Len Wilson just started a new job yesterday in “an executive creative and communication position” at Peachtree Presbyterian Church (Atlanta, GA), one of the largest Presbyterian congregations in America with an average worship attendance of around 7,000. Recently, he blogged about attendance and membership patterns in the United Methodist Church. In a rather comprehensive piece, he compared the ranks of the top twenty-five conferences by both membership and worship attendance. These statistics were placed in the larger context of the denomination as a whole using data from the most recent year available (2009):
Total membership in United Methodist congregations in the United States was 7,679,850 for the year 2009. Total average weekly worship attendance was 3,125,513, or about 40% of membership.
So What?
Think of your own congregation. What percentage of your membership attends a worship service on a typical weekend? Is that number significantly different from the 40% national average of the United Methodist Church? If so, what are the primary reasons your number is much higher or much lower?