Even as membership declines, 2024 church statistics report shows an increase in financial contributions, adult baptisms
Presbyterians remain committed and generous givers, report shows
The Interim Unified Agency has released its annual report on church statistics for 2024. While membership numbers continue to decline at a steady rate, the report reveals ongoing growth in several notable areas, including new worshiping communities, baptized teens and adults, and stewardship.
The 2024 report, which can be seen here, shows a loss of 48,885 PC(USA) members last year, reflecting a steady rate of decline for overall denominational membership in comparison to other recent years since the start of the Covid pandemic in 2020. 2023 saw a decrease in membership of approximately 46,000 people, while 2022 saw a loss of just over 53,000 individual members.
The Rev. Dr. Tim Cargal oversaw the completion of the report as Interim Director of Mid Council Ministries. He noted that at the denomination’s current rate of decline, 2025 will likely be the year when PC(USA) membership drops below one million people.
“Like all ‘milestone’ numbers, that will certainly garner a lot of attention, and deservedly so,” Cargal commented, “However, net losses do not tell the whole story.”
The report demonstrates that despite the decrease in total membership, the denomination continues to attract people to its mission and ministry. Cargal pointed out that more people joined a PC(USA) congregation (11,608) in 2024 than asked to transfer their membership to another denomination (8,710), a difference of nearly 3,000.
Additionally, while the PC(USA) did see a slight decline in the total number of baptized infants last year — down 2% from 2023 — the denomination saw significant increases in baptisms both at confirmation and at adulthood. In fact, adult baptisms have increased each year since 2021, and were more than 40% higher in 2024 than in 2021.
“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,” Cargal said.
The decline in PC(USA) membership in 2024 was paralleled by a decline in the overall number of churches, which decreased by 140 in 2024, and a decline in the total number of ordained ministers, which decreased by 236. However, the number of new worshiping communities reported increased by more than 6%, up 19 in 2024. There was also a slight increase in the total number of ordinations. The number of commissioned ruling elders also increased in 2024, up from 1,003 in 2023 to 1,173 this past year, continuing an ongoing upward trend.
The report also reveals that while the majority of PC(USA) churches have fewer than 100 members, almost half the total number of PC(USA) members belong to congregations of 300 or more. Cargal suggests that this membership distribution means presbyteries — which are more focused on supporting congregations than individuals — likely are feeling the effects of declining denominational numbers more acutely than the average “Presbyterian in the pew.”
In fact, despite losses in members, ministers and churches, the Presbyterians who remain seem to remain with conviction and commitment. This is reflected in the 2024 statistics around financial contributions. PC(USA) income from all sources — contributions, investments, grants, etc. — increased by 22% in 2024, almost $640 million. That increase brought total income in 2024 to $3.5 billion, as compared to a total income of just under $2.3 billion in 2021.
“PC(USA) members, overall, are responding to financial and other pressures not by withdrawing financial stewardship but by increasing their giving,” Cargal said. “It is certainly the case that financial resources — like membership among congregations — is not evenly distributed across our churches. But in general, giving trends continue to move in positive directions.”
The Rev. Jihyun Oh, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly and Executive Director of the Interim Unified Agency, said the statistics in the 2024 report match what she has experienced anecdotally.
“In my engagement with Presbyterians across the denomination, I meet many who have been part of the PC(USA) for a long time, but also many who are new and are choosing this denomination for who we are: our various faith communities who act as neighbors in impactful ways for the sake of God’s beloved world in mission and ministry, our policies, our polity — all grounded in our theology,” Oh said. “This is a good reminder that in this particular time in the life of the world and our country, our witness to the love and justice of Jesus Christ in deed and word are more important than ever.”
The 2023 report was not released until November 2024 due to key staff vacancies, but this month’s release of the 2024 report marks a return to the usual schedule. Eighty-two percent of churches submitted information to this year’s report, representing 91% of PC(USA) membership. The data collected suggests that the median presbytery has 4,903 people, with the average presbytery having 107 ministers, 51 churches and 4 candidates.
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