout, and one of the reasons I’m still in. My presbytery has roughly half a dozen pastors at some of our larger churches who are members.
After the ruling on gay marriage and all this BDS crock, the black mailing of departing churches, and the any thing goes crowd running the pcusa, it’s only a matter of time before they come after us. This article nails it down to the core, and the fact is that either louisville is in denial or doesn’t care, or maybe just a little of both.
I do not think the average Presbyterian in the pews follows breathlessly the ups, downs, and daily freak show that is all things PCUSA, be it the Wendy’s nonsense or the institutionalized antisemitism. Some do of course, consume all thing “Layman” or “Outlook”. But the vast majority just want to get on in life and church without the constant spat of insults by their denomination. And neither do they like being played for fools or morons.
I think theological traditionalists-conservatives know and are aware their denominational leadership, OGA,PMA, Louisville, UN, DC office thinks and treats them as simple rubes who can be milked for either cash or are too stupid to know they are being lied too.
The ruling majority insult, demean and humiliate their theological minorities. And assume the local church, its pastors are resources exist to serve them in their various tribal causes and politics of grievance. Basic constitutional freedoms of speech, thought, assembly increasingly under assault by GA. It is not that there has been a mass exodus from the PCUSA, as people, even true blue liberals no longer care, and are disinterested. There is anger and pain in those who have left, or attempt to do so, but the overriding emotional state of the PCUSA is apathy and indifference. There is nothing remarkable or different in or about the PCUSA that cannot be had or gained in popular-secular culture. And you do not have to pay per capita or deal with the baggage and simple leadership incompetence to support the various liberal causes many PCUSA do anyway. Their liberal leaders in the PCUSA do not seem to care or are indifferent to their own denominational collapse, so why should they or anybody else?
The ethos and ethic of the contemporary PCUSA is every person for himself, make it up as you go along, don’t like the rules, change them by either hook or crook. Good luck with that. The thin gruel dished out by the PCUSA is like a meal of rice cakes, nutritionally empty, poor tasting, never fills you up, and you are still hungry in 5 minutes after consumption.
The congregation I serve has just paid the ransom and made their exit. We are joining a more faithful denomination just as our presbytery decided to have a dramatic reading instead of Scripture, and a prayer to mother earth and the for winds.
I believe you’re right about the number, however, this year alone the drop was 95K, of which 27K were deaths. If you look at total losses, it was about 150K, however that was offset by about 55K in gains, but even that was down by 5.8K or so.
However, if you look at the totals since 2012 for “Other” Losses, which cover everything but transfers and deaths, you’ll see that total is 338,893.
Now, yes you can say that the ‘other’ category includes the usual ‘cleaning the rolls’, but still those are members that probably won’t be coming back for one reason or another. When we asked some who stopped attending, their main issue was the drift toward culture, both in theology and in policies.
Question: GA wonks have been saying that although membership is down – a lot – giving is nevertheless up. Which would seem to indicate a greater level of commitment among those who remain. What I have not seen anywhere, however, is if those financials include the monies paid by departing congregations in 2015. It might not be possible to parse the numbers – some churches are paying over time, others paying this year for last year’s departure, and so on. Still, I would be curious if the “giving” numbers include those sums paid (willingly or unwillingly) from departing congregations? I mean, some of them are paying six and seven figures to get out. That HAS to impact the year’s bottom line. Anybody out there know any figures?
Related to that, I would like to know if cash realized from the sale of closed churches is treated as a contribution and, if so, the totals for 2014 and 2015.
Since our profile is “a bunch of old white people,” it would be interesting to know if any of the increased giving includes bequests and memorials.
I have heard the moderator speak to this. He cites the number of congregations that have left but, for some reason, not the total number of members within those congregations, that is the size of these congregations. But, no matter how you count it, there is a distinct problem. (Frankly, if a good percentage is due to death, that highlights a demographic problem in and of itself.). It all becomes, a good bit more onerous given that many congregations are willing to be extorted to get out of the denomination.
He will also mention the growth of particular churches. In our local area, where one specific church was being commended for growth, especially in the millennial segment, that had much more to do with the popular and very good weekday school than it did Presbyterianism.
Nero has been fiddling for a while now.
The report on the declining PCUSA membership failed to include demographic data i.e. church membership is aging and are not being replaced by families with enough children to make up for the deaths o folder members. This is a problem for many denominations including the Southern Baptists. Roman Catholics are growing only because of the influx of Hispanics who have families with more than a handful of children. Indeed, the white middle class population is, on balance. becoming a minority.
The Layman has traditionally taken the position that PC(USA) churches that voluntarily leave should be able to simply take the RE with them. This seems to be based on the concept that the Congregations bought and paid for the land from their own resources. From what I can tell, when a group signs up (or signed up) to become part of the PC(USA), the “entrance fee” contained a easily understood clause that the physical property was to be held in trust for the denomination, and would revert to denomination ownership if the church disbanded or left. I am not as learned as most posters on this site, and have been a Layman Reader for decades. I either missed, or did not understand why leaving the RE behind would ever have been an issue. I cannot recall Layman writers ever discussing “the other side of the coin”, and would appreciate clarifying comments – preferably in very simple language.
An additional factor is that the U.S. as a country is statistically becoming increasingly “unchurched”. This factor is affecting all mainline denominations. The JW’s and the Mormons grow because of their activities in the field.
Mr. Sanders,
Let’s suppose that you join a church, and then a few years after you’ve been a member, the congregation votes while you are out of town to change the by-laws to state that each member holds his or her personal property in trust for the exclusive use and benefit of the congregation. And then a few years later, suppose that you determine that the preaching at the church you’ve joined no longer accords with your understanding of Scripture, and you want to leave to join another church down the street. However, the Session will not let you leave with your property and demand an equitable settlement for it before they will release you to do so. After all, they point out, you took an oath when you joined to support the peace, unity, and purity of the church with your time, talent, and treasure and to submit yourself to the discipline of the Session.
So, does that sound fair to you?
Thank you for the explanation and simplification of what is happening within. The church I grew up in dismantled in the late 90’s and it was a painful process. Even at the time, Presbytery seemed more concerned with dollars and harassment than Grace and Mercy as commanded. God reminded us all this would take place and that judgment would come to the churches first. For many years I wondered why?? I can see why now. I think more people are getting used to the idea that at judgement God won’t ask what denomination did you belong with, but ‘do you believe and love me’? We can talk numbers and process all day long but until we remember our original mission, to show by word and deed, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the road will be very difficult. I realize I am simplifying the situation in this comment but I think most here are on the same page…….thank you again, for being a beacon.
d
I can help you understand, you know nothing about trust law, those who paid for it own it, and they decide who gets what. Hope that helps.
Jon, the newly minted PCUSA only added the “trust clause” to their constitution in 1983. Most congregations came into existence long before that. They would argue that no one body could unilaterally impose a trust on another body without their agreement. So, most congregations chartered after 1983 are clearly bound by the trust. But those who were formed before have a fair argument that no valid trust exists.
PS-The Layman has lots of resources on this with a link on their home page. I don’t know how you missed it.
If one could find a “property in trust” clause in the papers of the Philadelphia Synod of 1745 then I think there would be a valid point. But the Property in Trust clause was a graft into the church in 1974 in the old UPC. Nothing like it existed in the pre-1957 PCNA, pre 83 PCUS, or any other historic reformed body, ARPC, RCA, CPC going back to the 18th century.
To assume a post 1983 PCUSA has some legal or moral right to the property of a church, or some form of compensation, with a deed and charter prior to 1983, 1974 or any other point in history. One must assume the logical and legal absurdity that somehow the founding members of a church in 1798 for example, my current church, meant to place all legal and financial trusts in the current entity called the PCUSA 2016. Or that the church fathers of 1798 really meant or implied to grant all rights and authority to an entity 250 years in the future, regardless of its doctrine ,rules, confessions, policies, again legal and ethical absurdities. But absurdity is all the PCUSA has going for it these days.
Mr. Sanders-I think others have addressed your legal question, but there is also a moral component to this. Even if PCUSA has the legal right to require departing churches to forfeit property that they had acquired for the worship and service of our Lord, what moral right does it have? And given the radical changes in position adopted by PCUSA, should there not be a measure of grace extended by permitting dissenting congregations to part with their facilities in order to pursue worship of Christ consistent with their consciences?
Al, now that makes sense. Ideally, if the rules were changed in 1983, the denomination should have given the congregations associating prior to that time a way out of the PC (USA) in the future, along with their property. Those coming after would have signed up knowing that the reverse would be true.
Some faithful PCUSA leaders hold out hope that the 1001 New Worshiping Communities will be the harbinger of a new spring season for the denomination, and point out that since its launch in 2012 there are 339 new worshiping communities on the books that didn’t exist or hadn’t been counted up to that point. The hope is that by 2022, 1001 new communities will have formed. But reality is not so rosy. The office of Research Services reports that the median active participation in these communities is 33, involving somewhere north of 11,000 people total (if the median is anywhere near the mean in this case). On the other hand, while 339 new communities exist (more or less), between 2012 and 2015 the PCUSA lost 620 established churches either to dissolution, dismissal or merging (a strategy to stave off imminent death in most cases). It doesn’t take an algebra whiz to see where those two trajectories lead.