The cover story of the January 2013 edition of The Lutheran is “Shrinking Church,” an article focusing on the pragmatic issues of decline within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). To substantiate the problem, Nicole Radziszewski notes the following statistics about the ELCA:
- In 2010, almost 30% of congregations had an average worship attendance of fewer than 50 people.
- From 2003 to 2011, average weekly worship attendance dropped 26%.
- From 2009 to 2010, denominational membership decreased 5.9 %, the sharpest rate of decline among mainline denominations (according to the National Council of Churches).
- Continued decline (the default position),
- Death as a result of decline and the inability to create enough resources to continue (over 1,000 ELCA congregations have closed their doors for good in the last decade alone), and
- Growth (as the result of change and renewal).
So What?
The decades long decline of mainline denominations continues. Many congregations are asking hard questions now because they have no choice but to face reality as their resources continue to dwindle.
Stability is more often than not a myth if understood as a congregation remaining the same in terms of overall size and resources for an extended period of time. While a temporary plateau is possible, over the longer term this will give way to a season of growth or decline.
- Is your congregation growing, declining, or relatively stable? What do you believe are the primary contributors to such?
- Are most congregations in your denomination in decline? If so, how do you believe the denomination and growing churches within it can help reverse this trend?