48 Confessing Churches among ‘fastest growing;’
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, March 12, 2004
The Research Services office of the Presbyterian Church (USA) recently compiled a list of the 400 fastest-growing congregations in the denomination. The standard for “fastest growing” was the percentage increase in worship from 1998 to 2002.
Research Services also provided similar data to the U.S. Congregational Life Survey for a recently completed study in which congregations on the top-400 list were asked questions about their programs and emphases. Their answers were compared to responses from 523 other Presbyterian congregations that were selected randomly.
Worship attendance was used as the primary factor to determine the top 400 because it is generally regarded as a better measure than church membership when considering the vitality and mission of a local congregation.
The purpose of the study was to provide some guidance to congregations that want to grow.
Generally, the comparison between the top 400 (based on survey responses from 93 of the 400) demonstrated that there are a number of differences between them and the randomly selected congregations.
The U.S. Congregational Life Survey said the fast-growing congregations offer more worship services, are more likely to use contemporary music, tend to be more theologically conservative, do more community ministry, spend more time orienting new members, attract younger worshipers and place more emphasis on preaching and spiritual life.
While Research Services declined to provide The Layman Online a list of congregations that had participated in the survey – which is part of its confidentiality agreement with the U.S. Congregational Life Survey – it did furnish The Layman Online with its “top-400” list in an Excel file.
Sorting that file according to a number of data provided some interesting information:
- All of the congregations on the list had substantial increases in the percentage of people who attended worship in 2002 versus 1998. Those increases ranged from 47 percent to 391 percent.
- But nearly a third of the 400 congregations (131) actually lost members, even though more people turned up at worship.
- 48 congregations that are affiliated with the Confessing Church Movement within the Presbyterian Church (USA) are on the top-400 list. The list includes only four congregations affiliated with More Light Churches and/or the Covenant Network of Presbyterians.
- Six of the 16 largest congregations on the top-400 list are affiliated with the Confessing Church Movement.
- The top 400 includes 11 congregations with 1,000 or more members.
- 237 of the top-400 congregations have 100 or fewer members; 131 have 50 or fewer; and 26 have 25 or fewer. The smaller congregations are the ones that tend to have the highest growth in worship attendance. For instance, one five-member congregation is included. Because its average worship attendance in 2002 was four vs. only two in 1998, it got credit for a 100-percent increase in attendance.
- Accumulatively, the top 400 did show aggregate growth of 20 percent from 1998 to a total membership of 88,839 in 2002. The actual gain for the top 400 was 28,596. Overall, the denomination lost 135,705 members from 1998 to 2002.
- 31 of the top-400 congregations are new church developments that were organized after 1998. The rest of the list includes one congregation that was organized in the 17th century (1640); 19 in the 18th century; 178 in the 19th century; and 210 in the 20th century.
- One of the fastest-growing – and largest – congregations in the denomination didn’t make the cut. That’s Saxe Gotha Presbyterian Church in Lexington, S.C., where membership grew by 40.8 percent from 1998 to 2002 and worship attendance increased by 41.8 percent. Saxe Gotha has 3,819 members as of Dec. 31, 2002. Saxe Gotha is affiliated with the Confessing Church Movement.
- Overall, the top 400 did have a high proportion of members (78.7 percent) attending worship services. As a whole, the denomination’s figure is about 50 percent. · The top 400 represent 3.6 percent of the congregations in the PCUSA.