The Presbyterian Church (USA) got some bad news at its General Assembly in San Jose, Calif. on Saturday, according to this report.
Peter Smith of the Courier-General in Louisville, Ky., where PCUSA has its headquarters, writes:
“The Louisville-based Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) suffered its worst annual membership decline in decades last year. The denomination lost 57,572 members in 2007 and has 2,209,546 active and confirmed members, a drop of 2.5 percent compared to 2006.
It’s the denomination’s largest membership loss in terms of numbers since 1981 and the steepest percentage loss since 1974, when it fell 2.7 percent.
The decline continues a trend of more than four decades of losses since membership peaked at 4.25 million in the mid-1960s.”
Not a good way to start a meeting.
