The narrative of Mainline Protestant decline is well established. Few people, however, understand how that decline has impacted the typical congregation in any given denomination. PC(USA) Decline The Presbyterian Church (USA) is the denomination I have been associated with longer than any other. In the past, I've shared extensively about the topic of PC(USA) membership decline, including PC(USA) Membership Declines by 62% (April 2022)PC(USA) Membership – 30 Years of Decline Read More …
Presbyterian
Top 10 Posts of 2022 (#2020)
2022 has been a year of transition and change - planned and unplanned. My wife and I relocated to a new home and said goodbye to a congregation, I survived a brutal assault, and I parted ways with the academic institution that awarded my M.Div. The top ten posts published on So What Faith during 2022 (based on page views in 2022 to date) reflect these life happenings and also feature posts about the two Mainline Protestant denominations I know best: Ten Reasons for Concern About HSU's Read More …
Praise the Lord (#1987)
Passage for Reflection: Psalm 148 I grew up in the Presbyterian Church. We were an intellectual bunch who fit the stereotypical label: “frozen chosen.” No one spoke up in worship, and I could not imagine the liturgy being interrupted by an exuberant “praise the Lord” shouted from the pews. Now, I live in downtown Fort Worth, surrounded by large buildings of varying shapes and sizes connected by roads and sidewalks. The limited remaining undeveloped land is more likely to be occupied by a Read More …
PC(USA) Membership Declines by 62% (#1984)
Since the denomination was formed in 1983, the Presbyterian Church (USA) has experienced a membership decline of nearly 62%, shrinking from 3,121,238 members in 1983 to 1,193,770 members in 2021. The year over year decline from 2020 to 2021 resulted in the loss of 51,584 members, which equals an annual decline of 4.1%. Given recent losses this net loss is well within the range one would expect. 2021: -51,584 members2020: -56,691 members2019: -50,635 members Older and Grayer More Read More …
Pandemic Worship: 10 Sacred Spaces (#1955)
A year before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, I wrote "Visiting 50+ Churches in Dallas-Fort Worth," highlighting congregations I had worshipped with since relocating to Texas from Florida. When the pandemic started, I stopped attending worship in person. After experiencing a full year of life without attending corporate worship, I gradually reentered that world. March 7 - I attended my first outdoor worship serviceMarch 14 - I attended my first indoor worship service Now, seven Read More …
Reopening for In Person Worship: 5 Congregations (#1926)
Over the last four weeks I've visited five mainline Protestant congregations in the Dallas - Fort Worth metro area that have recently reopened for worship. All five experiences required that I pre-register to attend, and that I commit to a covenant or list of expectations regarding my participation (i.e., not attend if I had a fever or was experiencing COVID-like symptoms, while attending wear a mask and remain socially distanced from others while indoors, etc.). Additionally, all five Read More …
Giving Up the Old and White Church (#1924)
I've spent my entire life in congregations affiliated with Mainline Protestant denominations. For Lent, I’m giving up something big: the church I always knew. And, unlike past Lenten disciplines that ended on Easter, this change is one I expect to be permanent. Here in the final post in this series, I'm giving up the old and white church. Old According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median age of all Americans is 38.4 years (2019). By comparison, the Pew Research Center Read More …
Giving Thanks: 10 Ministry Experiences (#1900)
Thanksgiving is a lifestyle, not simply a holiday scheduled the fourth Thursday of November. In the spirit of continuing the focus on thankfulness, today I'm reflecting on and giving thanks for the ten different ministry settings I've served. These settings vary in many ways, yet are all committed to making more real God's kin-dom on earth Founding: Less than 10 years ago to more than 150Size: Less than 100 active participants to more than 2,000Denomination: 5 Mainline Protestant Read More …
No Longer Presbyterian (#1895)
Donald Trump was raised in the Presbyterian church, and in recent years continued to identify as Presbyterian despite not holding membership in a Presbyterian congregation or regularly attending worship. One week ago today Trump attended worship at the non-denominational International Church of Las Vegas. A few days after this experience, Trump changed his religious affiliation from Presbyterian to non-denominational Christian. Rather than announcing this shift in a televised event, Trump Read More …
PC(USA) Membership Declines by “Only 50K” (#1872)
The Office of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) recently published denominational statistics for 2019. I first learned of this new data by reading an article titled "PC(USA) Statistics Show a Leveling Off in Membership Decline." Recent Decline While the denomination has been in decline since its formation, this article seeks to tell the more positive micro story within that ongoing macro story. It seeks to achieve this by focusing on recent positive trends, Read More …