Churches adding fewer members, statistics show

 

Southwest Texas congregations didn’t add as many members—especially by profession of faith—in 2004 as they did in the past.
Furthermore, local churches have removed more members by charge conference action in recent years than previously.
The result, Statistician David A. Seilheimer reported June 3 to the Southwest Texas Annual Conference session in Corpus Christi, was a net conference membership loss of 191 in 2004.


Membership stood at 120,080 as of Dec. 31, down for the second straight year.
“Unfortunately, when we look at the last three years, there has been a real decline in the number of members received, not just a change in total membership,” Seilheimer said. “It is clear that we are in at least an extended slump as it relates to membership.”
Seilheimer used a 15-year analysis of membership statistics to back up his conclusion.
Southwest Texas gained more members by profession of faith and transfers during the late 1990s than it has since 2000, Seilheimer noted. The annual total of new members peaked at 8,295 in 1997.
Over the past three years the total has dipped significantly, he said, to a low of 6,922 in 2004.
“The biggest change in gain during this period (1989-2004) is in the category ‘Received by Profession of Faith or Restored by Reaffirmation of Vows,’” Seilheimer said.
“In 1997, when the Southwest Texas Conference had its greatest membership gain, the number received in this category was 3,337. In 2004 the number received had decreased to 2,845. That’s a change of 492 members.”
While total membership additions have gone down, the number of members removed annually—especially by charge conference action—has increased over the last three years, Seilheimer said.
The number removed by charge conference action varies from a low of 1,627 in 1995 to a high of 4,110 in 2003, he said.
Over the past 15 years, Seilheimer noted, “When the number removed (by charge conference) is high, the conference has a membership loss. When it is low, we have had a membership gain.”
Episcopal leadership may be one key variable in the 15-year analysis, Seilheimer said. Former Bishop Ray Owen actively discouraged pastors from having charge conferences remove members.
The number of members removed by charge conference action began to fall in 1992, the year Owen succeeded Bishop Ernest T. Dixon Jr. as leader of the Southwest Texas Conference, he reported. The annual totals went from 3,500 in 1992 to 1,627 by 1995. The number then remained fairly constant through 2000.
Bishop Joel N. Martinez succeeded Owen in September 2000. The number of people removed by charge conference action began to climb in 2001, Seilheimer said.
Seilheimer called the charge conference removals “paper changes.” Those people had already become inactive.
“It is more significant to look at the number of members gained than the total gain and loss,” Seilheimer said. “Members gained are real people, where members lost may be only numbers on a sheet of paper. The category of membership gain that is clearly the most significant is members gained by profession of faith.”
The recent decline in professions of faith “concerns me very much,” Seilheimer said.
On a brighter note, Seilheimer said that attendance at small groups had increased—despite a continuing decline in church school figures.
“We are being more active in ways we were not active 20 years ago,” he said. “Instead of a picture of weakness (because of church school declines), it appears to be a picture of strength.”