Presbyteries show little interest in evangelism
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, February 23, 2001
LOUISVILLE, Ky.– The General Assembly’s mandates for the Presbyterian Church (USA) to give priority to evangelism and new church development apparently have not worked their way into the mission of most presbyteries.
The results of a survey of the 173 presbyteries were included in member’s packets for the General Assembly Council during their meeting in Louisville on Feb. 18-24.
Only 8.1 percent of the presbyteries said they had a strategy for evangelism, 19.1 for new church development, 13.9 for redevelopment of sluggish congregations and 9.8 percent for membership growth.
The percentages rose when considering only the roughly 50 percent of the presbyteries that responded to the survey by the Evangelism and New Church Development Area, but they still were relatively low: only 17.7 percent with a strategy for evangelism, 41.8 percent for new church development, 30.4 for redevelopment of congregations and 21.5 percent for growth in membership.
The surveys sent to presbytery executives asked three questions in each of the four categories: Does your presbytery have a strategy? When was it adopted? How often do you update it?
The results were published in a five-page report, including a chart that reflected each presbytery’s response or non-response to the four categories of church growth.
The Evangelism and Church Development Program Area has established a goal of starting more than 1,000 new congregations by 2002. During the past 10 years, an average of 33 new congregations has been started annually.
Rosalie Potter, associate director for evangelism and new church development in the National Ministries division, called that record “appalling … embarrassing.”
In her report to a subcommittee of the National Ministries Division, Potter also said the best of those new starts tops out at 125 members.
Meanwhile, although beginning an average of 33 congregations a year over the last decade, membership losses in the Presbyterian Church (USA) have been nearly 10 times the gains.