While the decline wasn’t as big as 2012, the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s reported membership loss in 2013 is still alarming. According to the 2013 statistics for the PCUSA, the denomination lost 89,296 members in 2013 bringing the total membership to 1,760,200. That’s down 4.83 percent from 2012’s total membership of 1,849,496. The 2012 decline was…
By Rob Kerby The headlines coming out of the Episcopal Church’s annual U.S. convention are stunning — endorsement of cross-dressing clergy, blessing same-sex marriage, the sale of their headquarters since they can’t afford to maintain it. The American branch of the Church of England, founded when the Vatican balked at permitting King Henry VIII to…
By Andrew E. Harrod Optimism literally projected on screen at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s (ELCA) 2013 Churchwide Assembly in Pittsburgh running from August 12-17, 2013, cannot ultimately hide the membership decline that has accompanied this denomination since its origins in 1987. Although much heralded 25 years ago as a unification of American Lutherans,…