Overture 04-63. On Taking Decisive Action to Recover from the Decline in Membership and Development of Ministry and Mission—From the Presbytery of Mackinac.

The Presbytery of Mackinac overtures the 216th General Assembly (2004) to approve:

1. That the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) take decisive action to initiate decisions that will lead to the PC(USA)’s recovery from its decline in membership and development of ministry and mission.

2. That the General Assembly, synods, presbyteries, and congregations reaffirm as its first priority, the fulfillment of the goal of recovery of membership and development of ministry and mission of this church.

3. That the whole church embrace, fund, and implement the goals of the mission initiative JOINING HEARTS AND HANDS—A Campaign to Renew the Church for Mission as the initial initiative to recover membership and develop ministry and mission of this church.

4. That the PC(USA) mobilize itself with continued and fervent prayer for the Holy Spirit to be poured out on our church for increase.

Rationale

The following statistical data was supplied by the PC(USA) Web site, the JOINING HEARTS AND HANDS—A Campaign to Renew the Church for Mission booklet, and Jack Marcum of PC(USA) Research Services:

• From 1965 (the year decline began) to 2002 the PC(USA) declined in membership from 4,254,597 to 2,451,969.
  
• The average loss was 48,720 members per year.
  
• Thirty percent of congregations grew by 1 percent or more from 1997-2002 representing 735,591 of the total membership.
  
• If the growing churches maintained the 2002 level of their membership and the total decline continued, the PC(USA) would be 735,591 in the year 2037.
  
• If the current overall statistic prevailed, the PC(USA) would cease to exist in the year 2053.
  
• The average (mean) age of a PC(USA) member is currently 55.
  
• Sixteen percent of the ordained pastoral leadership pool is under forty years of age.
  
• Three thousand nine hundred ninety-five of the approximately 11,500 congregations have no pastor.
  
• Seven thousand twenty-four congregations (63.3 percent reporting in 2002) had an average worship attendance of 100 or less (the actual number is most likely higher because smaller congregations are disproportionately less likely to report attendance).
  
• Between 1950 and 1960, the PC(USA) started 1,345 congregations. Between 1990 and 2000, the denomination started 292 congregations.
  
• Four million twenty-four thousand dollars (unrestricted dollars) has been trimmed from the 2003 General Assembly budget and $1,854,000 for 2004.

The great commission commands the church of Jesus Christ to make disciples everywhere in the world.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matt. 28:19-20)

Jesus Christ further promises to be with us and to not abandon us. In the 21st century we cannot afford to abandon this key truth that is embodied in the Reformed heritage (Book of Order, W-2.3001).

Recovery of membership and development of ministry and mission is a central conviction of a Presbyterian understanding of faith and discipleship as witnessed to in The Book of Confessions, 9.07, 6.058, 4.123.

Recovery of membership and development of ministry and mission is a central conviction of the vision and principles for church life as stressed in the Book of Order, G-1.0100b; W-7.2001e, f; G-10.0102a; G-13.0103a, b, d.

As members of the early church shared their faith the church grew because the Lord added to their number.

So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily (Acts 16:5; also Acts 2:47b).

There are places where growth and renewal are taking place in the PC(USA), but in the present arena of decision making and use of Presbyterian polity, these places of celebration are often overlooked or at best minimized, given only passing recognition.

A bold direction for renewal has already been given in the The Book of Confessions, The Confession of 1967:

The church thus orders its life as an institution with a constitution, government, officers, finances, and administrative rules. These are instruments of mission, not ends in themselves. Different orders have served the gospel, and none can claim exclusive validity. A presbyterian polity recognizes the responsibility of all members for ministry and maintains the organic relation of all congregations in the church. It seeks to protect the church from exploitation by ecclesiastical or secular power and ambition. Every church order must be open to such reformation as may be required to make it a more effective instrument of the mission of reconciliation. (The Book of Confessions, 9.40, p. 258.)