Slide from the ‘Congregations leaving the Presbyterian Church (USA)’ PowerPoint presentation.
A presentation given last October by current and former members of the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s Research Services concluded that a large majority of the congregations that have left the PCUSA since 2006 were conservative churches that “were tired of battling the more moderate majority over various issues, pre-eminent among them the question of ordination of sexually active gays and lesbians to the ministry.”
The October 2014 presentation also predicted that the pace of departures from the PCUSA in 2015 would depend “in part on how presbyteries vote on a constitutional amendment to redefine marriage from ‘between a man and a woman’ to ‘between two people,’ …”
PCUSA presbyteries approved that amendment the Book of Orderchanging the denomination’s definition of marriage so that same-sex weddings may be conducted by PCUSA pastors and in PCUSA churches five months after the presentation was given.
If, like the report states, the majority of the congregations leaving the PCUSA are conservative churches, it is very probable that the pace will accelerate.
According to “Congregations leaving the Presbyterian Church (USA),” which was presented the annual meeting of the Religious Research Association held Oct. 31 in Indianapolis, there have been two “major” periods of congregational departures in the PCUSA:
- From 1983-1991, when a total of 111 congregations with 31,107 members left.
- Beginning around 2006 and still continuing. At the time of the presentation, a total of 396 congregations with 118,524 members had left the PCUSA. Only 13 of those, with 650 members, joined another mainline denomination.
The 2006-present ‘departure era’
The Research Services presentation said that this era began slowly, and “cannot be traced with certainty to any particular event, but rather appears to have started in a few of the 1,000+ member, more conservative PCUSA congregations that were tired of battling the more moderator majority over various issues.”
Of the 383 congregations cited by the presentation that left the PCUSA for other-than-Mainline denominations, 61 percent – or 232 – were in the Confessing Church Movement.
The Confessing Church Movement began in 2001 when a single church developed a confessional statement, which was later adopted by its presbytery and then by thousands of PCUSA sessions. The movement centered on the foundational truths that:
- The Bible alone is the Word of God and the sole authority for faith and life;
- Jesus Christ alone is the Way of salvation, the Truth of God’s Word and the Life of the church; and
- The Holy Spirit continues to work to bring people into conformity with the will of God, toward holiness, including living within fidelity in marriage between a man and woman or chastity in singleness.
While the exodus from the PCUSA was gradual at first, the presentation stated that it grew “especially in 2012” following the PCUSA’s approval of ordaining gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people as pastors, elders and deacons.
There was also an increase beginning in early 2012 after a new denomination — ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians — was formed.
Slide from the ‘Congregations leaving the Presbyterian Church (USA)’ PowerPoint presentation.
“Momentum continues with efforts in the PCUSA to change the definition of marriage to ‘two people,’” according to the presentation.
Looking at additional statistics from the PCUSA and other Presbyterian denominations that fact is being proven true.
The PCUSA’s comparative statistics for 2014 – released in May of 2015 – show that the denomination dismissed 101 congregations during the year. ECO grew by 77 churches in 2014, and between January and May of 2015 had added 17 more churches. On July 9, the web site listed 211 congregations as members. A large majority of those have come from the PCUSA.
The Evangelical Presbyterian Church grew by 46 churches between May 30, 2014 and May 26, 2015, increasing the number of churches from 520 to 566. All but nine of those were from the PCUSA. The EPC tracks church movement from May of one year until May of the next, with the list being revealed at the annual June General Assembly meeting.
The 1983-1991 ‘departure era’
The Presbyterian Church (USA) was formed in 1983, when the United Presbyterian Church in the USA (UPCUSA) and the Presbyterian Church US (PCUS) were reunited, following their split decades before over the Civil War.
Slide from the ‘Congregations leaving the Presbyterian Church (USA)’ PowerPoint presentation.
When the two denominations reunited, each agreed upon a single constitution that contained a “trust clause,” which claimed that the new denomination held all church property in trust for the PCUSA. Since the PCUS – the southern denomination – didn’t have a trust clause in its constitution, those congregations were given a seven year window to leave the PCUSA with their property.
Most of those churches, according to the “Congregations leaving” presentation, joined the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA).
The PCA was organized in December of 1973 when delegates, representing approximately 260 congregations with a membership of more than 41,000 that had left the PCUS, held a constitutional assembly at Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama.
The data for “Congregations leaving the Presbyterian Church (USA),” was compiled and presented by Joelle Kopacz of Research Services, Jack Marcum emeritus, Research Services and Ida Smith formerly of Research Services.
The PCUSA’s Research Services provides a wide variety of services including articles and reports, demographics information, statistics, program evaluations and Ten-Year Trends for the denomination.
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Interesting article. There is one factual error. The PCUS, the southern denomination, did have a trust clause inserted in its 1982 Book of Church Order, something that had never been there before. This fact was then covered up in the wording of the PC(USA)’s first Book of Order in 1983, and every subsequent edition, where churches which took the property exemption were allowed to hold their property under the terms of their denomination’s constitution “at the time of reunion”. Those terms never were republished in the PC(USA), thus lulling southern congregations into a false sense of security that they had retained ownership of their property. Now the myth perpetuated by the PC(USA) is that the trust clause ALWAYS was there. The only way to get to the truth is to compare the wording of the PCUS Book of Church Order in 1982, where it was inserted, and any earlier version, where it did not exist. I set the two versions side by side in the book I wrote about this in 2012.
The PCUSA death spiral has three root causes.
-The systemic and structural decline of mainline Christianity (1975-present) which has effected many denominations.
-The decline of ‘denominationalism” as either a branding or identity for houses of worship, and the rise of the independent, evangelical mega-church movement of the 1980s/90s.
-Most importantly, the self-inflicted and self-generated wounds of governmental incompetence, managerial arrogance and stupidity (PMA example, OGA) and a classic theological schism caused by apostasy to historical creeds and confessions.
All trends are systemic, structural and irreversible.
What is know today as the PCUSA will structurally collapse into the framework of a union with the UCC, UU, ECUSA, CC (DC) or another like minded liberal body. As stated earlier, they will find a way to bring the property in trust clause forward into their new configuration.
I can’t believe that anyone that has given any thought to the continuing exodus of churches from the PCUSA could not in 30 seconds or less come up with the same conclusion as given in the first paragraph. The exodus will continue, both in congregations and individuals such as myself who left the church I grew up in.
It cannot help that PCUSA continually aligns itself with left-wing dictators like the Castros in Cuba and the Iranian leaders. Just today, the Stated Clerk applauded the appeasement deal with Iran. The fact that they are celebrating in the streets of Tehran gives him no pause. Why would he want to align himself with a regime that denies the Holocaust, calls for the death to Israel and the U.S., and punishes homosexuality by death? The only answer I can come up with is that his allegiance to the Democrat party is his strongest affiliation.
Looking at figure 1: – {slide from ‘congregations leaving the Presbyterian Church (USA)’ PowerPoint presentation}, if the first period (1983-91) was a wave, the second period (2006-?) looks to be a developing tsunami! Batten down the hatches! They aren’t even comparable in magnitude, either on the church departure or member departure counts. Although 2013 member loss is slightly less than in 2012, it is not clear to me that a maxima has been reached for either of the two quantities being graphed. Time will tell.
Since 1975, the UPC/PCUS/PCUSA root has lost about 45-50K members per year. The pace has accelerated due to demographic, population changes, and general PCUSA incompetence in theology and governance. The liberal church is in the mists of a classic theological schism. The first since the days of the PCA. The pace will pick up speed for the balance of the decade as the dust settles.
Once all said and done by about 2020, the PCUSA will settle out at about 800K-1 mil, about the size of the UCC now. As stated prior, it will be about that time the entire PCUSA structure collapses in the UCC. The PMA has already outsourced much of its fund raising capacity to the UCC.
In other words every 24 hours/7days a week/365, about 140 people leave, die, depart, fall of the grid in the PCUSA, for about the last 40 years. Tomorrow is a brand new day.
As far as Cuba, the embargo was a joke, with Iran at least give this a chance, because Iraq turned out so well for us, and Iran has twice the population. Parsons needs to stick bean counter, not his assinine pronouncements.
I can understand why people feel that they must leave denominations. However, the church is needed more than ever. Daily, We must: 1. Worship and praise God 2. Nurture and build up the Body of Christ 3. Engage in a comprehensive Christian Education program for all ages 4. Do mission work on a local, national, and global basis 5. Engage in biblical stewardship involving time, talent, and treasure 6. Share the good news of the gospel with a world willing to hear it 7. Be a spiritual beacon to the communities where we are located 8. Continue to dream dreams and see visions of where God is calling us to go.
Excellent.
Fantastic comment . This is why all our family and friends quit PCUSA. Painful, but all for the best spiritually.
Changing particular churches or denominations would not preclude any of those actions from being performed. No one denomination can lay exclusive mantle to be “The Church”. We are each small parts of the Church Universal. The applicable question would be where are we call to serve and worship.
In the early 1960’s the predecessor entities of the current PCUSA represented 2.3% of the US population. Based on the recently released 2014 numbers the PCUSA was then about 0.5% of the US population. I’m beginning to suspect that even those reported numbers are padded in the sense that rolls are not being purged and many have simply left without saying goodbye. Just a guess, but I’d say the current functional membership of the PCUSA is no more than half of the reported membership. The last time I saw the median age of membership reported was in 2011 and it was then 63 years of age. I think you’re rather generous in your projected life of the denomination.
It seems to me, the critical weakness was in governance. (re PCUSA and its roots) Prior to the twentieth century, good governance could have expelled bad theology. Uneasy truce with bad theology has resulted in bad theology forcing out good theology. In my humble opinion. Or, am I missing something in my early US presbyterian history?
In the PCUSA the polity has morphed into a winner take all, power dynamic, enforced by the permanent occupation of the GAs and the process by the OGA and the various special interest lobbies aligned with Louisville. This was more or less codified in the last nFOG. Administrative fiat, AI’s, are the tool of choice and 50.5-49.5 pluralities are rammed home by the GA apparatus as super majorities.
One could understand the lust for power of the various radical left identity movements, which now operate the denomination. One could even understand their motivations. But it is their sheer incompetence and stupidity in matters of government and process that continue to drive the denomination into the ground, the offensive, ham handed pronouncements of the Office of Stated Clerk, the Moderator on his eternal apology and explain tour, PMA, lawyers, lawsuits, the brain drain, the institutional rot and collapse is on their watch, and they can do nothing to reverse the spiral. What they brought to the PCUSA, they will bring to the UCC, and in some years, we will talk about their institutional failures as well.
Generally agree. This statement, though, conservative churches that were tired of battling “the more moderate majority” is very misleading.
First, some congregations have postponed entering into the discernment process until Amdt.&sbsp;14F was ratified by a majority of presbyteries, and others are waiting to see how the change will affect their specific congregation before doing so.
Second, the discernment process is not a short one in many presbyteries and could last as long as 2-3 years before a congregation is dismissed.
Third, many congregations are divided on this issue, as recent cases have shown. It may take some time before the orthodox “factions” in these congregations organize themselves to begin worshiping apart from their PC(USA) congregation.
Regardless of the losses stemming from the PC(USA)’s most recent compromise to the world, the problem remains that the PC(USA) holds to a pluralistic worldview that inherently cannot give non-Christians a compelling reason why they should become a Christian, let alone a Presbyterian. Consequently, the PC(USA) is making very few converts from the world. The average age of its membership is continuing to increase, and as the older members die off, they are not being replaced. The PC(USA) membership decline will continue unabated unless and until the PC(USA) repents of its compromises to the world, trusts in Jesus Christ alone as He is truly revealed in the inerrant Word of God, and begins once again to tell sinners that they need to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Chrsit alone for salvation from the penalty, power, and presence of sin in order to become people for His own possession who are zealous for good works.
Yes the term “the more moderate majority” is a misleading term, for the majority are not moderate at all but are hell bent on removing anything that goes against the opinion of the world.
Thank you, Powell. I had a memory of that clause–and I am not astounded, in the least, that it was not republished in later years. Sad to say, the congregations already in the Northern Church (as we called it in the South) were not given this same protection.