There are some sobering statistics about the on going flight from church reflected in a recent report released by the Presbyterian Church in the USA. Here’s the money quote:
LOUISVILLE — Membership in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) fell by 69,381 in 2008, the Office of the General Assembly (OGA) has announced in its annual statistical report, continuing a trend that began in the mid-1960s.
Total membership of the denomination is now 2,140,165…
Almost 104,000 people joined the PC(USA) last year, but that good news was more than offset by the 34,101 Presbyterians who died, the 34,340 who were members of the 25 congregations that left the PC(USA) for other denominations, and the staggering 104,428 who were removed from the rolls by their sessions without apparently joining any other church.
Interestingly if you read through the whole of the article, ethnic ministries feature prominently. Multi-ethnic and immigrant churches and ministries seem to make up for a good portion of the denomination’s growth. There is something profoundly said about the spiritual death happening in white churches across the suburbs of America.
I came on this article from Kruse Kronicle.