Church of the Brethren Membership Falls Again in 2004
Overall Church of the Brethren membership continued to decline in 2004, according to year-end figures collected by the "Church of the Brethren Yearbook," published by Brethren Press. The denomination reported a net loss of 1,280 members last year, down just under one percent from the previous year. It is, however, a smaller decline than in 2003, when the Church of the Brethren had a net loss of 1,363 members.
The declining membership has been described as a death spiral. A query will be coming to Annual Conference requesting that 70% of the couples in the Brethren denomination should be required to have three or more children in order to reverse this trend.
2 comments:
Actually the figures showing a membership loss also indicate that only 70% of congregations bothered to send in their statistical report, so no one really knows if we gained or lost members last year. We only know that 30% of congregations felt it unimportant to send in their report.
Perhaps the real solution is to not count any district unless at least 75% of the congregations sent in their statistical reports.
Or perhaps any congregation not submitting a report showing at least 75% of their statistical information could not have representation at Annual Conference or subscribe to Messenger. Hmmm, what other possibilities could we dream up?
Not be allowed to subscribe to Messenger?! Oh, the horrors of Messenger deprivation! Can I get in on this deal even if I do send in statistics?
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