Mainline Protestant bodies lose nearly 300 congregations
The Layman Online, December 28, 2006
Mainline Protestant denominations, which have declined sharply since their heyday in the 1960s, lost hundreds of congregations during 2006 and possibly are poised to lose even more in 2007.
Three of the denominations – the Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Church of Christ and the Episcopal Church (USA) – lost nearly 300 congregations after their national governing bodies began abandoning their historic ban on ordaining practicing homosexuals.
The largest loss occurred in the United Church of Christ, a congregationalist denomination that – unlike the PCUSA and ECUSA – allows its churches to leave with their property.
Faithful and Welcoming Churches, a UCC renewal organization, lists 220 congregations that have left the denomination since July 2005 when the national General Synod voted in favor of ordaining homosexuals and performing weddings for same-gender couples.
The American Anglican Council publishes its membership and lists the congregations that have left the ECUSA and affiliated with other bodies, including Anglican provinces in Africa and South America. The council’s total membership is 317, including 63 congregations that have disaffiliated from the ECUSA. The leaders of several other Episcopal congregations have voted to leave the ECUSA and final disaffiliation will come in 2007.
In addition, the Diocese of San Joaquin gave first-reading approval in December to amend the diocese’s constitution by listing it as an Anglican body rather than Episcopal. A second reading of the proposal will occur at the diocese’s convention in 2007. If approved in a second vote, many of the San Joaquin congregations will leave the ECUSA.
The departures from the ECUSA focus on the installation of Bishop V. Eugene Robinson, who left his wife and children to live with his homosexual partner. They also are an expression of dissatisfaction with the election of the ECUSA’s presiding bishop, an advocate of ordaining homosexuals and same-gender marriages.
The congregations of more than a dozen congregations in the PCUSA have voted to leave the denomination. Many of those are currently involved in civil cases to try to keep their property from being claimed by the denomination.
The major exodus from the PCUSA could occur after the New Wineskins Association of Churches holds its convocation in Orlando Feb. 8-9. The association’s leaders have had conversations with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, a denomination begun in 1981 when 12 mainline congregations left the United Presbyterian Church (USA), one of the forerunners to the PCUSA. Today, the EPC has 190 congregations with more than 70,000 members.
The EPC has proposed measures to provide a “safe haven” for association and other PCUSA congregations.
In the meantime, New Wineskins leaders say they will propose a disaffiliation plan for member congregations that wish to leave the PCUSA at their convocation.
Three denominations closely tied to the UCC, ECUSA and PCUSA – the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Methodist Church and the American Baptist Church – also have lost congregations, but reports are scattered.