Membership, not mission, top priority For many Presbyterian congregations
The Layman Online, October 27, 1999
A new study by Research Services of the Presbyterian Church (USA) says 74 percent of the responding congregations listed attracting and enlisting new members as their top priority.
Other high-ranking mission goals were increasing ministries to and with youth (64 percent), assisting members in their spiritual growth (64 percent), increasing worship attendance (64 percent) and strengthening Christian education opportunities for children (60 percent).
No other explicit goal in the survey got more than 50 percent response as a top priority.
And some goals were well down the list. Sixteen percent of the congregations ranked increased giving to presbyteries, synods and the General Assembly as a top priority.
Although the General Assembly has set development of racial-ethnic congregations as a goal, only 11 percent of the respondents ranked that as a high priority. And only 3 percent said helping to start a new church was a top priority.
Mission outside the local church was a relatively low priority. Twenty-six percent believed more should be spent on local mission; 13 percent favored increased involvement in foreign mission; and only 11 percent wanted more involvement in U.S. mission outside their communities.
James N. Quinn of Research Services said that when the priority levels of the goals were compared across congregational size, several differences were found.
“Large congregations were more likely than others to label as a top priority giving to local mission; increasing involvement in U.S. mission projects outside the community; increasing involvement in foreign mission; increasing the recruitment, training and empowerment of lay leaders; and involving more members in active discipleship roles,” he said. “Compared to small congregations, medium and large congregations were more likely to place a high priority on increasing youth ministries and less likely to place a high priority on increasing worship attendance.”