Lutheran (ELCA) Ping!
Posted on 08/14/2008 7:58:29 PM PDT by lightman
ELCA NEWS SERVICE August 14, 2008
ELCA Congregations Report 4.7 Million Members in 2007 08-142-FI
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) reported a baptized membership of 4,709,956 in 10,448 congregations in 2007. The ELCA Office of the Secretary analyzed membership and income data obtained from parochial reports that ELCA congregations submit at the end of each year.
David D. Swartling, ELCA secretary, said the data indicated a decline in membership of 64,247 and a decrease of 22 congregations from 2006. The membership decline of 1.34 percent in 2007 was less than the 1.58 percent decline of 76,573 members in 2006, he said.
Total receipts for ELCA congregations exceeded $2.8 billion in 2007, an increase of more than $67 million from the previous year, according to the ELCA Office of the Secretary. In 2007 average giving per baptized member in ELCA congregations increased 3.96 percent compared to 2006 and 29.09 percent since 2000.
"Congregational reports reflect the wealth of many ELCA congregations and the opportunities for expanding ministry," Swartling said. The reported value of assets held by ELCA congregations increased in 2007 to more than $20.6 billion, an increase of 6.75 percent over the value in 2006, he said.
The average number of people at worship in ELCA congregations in 2007 decreased slightly from the preceding year. A total of 1,362,120 people, or 28.92 percent of baptized ELCA members, attended weekly worship. That compares to 1,408,682, or 29.50 percent of all baptized ELCA members, participating in worship each week in 2006.
"The ELCA remains committed to increasing the diversity of the church," Swartling said. For 2007, 3.23 percent of ELCA baptized members were identified as people of color or people whose primary language is not English, compared to 3.15 percent in 2006. Approximately 65 percent of ELCA congregations reported having people of color as members, he said.
The number of Arab/Middle Eastern members went up 9.87 percent, from 1,944 in 2006 to 2,136 in 2007. Latino/Hispanic membership increased 0.49 percent, from 39,563 to 39,760. Multiethnic membership rose 13.25 percent, from 13,613 to 15,417. Members classified as "other" increased 5.50 percent, from 10,802 to 11,397.
The number of African American/Black members in the ELCA went down 0.73 percent, from 53,288 in 2006 to 52,896 in 2007. American Indian/Alaska Native membership dropped 2.01 percent, from 7,007 to 6,866. Asian/Pacific Islander membership declined 1.52 percent, from 22,545 to 22,202. White membership fell 1.43 percent, from 4,624,249 to 4,558,059 in 2007.
-- -- -- A summary of ELCA congregational statistics for Dec. 31, 2007, is in a PDF file at http://tinyurl.com/ELCAstatistics2007 on the Web. A table summarizing membership statistics since 1988 is available at http://archive.ELCA.org/news/table.html on the ELCA Web site.
Gotta give the Secretary credit for having the stones to spin a loss of membership as positive on the basis that the rate of loss was less than that of the preceding year. Of course, in his former life he was a trial lawyer....
And did I mention the relentless drumbeat of The Lutheran magazine in trying to build support for gay clergy and blessing same sex relationships?
They are just lefties trying to change the world for their own glory instead of Gods glory through Jesus Christ.
The ELCA has become its own god.
I think that the leftists have figured out that one sure way to cause a church to decrease membership and eventually die out is to make the church centered on the gay agenda. This drives away families, no families, no children growing up in the faith, and so on. So the leftists get an organization with an increasingly thin religious veneer that champions leftist causes, meanwhile it ceases to function as a church and families temporarilly find a less corrupt church or they drop out of church alltogether.
Too bad they're not committed to saving souls and expanding the kingdom of Jesus Christ. They clearly are no longer Christian, at all and millions do not even realize what is happening. The grief I feel is almost unbearable. I still have many family members who have not had the courage to leave. I have almost accepted the fact that they never will.
>> The average number of people at worship in ELCA congregations in 2007 decreased slightly from the preceding year <<
I’m seeing about a 3% decline. Although this number is volatile, that’d certainly a disastrous trend.
The "diversity" that the Politburo of the ELCA "celebrates", is only the approved "diversity", not those troublesome individuals and congregations that continue to hold on to archaic beliefs, like the purpose of the ELCA should be Christ-centered and based on the Holy Gospel.
>> “The ELCA remains committed to increasing the diversity of the church,” Swartling said. For 2007, 3.23 percent of ELCA baptized members were identified as people of color or people whose primary language is not English, compared to 3.15 percent in 2006. <<
You get what you measure. If you mean to promote “diversity,” and you count English-illiterate as diversity, you promote illiteracy. The goal should be unity, even if from diverse backgrounds, not diversity. (Not to pick on Lutherans... My own Catholic Church has a lot of idiot knee-jerk liberal bishops with very destructive ideas about diversity.)
>> David D. Swartling, ELCA secretary, said the data indicated a decline in membership of 64,247 and a decrease of 22 congregations from 2006. ... Total receipts for ELCA congregations exceeded $2.8 billion in 2007, an increase of more than $67 million from the previous year, according to the ELCA Office of the Secretary. <<
Revenue up, obligations down. Oh, happy day! (Oh, yeah, there’s that pesky little thing about an obligation to save souls.)
One time we had a visiting priest try to spin the priest shortage problem as a wonderful blessing and opportunity for the laity to become more involved in the Church. I kept thinking, yeah THAT’s the problem, too many damn priests.
Freegards
Gay and female pastors. tsk tsk tsk.
Swartling 28:19 Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of diversity: 20 teaching them to revere the rainbow of humanity: and lo, I am with you always, couched among the percentage of hispanic and asian.
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