By Mike Cole
Executive Presbyter, New Covenant Presbytery
“We will be better off in another denomination,” said the person who has decided God’s will for their congregation. That assumption has always left me wondering what is meant by “better off,” but I’ve never seen any data to support or challenge that assumption. That’s why I decided to do my own research on the subject.
The Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) graciously provided me with their 2012 statistics and the Office of the General Assembly provided our statistics for the last ten years. I tracked 85 congregations that were in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) prior to 2008 and have since left for the EPC, to gather basic statistical information and discover if there were any trends among congregations who departed for the EPC. These 85 congregations represent 20% of the current membership of the EPC, making them a statistically significant sample to study. Of note, without these 85 congregations, the EPC would have recorded a 3% loss in membership from 2011 to 2012.
If you are not a statistic “geek” you can skip to the last two paragraphs for my conclusions. Otherwise, here is a plethora of statistical information. In 2002, these 85 congregations had a collective membership of 31,822. In 2008, before any had left the PC(USA), they had declined by 601 members, a 2% loss. In the four years between 2008 and 2012, during and following their departures to the EPC, their membership losses skyrocketed to 16%.
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Can’t get to the server . . . . Would like to read the rest of the article & forward to our Session et. al.
My downtown congregation left in 2008 for the EPC. I think we lost six members – who opposed the change in denominations. We have gained many new members who want a Biblically faithful congregation after the change
Since the change, contributions picked up a lot because members were more willing to support a Biblical faithful denomination. A capital improvement campaign resulted in millions of dollars being spent to renovate and improve the sanctuary and other buildings on the campus.
More importantly, perhaps, is the change in attitude among the congregants to a more upbeat, positive, joyous mood.
Spoken like a true bureaucrat. “I still believe it is reasonable for a congregation to seek God’s wisdom and counsel regarding its affiliations,” Oh, thank you for letting us all know how we can act. Do you really think most churches are leaving or thinking about leaving to improve their numbers? Perhaps it’s because they want no part of an apostate denomination? As someone once said, “Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status {Laurence J. Peter}.
If a church is dead or upon its death throes before they split from their mothers denomination, it is doubtful that they will come to revive or come back to life. All too often there are suitable denominations down the street where worshippers can find a comfortable home. Usually what is really needed is for a new line of leadership that seeks the guidance of the Lord.
Strange how you try to obliquely conflate “advancement of the Kingdom of God should be a primary criterion by which we judge our discernment of God’s will,” and membership numbers. But even stranger that you call what you’re doing “statistics.”
This past Friday and Saturday (Feb 21-22, 2014) was the inaugural meeting of the EPC’s new Great Plains Presbytery (Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and the Dakotas), in which most of the pastors of my church were in attendance. During worship this morning, one of our associate pastors announced that at the meeting, all of the churches in attendance reported that they had experienced growth since separating from the PCUSA.