Before 1996, baptized children who had not been confirmed were not considered "full members" of the church. Baptized infants and children were placed on the "preparatory roll." These children were kept on the preparatory membership roll until they were confirmed and received into "full membership." If by age nineteen, they had not been received into full membership, they were moved to the constituency roll. The constituency roll included unbaptized children (including dedicated children) and other people who were not members but for whom the local congregation had pastoral responsibility. The Discipline mandated that the congregation accurately maintain all three rolls. In practice, some churches placed all of their children on their preparatory roll, regardless of whether they were baptized or not.
In 1996, By Water and the Spirit was adopted by General Conference as our official understanding of baptism, clarifying that, "Baptism is the sacrament of initiation and incorporation into the Body of Christ. An infant, child, or adult who is baptized becomes a member of the catholic (universal) Church, of the denomination, and of the local congregation." Although it took eight more years and a constitutional amendment, by 2004 the Disciplinary language was in place to allow our record keeping to be consistent with our theology of baptism. The definition of membership in The United Methodist Church includes baptized members and professing members. For statistical purposes, church membership numbers are based on the roll of professing members. The church is to keep an accurate membership record of its baptized and professing members. In addition it is to maintain a constituency roll with names and addresses of others for whom it has pastoral responsibility, including unbaptized children.
However, I think the reported statistics indicate that many pastors and congregations have a muddled understanding of baptized members, professing members, and constituents. And if our record keeping reflects our theology, then we have many who have an equally muddled understanding of our theology of baptism as articulated in By Water and the Spirit.
Here are a few examples of churches from around the country (one from each jurisdiction) that appear to have very curious numbers:
• A large church in Texas that has 692 children in Christian Formation, has a professing membership of 4191, baptized 40 people in 2012, has 2280 constituents, but only has 25 baptized members. (Hmm — 692 children and no more than 25 have been baptized?)
• A large church in Georgia that has 9245 professing members, 9035 baptized members, baptized 29 people in 2012, has 545 children in Christian Formation, but has 0 constituents. (Hmm — all of the children in the church have been baptized, so none of them are on the constituency roll?)
• A church in Ohio with 227 children in Christian Formation, 5 people in confirmation, 5 professions of faith, but did no baptisms, has no baptized members, and has no constituents. (Hmm – so they have 227 children in Christian Formation who aren't baptized members or constituents?)
• A church in Maryland that has 313 children in Christian Formation, 862 professing members, 316 constituents, baptized 20 people in 2012, had 5 professions of faith, and has zero baptized members. (Hmm – so even if we assume that all 5 of the professions of faith were previously non-baptized, what happened to the other 15 people who were baptized? How can they possibly have no baptized members?)
• A church in Idaho that has 530 professing members, 231 children in Christian formation, 182 constituents, baptized 9 people in 2012, had 15 professions of faith, and has zero baptized members. (Hmm – 231 children, none are baptized, and at most only 182 are constituents? )
I wish these were rare examples, unfortunately it seems to be more the norm. Of congregations with at least five members:
• 46% indicated that they had zero baptized members, even though more than half of those same congregations indicated they had children in Christian Formation. While technically it would be possible for none of those children to be baptized and thus be constituents, it is highly unlikely.
• 27% indicated that they had zero baptized members and zero constituents, even though close to half of those same congregations indicated they had children in Christian Formation. If you have children in Christian Formation then the church has some sort of pastoral responsibility for them. They are either baptized members or they are constituents.
• 35% indicated they had zero constituents, even though more than half of those same congregations indicated that they had children in Christian Formation. In order for that to be possible, every child would need to be baptized and they would have no other non professing members who participate in the life of the congregation.
• 6% indicated that they had fewer baptized members than they had number of baptisms in 2012 minus professions of faith in 2012. Even if you assume that every single profession of faith in these churches was made by people not previously baptized (their professions of faith and baptisms occurring at the same time, moving them from constituents to professing members) there would still be "left-over" (poor choice of words) baptized members. The only way for that to be mathematically possible is if there are lots of baptisms being performed for children not living in the community. In these cases the pastor is responsible for seeing that the children are added as baptized members in the community where they actually live.
I think that underlying these baffling numbers is something more significant than just sloppy record keeping. Here are some things I wonder about:
• How can we "seek, welcome, and gather people into the body of Christ" (¶122 Discipline) if we don't claim people as constituents for whom we have some responsibility?
• How would community life change if clergy and laity more fully integrated our theological understanding of baptism into congregational life?
• What does it indicate about the value we place on children, if even in our most basic record keeping their names are not recorded?
• How many of our laity can clearly articulate the difference between baptized members, professing members, and constituents and how that relates to our baptismal covenant?
• What would congregations discover about their members and their community if they had up-to-date and accurate rolls of baptized members and constituents?
The statistical data included herein were provided at no charge by the General Council on Finance and Administration of The United Methodist Church (GCFA) and may be obtained directly from GCFA, PO Box 340020, Nashville, TN 37203-0029. This data is proprietary and is owned by GCFA and may not be used in any commercial or exploitative way, to make a financial profit, or in a manner that defames the United Methodist denomination or its agencies or organizations. GCFA does not endorse any particular use of the data or accept responsibility for its interpretation or analysis by another.
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