The number of congregations belonging to Presbyterian Church (USA) fell below the 10,000 mark during 2014, according to statistics released by the denomination.
PCUSA earlier this month reported that it had 9,829 congregations in 2014, which represents a decline from the 10,038 congregations it had in 2013.
110 congregations were listed as dissolved and another 101 were dismissed to other denominations. In contrast, in 2014 PCUSA had 15 new congregations organized.
The mainline denomination also continued to decrease in members, in 2014 PCUSA had approximately 1.667 million members, in contrast to 1.76 million in 2013.
In a statement released last week, the Reverend Gradye Parsons, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the PC(USA), said that numbers were but one indicator of vitality.
“Membership statistics and church numbers tell one story, but it’s not the entire message of how the PC(USA) is impacting the world,” said the Rev. Parsons.
“God continues to breathe new life into our work and challenges us to find new, creative ways to touch and transform lives.”
Parsons also noted that of those congregations remaining, about 42 percent of them had 150-599 members, showing that overall “the denomination is settling into the new thing God is creating.”
“The PC(USA) is a church made up of vibrant congregations doing their best to live out the gospel of Jesus Christ in their communities and in the world,” said Parsons.
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SOURCE: The Christian Post
Michael Gryboski
