Membership appears to slip for 3rd year

Worship attendance average
goes down for 4th year in row

Total church membership in the Southwest Texas Conference appears to have slipped for the third straight year during 2005.
A preliminary membership report issued Jan. 31 showed 561 fewer United Methodists on the conference rolls Dec. 31 than at the end of 2004. That’s a 0.5 percent decrease.
Average weekly worship attendance appears to have gone down for the fourth year in a row during 2005—from 50,805 to 50,132. That’s a 1.3 percent drop.
The numbers give an indication of how well Southwest Texas United Methodists are offering Christ to all, said the Rev. David A. Seilheimer, conference statistician.
“Unfortunately,” he added, “at this point it appears we have had declines in all areas.”
The Jan. 31 totals were all preliminary, Seilheimer said.
“I have not personally checked or verified any of the local church reports to annual conference to see if there is data that appear ridiculous on their face,” he said. “Ten churches have not yet reported. They are mostly small. Their 2005 numbers are reported as being the same as they were in 2004.”
Seilheimer is to report official membership and worship attendance statistics to the June 7-10 annual conference session in Corpus Christi.
Three of seven districts—Austin, Kerrville and McAllen—showed net membership gains in the 2005 preliminary report. Only the Austin District registered an increase in average weekly worship attendance.
The Southwest Texas Conference reached its all-time membership peak in 2002. The count was 120,915. Membership totaled more than 120,000 from 2001 through 2004.
Average weekly worship attendance climbed steadily from 1993 to 2001—from 44,972 to 52,344.