Thursday, January 29, 2015

Chapter Two - 2013 Stats - VBS, Sunday School, Confirmation, and Christian Formation

This chapter looks at the statistics that relate to the area usually referred to as Christian education or Christian formation. Since I believe that the church teaches in everything that it does (credit the influence of Howard Grimes and Dick Murray), a case could be made that every statistic relates to Christian formation. However, for this chapter we will focus on Sunday school, Vacation Bible 
School (VBS), confirmation, short-term classes, on-going classes other than Sunday school, and day care.

As with most chapters, the statistics given are based on churches with at least five members. First let's look at raw numbers and how they compare to 2012.

• Average Sunday school attendance: 1,033,381 (A decrease of 4.1% from 2012)
• Number of Sunday school classes: 147,849 (An increase of 6.6% from 2012)
• Number of on-going classes other than Sunday school: 91,176 (A decrease of .07% from 2012)
• Number of short term classes: 83,247 (A decrease of 5.8% from 2012)
• Number served by daycare ministries: 1,176,486 (An increase of 1.9% from 2012)
• Number attending VBS: 1,130,301 (A decrease of .99%)
• Number in confirmation classes: 64,061 (A decrease of 7.6%)

• Total participating in Christian formation groups and other small group ministries:2,939,599 (An increase of .84% from 2012)
• Children participating in Christian formation groups and other small group ministries:785,047 (A decrease of .22% from 2012)
• Youth participating in Christian formation groups and other small group ministries:430,990 (A decrease of 2% from 2012)
• Young adults participating in Christian formation groups and other small group ministries: 201,958 (An increase of 3.5% from 2012)
• Other adults participating in Christian formation groups and other small group ministries: 1,521,604 (An increase of 1.9% from 2012)


A Five Year Comparison

Now let's take a longer view and see how the 2013 numbers compare to the statistics five years earlier (2009).

• Average Sunday school attendance: A net decrease of 159,410 or a decrease of 13.4%
• Number of Sunday school classes: A net decrease of 16,815 or a decrease of 10%
• Number of on-going classes other than Sunday school: A net decrease of 4235 or a decrease of 4.4%
• Number of short term classes: A net decrease of 18,313 or a decrease of 18%
• Number served by daycare ministries: A net increase of 368,103 or an increase of 45.5%
• Number attending VBS: A net increase of 46,805 or an increase of 4.3%
• Number in confirmation classes: A net decrease of 14,149 or a decrease of 18.1%

• Total participating in Christian formation groups and other small group ministries: An increase of 293,399 or an increase of 11%
• Children participating in Christian formation groups and other small group ministries: Net increase of 65,762 or an increase of 2.5%
• Youth participating in Christian formation groups and other small group ministries: Net increase of 10,206 or an increase of 2.4%
• Young adults participating in Christian formation groups and other small group ministries: Net increase of 13,939 or an increase of 7.4%
• Other adults participating in Christian formation groups and other small group ministries: Net increase of 203,492 or an increase of 15.4%


Things I Noticed

• There has been a huge increase in the number served by daycare ministries over a five year period.
• Average Sunday school attendance has decreased significantly while the total number of people involved in Sunday school and other small groups has increased, particularly  among adults.
• Over five years there has been a fairly large drop in the number of short term classes.
• Over five years Vacation Bible School participation has increased.


Things I Wonder About

• Over the past five years there has been an increase in the number of youth and children participating in Christian formation and other small group ministries, yet over the same time there has been a large decrease in the number of people in confirmation classes. I wonder what that indicates about our intentionality in nurturing baptized members "in Christ's holy Church, that by our teaching and example they may be guided to accept God's grace for themselves, to profess their faith openly, and to lead a Christian life." (BOW p.96)

• I wonder if the continuing decrease in average Sunday school attendance is an indication that people aren't joining classes or that they are attending less frequently? The increase in total numbers coupled with the decrease in average attendance makes me think that frequency of attendance may be a subject that needs more study.








Friday, January 23, 2015

Chapter One — 2013 Statistics — Ethnicity, Gender, Membership

Each United Methodist congregation maintains records on membership, worship attendance, and a host of other statistics. This information is submitted on a yearly basis to the annual conference and then on to the General Council of Finance and Administration. The staff at GCFA diligently processes this data so that we have a snapshot of the state of the denomination. I am a firm believer that our statistical tables are more than dry numbers in neat columns. Behind each number is a story. The numbers do not provide answers, but they do lead to good questions. 

This post and those that follow will deal with the 2013 statistics of The United Methodist Church. I hope that they encourage meaningful conversation and raise intriguing questions. The information below is based on a composite of churches with at least five members (32,154 congregations). You may want to read this post from last year to see the similar statistics from 2012.

Ethnicity as a Percentage of the total number of United Methodist Members
African American: 6.11% (This represents a net increase of 2,571 people from 2012)
Asian American: 1.26%(This represents a net decrease of 619 people from 2012)
Hispanic American: 1.03% (This represents a net increase of 303 people from 2012)
Native American: .29% (This represents a net decrease of 266 people from 2012)
Euro American: 90.1% (This represents a net decrease of 72,183 people from 2012)
Pacific Islander: .19% (This represents a net increase of 241 people from 2012)
Multi Racial: .78% (This represents net increase of 7,099 people from 2012)
Not Reporting: .24% (This represents a net decrease of 30,492 people from 2012)

(Note: There were a total of 57,160 people reported as multi-racial, however, this includes 25,714 people from 59 congregations in which 100% of the congregation was reported as multi-racial. I am doubtful that those 59 congregations were defining multi-racial in the same way as the other 32,095 congregations.)

Gender as a percentage of the total number of United Methodists
Men: 42.51% (There were 30,488 fewer men reported in 2013 than in 2012)
Women: 57.49% (These were 42,227 fewer women reported in 2013 than in 2012)

Membership Related Statistics
Professing Members: 7,298,907
Baptized Members who are not professing members:  648,861
Constituents: 1,591,833
Average Worship Attendance: 2,900,627

Change in professing membership from 2012 to 2013: -72,829 or -.99%
Change in baptized (non-professing) membership from 2012 to 2013: -46,154 or -6.6%
Change in constituents from 2012 to 2013: 6,138 or .39% 
Change in worship attendance from 2012 to 2013: -55,775 or -1.89%

Number of people baptized : 91,650  (A decrease of 5.6% from 2012)
Number of people in confirmation classes: 64,061 (A decrease of 7.6% from 2012)
Number of professions of faith: 118,079 (A decrease of 5.2% from 2012)
Number of people received from other denominations: 46,920 (A decrease of 6.2% from 2012)
Number of people who transferred to another denomination: 25,329 (An increase of 1.9% from 2012)
Number of deaths: 96,903 (A decrease of .14% from 2012)
Number removed by charge conference: 88,420 (A decrease of 6.2%  from 2012)

Things I Wonder About
• In 2012 there was a slight increase in professions of faith, but in 2013 there was a fairly significant decrease. I wonder how that is related to the decrease in number of people baptized and the number in confirmation?
• I wonder why we increased in the number of constituents but decreased in almost everything else?