# Stats request: How many missionaries are fielded by Presbyterian denoms?



## Wayne (Jan 7, 2010)

My question started out on another thread:

"How many foreign missionaries are fielded by the PC(USA) and the PCA, and at what cost per capita?"

Actually, I'd like to compile that same info for as many of the Presbyterian denominations as might be gathered. 

I'll be back shortly with the PCA numbers, unless someone else gets here first.


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## Pergamum (Jan 7, 2010)

Stats per the US Center for World Missions:

----425,000 Missionaries from all branches of Christendom 

----(Only between 2 and 3% of those missionaries work among unreached peoples.) 

----140,000 Protestant Missionaries 64,000 Protestant Missionaries From USA 


I am still looking for denominational breakdowns, but these stats ARE available from the US Center for World Missions if you contact them direct.


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## Wayne (Jan 7, 2010)

To get the ball rolling:

In 2008 the PCA's Mission to the World agency reports total missionary numbers for 2007:
Long-term missionaries = 610
2 Year missionaries = 132
2 week & others = 6520

If we lump the 2 year in with the long-term and divide the short term by 26 to get 250 full-time equivalent [FTE], then the FTE total is 992 missionaries fielded in 2007.
Total budget for that year was about $52m. All of this breaks down to one missionary per 332 people in the PCA and at a budgeted cost of approx. $52,000/year/missionary.
Obviously there would be a lot of expense that doesn't show up in the annual MTW budget, such as other support that some missionaries might receive, but I don't know how to get at those numbers.

Summary:
992 FTE missionaries - 1 FTE/332 communicants - approx. $52k/FTE


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## Edward (Jan 7, 2010)

Don't know if this helps:

PCUSA (foreign):

"We will end 2009 with more than 200 mission co-workers, an increase over 2008." 
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) World Mission

From a March, 2008 Layman:

"Here's another way to gauge the collapse. It currently takes more than 10,000 PCUSA members to support a single missionary. The two denominations that were extracted from the PCUSA – the Presbyterian Church in America (1972) and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (1982) – are significantly more committed to world missions. For every 10,000 members, the PCA sponsors 18 full-time foreign missionaries, while the EPC sponsors 10. Together, those two denominations have a combined membership that equals only 20 percent of the total in the PCUSA. Yet, the EPC and PCA together sponsor nearly 750 foreign missionaries."
The Layman - PCUSA failure shouldn't stymie world missions


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## Scottish Lass (Jan 8, 2010)

Apparently the ARP numbers are on a passworded site (for security), but I do know that we're considered to be second in terms of per-capita giving to missions. I don't know our total expenses as a denomination, though.
Ah, I just checked the Minutes of Synod--we have nearly fifty full-time missionaries, including candidates but not retired.


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## Pergamum (Jan 8, 2010)

Note that there is no way to track presbyterian church members that decide to go with the evangelical sending agencies rather than their denominational missions (...is there?). I know a number of PCAers.


Also, what are the trends? Are these number decreasing or increasing? 


Finally, is there any way to distinguish the types of work these missionaries are involved in? i.e., pioneering church planting among unreached Asians compared with "home missions" in Utah?


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## Notthemama1984 (Jan 8, 2010)

The EPC destinguishes between the to. Our program World Outreach deals predominately with the 10/40 window. We have other programs for church planting among the states.


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## Wayne (Jan 8, 2010)

Pergy:

At least for the PCA numbers that I cited above, those do not include anything like home missions (stateside). All are for foreign missions. The closest would be some working in Mexico.

[EDIT: There are some working with native Americans under the auspices of MTW, but there are also other similar workers under Mission to North America.]

I receive a bunch of missions prayer letters (but by no means all of them), and among those are some who are funded or work through more than one agency, plus some who work solely through non-PCA agencies. Can't say that there's a trend, though that's a good question.


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## Scottish Lass (Jan 8, 2010)

We separate foreign missions from domestic church planting. The one that would appear to overlap would be our domestic work with Mslms in two cities here in the U.S.


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## DMcFadden (Jan 8, 2010)

Edward said:


> Don't know if this helps:
> 
> PCUSA (foreign):
> 
> ...


 
Those comparisons are VERY telling:
The PCUSA sponsors 1/10 to 1/18 the number of missionaries per member as the EPC and the PCA.

My time in the ABC would support a similar kind of numberical disconnect compared to the more evangelical Baptist groups (e.g., CBA, BGC, SBC).


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## Wayne (Jan 8, 2010)

This is a bit of oversimplification, but when you don't have a message, why send anyone to tell it?


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## Marrow Man (Jan 8, 2010)

I just counted 47 ARP missionaries from the 2009 _Minutes of Synod_.


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## Notthemama1984 (Jan 8, 2010)

Wayne said:


> This is a bit of oversimplification, but when you don't have a message, why send anyone to tell it?



Because everyone thinks they have a message.


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