Some nasty statistics from the PCUSA

So, our denomination recently released membership and giving statistics for 2008. It ain't pretty. As a denomination, we lost over 69,000 members last year. There are obviously a lot of things that go into that number. 34,000 members died. another 35,000 left when their churches left the denomination altogether. Most staggering to me is the fact that 104,000 who were removed from the rolls and appeared to not join another church. And our churches did add 100,000 new members. But the net result of all that was the biggest one year loss of membership in our denomination since 1983.

You can read the full report by clicking here: PCUSA Statistics

A friend of mine, Kelly Kannwischer (Presbyterian Global Fellowship), points out the bigger problem. The stated clerk of our denomination, in his report about the statistics, is asking all the wrong questions. He says that we need to strengthen our answers to these questions: "Why do I believe in God? Why do I go to church? Why do I go to that particular church?" And the implication is that if we can answer those questions, we'll be able to convince people to join our church.

Here's a response from Kelly regarding that perspective:

"the question for people in the postmodern world is not what is true but what is real. To be effective witnesses of the Gospel, it is not what we can posit or defend theologically (although that remains important). Rather, to be effective witnesses of the Gospel in today's culture requires authenticity, deep relationships, and sacrificial action for the sake of others."

Let's be really clear about something: It is absolutely critical that we know the Jesus we worship. It's desperately important for us to be able to articulate the good news about the grace of God given to us in Jesus Christ. We will always need to continue growing in our understanding and application of the scriptures for our lives.

But understanding by itself will never result in a world transformed by Jesus Christ. The question we need to be able to answer is this:

"Who is Jesus and how am I trying to be more like him?"

When we love our neighbor more than ourselves, our evangelism will be authentic and effective.
When we are as committed to healing our community as we are to our longstanding church programs, then our witness will be genuine and true.
When we start asking how we can be the body of Christ IN the world, how to be Christ-like for the sake of our neighbor, then we will at least be asking the right questions.

Any thoughts? Complaints? Questions?