Backwoods Presbyterian
Puritanboard Amanuensis
I know why (at least I think I do) the vast majority of PC(USA) churches are going EPC instead of many other options but I'd like to hear the PB's thoughts.
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I know why (at least I think I do) the vast majority of PC(USA) churches are going EPC instead of many other options but I'd like to hear the PB's thoughts.
I think it is more practical than theological. The EPC has set up procedural process to make it smooth. They have set up for transition of pastor's pensions and other issues. It is ssen as a transition holding of sorts till the church can make a final decision. Don't be so quick to see the negative.
I also think that the freedom to ordain women elders is the primary factor. In the PCA they could have pseudo-women deacons, but not women elders.
There are some who claim the authority of Scripture, but still see women elders as permissible in the Word.
Henry, I don't think PCA, OPC, or ARP would ever compromise on the female elder issue, so I don't see them being able to create a place for these later leaving PCUSA churches. The more conservative churches left earlier and joined the more conservative denominations.
For the record:
The ARP is a seceder denomination. They have never been part of the PC(USA) during anytime in her US history. I can see why she does not get involoved.
But the PCA and the OPC are cousins to the PC(USA) and should have welcoming arms wide open- and doing all they can to call their cousins home!
How many congregations are departing from the PCUSA in a given year?
How many congregations are departing from the PCUSA in a given year?
I was a member of Ward EPC in Livonia from early 1992 through the middle of 2000. Ward, under its pastor, Dr. Bartlett Hess (knew him around the time that he retired; he was a lovely man, albeit really not too Reformed) served as the birthplace of the EPC in the early '80s. I still have a lot of friends who are members of Ward and were on the scene when the EPC was formed. I surmise and deduce, from recent goings-on here, that there's much more to the "New Wineskins" influx of PCUSA churches into the EPC than is being made available for public consumption.
Margaret
On average? I would say 10-15.
Total "communicant" membership fell by 2% in 2006 to 2,267,118, the largest loss since 1975. This continues a three decade-long decline in membership for PC(USA). This is consistent with the trends of most mainline Protestant denominations in America since the late 1960s.
The average Presbyterian Church has 208 members (the mean in 2006). About 25% of the total congregations report between 1 and 50 members. Another 23% report between 51 and 100 members. The average worship attendance as a percentage of membership is 51.7%. The largest congregation in the PC(USA) is Peachtree Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, Georgia, with a reported membership of 8,413 (2005).
Most PC(USA) members are white (92.9%). Other racial and ethnic members include African-Americans (3.1% of the total membership of the denomination), Asians (2.3%), Hispanics (1.2%), Native Americans (0.2%), and others (0.3%). Despite declines in the total membership of the PC(USA), the percentage of racial-ethnic minority members has stayed about the same since 1995. The ratio of female members (58%) to male members (42%) has also remained stable since the mid-1960s.
Henry, I don't think PCA, OPC, or ARP would ever compromise on the female elder issue, so I don't see them being able to create a place for these later leaving PCUSA churches. The more conservative churches left earlier and joined the more conservative denominations.
I agree that there's no compromise on the issue of female elders. But I'm not so sure that all of the conservative churches have left the organization. Part of the reason that we see a number of churches leaving now is because, In my humble opinion, some have stayed to try to fight the shift from within. I wouldn't be surprised to see a few more conservative churches in the PC(USA) that have this same mindset, and I guess I'm curious as to why we don't see the Big 3 (PCA, OPC, and ARP) haven't done anything similar to 'New Wineskins.'
The ARP actually is taking some of these congregations. My pastor oversaw the transition of one in Mississippi recently. They departed from the PCUSA and are now an ARP church.
That church is French Camp, MS I think...