Presbyterian Church (USA), the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States, may dip below 1 million members by the end of the current year, according to a recent report.
The PC(USA) Interim Unified Agency released its annual report on church statistics, which found that the denomination lost nearly 49,000 members in 2024, going from approximately 1.094 million members in 2023 to approximately 1.045 million members last year.
The 2024 numbers of active members are also around 150,000 fewer people than reported in 2021, with the number of church elders dropping from about 56,900 in 2021 to about 51,400 last year.
Additionally, member congregations declined by 140 from 8,572 churches in 2023 to 8,432 churches in 2024.
However, there were increases in financial giving, with regular contributions to the denomination increasing from approximately $1.802 billion in 2023 to roughly $2.26 billion last year.
Also, for the past few years, there has been an increase in baptisms. The number of baptisms "presented by others" rose from 7,511 in 2021 to 7,826 in 2024, while baptisms at confirmation grew from 972 in 2021 to 1,351 last year.
The denomination also reported a slight increase in the number of members who identify as "Non-Binary/Genderqueer," going from 1,547 in 2023 to 1,728 in 2024.
The Rev. Dr. Tim Cargal, who oversaw the completion of the report, told Presbyterian News Service, the official news organ of PC(USA), that at the current rate of decline, the denomination will dip below 1 million members by the end of this year.
"Like all 'milestone' numbers, that will certainly garner a lot of attention, and deservedly so," Cargal told PNS. "However, net losses do not tell the whole story."
"The broader American societal trends are of declining religious participation across denominations and faith traditions, but even in that context the PC(USA) is continuing to bring people into Christian community."
Over the past few decades, PC(USA) has seen a considerable decline in its membership and number of active congregations. While the denomination had more than 2.5 million members in 2000, that number has plummeted to just over 1 million.
Last November, the PC(USA) announced that it was cutting several national staff positions and streamlining its agencies and ministries due in large part to the denominational decline.
One factor in this decline has been the theologically progressive direction of the denomination, which has prompted hundreds of congregations to disaffiliate from PC(USA) in protest.
In 2010, for example, when the PC(USA) General Assembly voted to allow regional bodies to ordain non-celibate homosexuals, the decision led to around 300 congregations voting to leave the denomination and form the theologically conservative ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians.
PC(USA) dipped below the 2-million-member mark in 2011, according to numbers released in 2012, with then-PC(USA) Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons saying in a statement at the time that it came down to "[a]t least two challenges."
"The first and primary need is to continue to increase our efforts to live out the Great Commission and share the good news of Jesus Christ," he said in 2012. "The second is to connect with the growing number of the 'Spiritual But Not Religious.'"
Originally published by The Christian Post
