End of Presbyterianism: Farewell PC(USA)?

sowhatfaith ^ | 2023/05/12 | Greg Smith

[Cronos]

Burge’s May 9, 2023 tweets begin with a recap of the story I’ve shared: the PC(USA) declined from 3.1 million members to 1.1 million members in less than 40 years. He then explains that it is actually worse than those numbers suggest because the rate of decline has “accelerated significantly” in recent years rising from around 1.5% to 4%. If this continues, the denomination will fall below 1 million members by 2030 and below 500 thousand by 2040. Burge concludes, “there’s a good chance they have to dissolve in less than 20 years.”

We’ve been talking about the seriousness of this trend for quite some time. Back in 2011, several Presbyterian pastors authored a letter that labeled their denomination as “deathly ill.“

By their own figures, the PCUSA declined by 53,105 members between 2021 and 2022. If we impute the same rate of decline (which is a little smaller than it has been, usually about 70,000 members annually) to 2023, the PCUSA will be right at 1 million members. If that rate of decline continues for another 10–12 years, the PCUSA will meet the PCA numerically.

The PCUSA will continue, however, to sit upon mountains of wealth in the form of endowments, buildings, and institutions for which they fought vigorously, often in court, when the churches that formed the OPC left in the 1930s and 40s. Those fights left the OPC congregations not only small but broke and homeless.

When asked by Fox News about the continuing decline, J. Herbert Nelson II, the PCUSA’s stated clerk, blamed it on the pandemic.

[Cronos]

PCUSA mulls selling longtime headquarters amid decline, post-COVID work culture

[week 71]

My experience with PCUSA is they are more an ethical society. Their ethics are quite in line with Hollywood’s. I have never seen any importance on Jesus and the cross emphasized.

I am not saying my observation is fair for all, it’s just what I have seen.

[Eccl 10:2]

Agreed. Why would anyone want to be in a church that simply reflected the views of the world? We get that in the world already.

Why give our time, treasure, and talent to something we are trying NOT to emulate, that is CAUSING the problems we face?

[xp38]

The PCUSA will continue, however, to sit upon mountains of wealth in the form of endowments, buildings, and institutions for which they fought vigorously...

Which ultimately will mean nothing since they gained the world but lost their souls.

[knarf]

Well, the Presbytery is the elders, an' if you have no elders, can you have a Presbytery ?

I'm an Independent, Fndamental Baptist and the young folks in OUR church are mostly home grown from kids that met and married in the church and are now member/parents.

There's not much growth (imo) in Biblical Christianity.

[Eccl 10:2]

Meanwhile, the conservative Presbyterian Church of America (PCA) is doing just fine:

“The PCA is the second-largest Presbyterian denomination in the U.S. As of 2020, the PCA had approximately 1,580 congregations and 383,338 members (communicant and non-communicant). It has been one of the faster-growing denominations in the United States, growing tenfold since 1983.”

[Frank Drebin]

Agreed. This isn’t the end of Presbyterianism. It’s the end of liberal Presbyterianism, and, hopefully, indicative of the end of fake Christianity as a whole.

[Eccl 10:2]

Meant to include the link:

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/tell-difference-presbyterian-denominations/#:~:text=The%20PCA%20is%20the%20second,States%2C%20growing%20tenfold%20since%201983.

[SovereignVA]

The latter half of the excert is nowhere to be found in the linked article.

[MayflowerMadam]

“Meanwhile, the conservative Presbyterian Church of America (PCA) is doing just fine:”

We’ve been attending a PCA church since April and find it more conservative than the Baptist churches we’ve attended for 30+ years. So far, very happy with a few small exceptions. (We’re still getting to know it.)

[chickenlips]

I hate titles like this.

Presbyterianism (Calvinism) is not represented by the PCUSA. They have wondered off theologically to some liberal social gospel, while other Presbyterian denominations have stood strong in the faith. Some Protestant denominations are wavering theologically, but I do not see it in the PCA and EPC.

[The Unknown Republican]

It isn’t the end of liberal Presbyterianism unfortunately. The LGBTQ+ garbage was a bridge too far for some moderately liberal PCUSA churches, but rest assured those congregations are still liberal. Many of them left and joined the ECO, but that denomination still ordains women. Egalitarianism is the gateway heresy for everything else and over time even the ECO will face the same call to support globalhomo. If I were Presbyterian, I would only join one of the smaller, truly conservative, complementarian denominations like the Presbyterian Church in America.

[af_vet_1981]

Well, the Presbytery is the elders, and if you have no elders, can you have a Presbytery ?

I'm an Independent, Fndamental Baptist and the young folks in OUR church are mostly home grown from kids that met and married in the church and are now member/parents.

There's not much growth (imo) in Biblical Christianity.

Concur with respect to growth;
Fundamental Baptists have the zeal of the Adventists without all the errors, which is a good thing.

Luke 18:

1. And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
2. Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:
3. And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.
4. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;
5. Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
6. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.
7. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
8. I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

[sauropod]

.

[Albion Wilde]

The PCUSA will continue, however, to sit upon mountains of wealth in the form of endowments, buildings, and institutions for which they fought vigorously, often in court, when the churches that formed the OPC left in the 1930s and 40s.

OPC = the Orthodox Presbyterian Church

[Albion Wilde]

According to Wikipedia,

In the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s, the General Assembly of PC(USA) adopted several social justice initiatives, which covered a range of topics including: stewardship of God's creation, world hunger, homelessness, and LGBT issues. As of 2011 the PC(USA) no longer excludes Partnered Gay and Lesbian ministers from the ministry. Previously, the PC(USA) required its ministers to remain "chastely in singleness or with fidelity in marriage." Currently, the PC(USA) permits teaching elders to perform same-gender marriages. On a congregational basis, individual sessions (congregational governing bodies) may choose to permit same-gender marriages.