Rates of decline in membership and congregations have remained steady in recent years
by Layton Williams Berkes | Presbyterian News Service
The Interim Unified Agency of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) released its annual report on church statistics this month with no particular surprises. The numbers in the report reflect statistics from 2023, which saw a decrease in the number of members, ministers and churches across the denomination, in keeping with trends from recent years. Meanwhile, new worshiping communities saw an impressive rate of growth.
There were almost 46,000 fewer members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in 2023 than in 2022. In terms of raw numbers, the number of members lost was fewer in 2023 by several thousand than in the previous two years, although in terms of percentage loss, the rates are comparable. Total membership within the denomination still hovers over the 1 million mark, at just under 1.1 million.
There were 195 fewer ministers reported in 2023 than in 2022. That is a loss of 1.1%, compared to a loss of 1.5% in 2022 and 1.7% in 2021. In 2023, the total number of ministers was almost 18,000. While the number of newly ordained pastors decreased in 2023 to 145, that statistic is roughly stable when considered over a period of the last several years. 2023 saw a loss of 133 churches, bringing the total number of churches to 8,572. These declines were expected and remain largely consistent with trends over recent years.
The Rev. Jihyun Oh, Executive Director and Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Interim Unified Agency of the PC(USA), acknowledged the difficulties reflected in the 2023 report, but also expressed hope.
The Rev. Jihyun Oh
“I think it can be easy for us to see the decline in numbers and lose hope. We are certainly facing challenges, and we are trying to address those in various expressions of the denomination,” Oh said. “However, there are also vital ministries and faithful discipleship represented in the statistics across the full range of faith community types and sizes. God continues to do new things in us and through us.”
While there were declines overall, there were some notable areas of growth. In particular, new worshiping communities saw an increase of 41 to 308 communities total, which is double the growth of new worshiping communities from 2022. The number of reported genderqueer or nonbinary members increased by 230, from 1,317 to 1,547, a 17% increase.
The Rev. Dr. Tim Cargal, who oversaw the completion of the report as Interim Director of Mid Council Ministries, notes that one threshold the PC(USA) did pass in recent years was having more than 1,000 commissioned ruling elders. That 1,000 number was surpassed in 2022 and maintained in 2023. “Projections two decades ago forecast we would reach that level by 2014, but we stayed relatively stable from 2014-2021 within the 950 to 1,000 range,” Cargal said. “Of course, with the declining number of congregations, even a stable overall number results in an increasing proportion being served by commissioned pastoral leadership.”
This year’s report was delayed from its usual May release. Cargal noted that “this was a challenging year in regard to the management of denominational rolls and statistics because of a key staff vacancy,” which caused a significant delay. Springtime 2025 is the anticipated season for the release of 2024 statistics.
Sixty-five percent of churches submitted statistical data for this report, representing 73% of total PC(USA) membership. The median presbytery has a membership of 4,903 people, with 108 ministers, 51 churches and four candidates.
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