The largest Presbyterian denomination in the U.S. continued its downward trend as it hemorrhaged more than 100 churches and 53,000 members while losing 285 ministers last year, according to statistics released this week.
The liberal Presbyterian Church (USA) (PCUSA) went from approximately 1.193 million members to approximately 1.14 million members over the past year, while the number of member churches declined from 8,813 in 2021 to 8,705, according to the data.
The numbers mark a steep drop from when the denomination boasted nearly 2.5 million members in 2000.
“We are not surprised by the numbers we are seeing,” the Rev. J. Herbert Nelson, II, the PCUSA’s stated clerk, said in a statement Monday. “While the pandemic may be over, the impact on church membership is still being felt.”
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“In the midst of the lower numbers, we continue to find encouragement in that new worshiping communities are still on the increase. We have added more than 20 in the past year, bringing our total to 267.”
“The challenge for the PC(USA) remains the same: Look for new ways to engage and welcome young people into the fold. These are dramatic and fast-changing times,” Nelson continued.
“Our world is changing, and the church needs to meet the growing needs of people who are finding themselves at a crossroads. We need to remind them that Jesus Christ is still in our midst and that means finding new, innovative ways to be church.”
The statistics also tracked reported professions of faith made by young people, which rose from 5,708 in 2021 to 7,041 in 2022.
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Conservative Presbyterians who spoke to Fox News Digital last fall laid partial blame for the mainline denomination’s decline on what they described as a departure from its historical biblical teachings.
The denomination made headlines in October when its Office of General Assembly announced that it would be adding a “nonbinary/genderqueer” option to its official church statistics in a push to be “inclusive,” according to a press release.
“I believe that the lampstand has been removed, that Christ has removed his blessing from the PCUSA, and the end result of that will be just fading into oblivion,” Zachary Groff, a Presbyterian pastor in Greenville, South Carolina, told Fox News Digital, referencing the second chapter of Revelation.
