The chart above shows the total gains and total losses in membership reported by your congregation for the most recent ten years. The total number of PC(USA) members lost each year has been declining in the last ten years, but the trend has not been sufficient to make up for the greater yearly decline in membership gains.

Total Gains in membership is the number derived by adding gains through: Profession of Faith, Reaffirmation and Restoration (the number of persons received during the year through professions of faith, reaffirmation, and restoration after removal, deletion, or temporary exclusion); Certificate (persons received into membership upon receipt of a certificate of transfer from another church); and Other (all other additions to the active roll).

Total Losses in membership is the number derived by adding membership losses through: Certificate (persons received by other churches for whom certificates of transfer have been issued); Death (members whose names have been deleted because of death); and Other (all other persons whose names have been removed from the active membership roll through transfer from the active to the inactive roll, deletion from the active roll for any other reason, or temporary exclusion or removal from the active roll).

Key Questions:

• What is the relationship between total losses and total gains in your congregation?
• Have membership gains been large enough to offset membership losses? What type of gains are characteristic of your congregation (e.g., Profession of Faith, Reaffirmation)?
• What type of losses are characteristic of your congregation (e.g., transfers, deaths)?
• What steps can your congregation take to increase membership gains and to decrease membership losses?