New UMC membership numbers
Thursday, March 17, 2011
The good news is that the membership of the church has risen over the past five years, totaling almost 12.1 million people. Increases in Africa and the Philippines have been behind the rise in the level of membership. In the five years from 2004 to 2009, total UM membership in Africa, Europe, and Asia rose from 3.5 million to 4.4 million.
Unfortunately, the GCFA statistics show that the membership in the U.S. church has continued its decline, where total figures dropped 1.2% to 7.8 million members.
There has been a lively debate in the church about the importance of numbers ever since I entered the ministry a decade ago. The point is often made that the number of people in the pews is not an accurate reflection of the spiritual vitality of any single congregation, let alone a whole denomination. I think that's certainly true. People can be attracted to join an organization - church or otherwise - for any number of reasons. And in that sense, membership does not equal discipleship.
On the other hand, I've always thought the Acts of the Apostles offers plenty of evidence that one of the fruits of a faithful proclamation of the gospel and a robust ministry is that people will hear the word of God, receive the grace of Jesus Christ, and find themselves transformed. We Christians are a missional people, and God desires that we would show our faithfulness by gathering sheep into his fold. So that means numbers really do matter, so long as we're aware that numbers of people should reflect real disciples who exhibit a living faith in all aspects of their lives.
I think that's happening in the United Methodist Church in many places around the world. It's happening in some places in America as well, but not everywhere and not to the degree that statistics would show a rise rather than a decline in our church's membership. That means that we've all got a lot of work to do, in our own lives and in the way we are practicing ministry.
Labels: Church Membership, Discipleship, GCFA, UMC
posted by Andrew C. Thompson at 7:34 AM
3 Comments:
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We've certainly been having the conversation here in the Louisiana Conference as to which numbers, if any, ("metrics" is the buzz word here) are indicative of vital ministry.
I tend to agree that, where the church is faithful to the gospel call, the community's size will increase over time, all other things being equal. Though, I note, it has happened before that faithful church communities shrank due to persecution: just when they were faithful to the uttermost, they also lost members.
Our problem in the US seems to be, not too many martyrdoms, but rather a failure to have children and raise them in the faith combined with a failure to evangelize those outside the faith.
But there are lots of solid and growing churches here in the US as well as overseas, and so I'm hopeful about the future. I celebrate the growth of The United Methodist Church over the last 5 years. May God continue to bless faithful ministry wherever it is at work for the kingdom
Daniel -
As always, those are great thoughts. Thanks for sharing them. Your dual point about raising our children strongly in the faith and evangelizing those outside the faith resonates with me in particular.
Grace & peace,
Andrew
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