new church life: march/april 2015
John Pitcairn met in a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, restaurant on January 14,
1874, to consider – in Mr. Childs’ words – “what could be done to counteract
the growing influence of the negative spirit in the Church.” Out of that meeting
sprang the formalization of the Academy of the New Church as a movement
within Convention for the purpose of reforming the church.
Day Three focused on whether the founding strategies have been
successful and how they should be measured.
“How successful have these strategies been over the years? Well, the
General Church does still exist,” Jeremy said, “and people believe passionately
in the Heavenly Doctrines worldwide. At the same time no one would claim
that the denomination is growing rapidly.” He offered statistics and charts to
illustrate just how we are doing.
There has never been a year of actual decline in total membership, but
growth has been very slow and efforts at evangelization haven’t made as great
a difference as we have hoped. New Church education still plays a significant
role, but we may not be capitalizing on it enough.
Growth in the General Church has increased about 500 members every five
years since 1900, but the rate has been slowing, not increasing, in the United
States. New Church education has been a significant factor in maintaining
stability.
In the United States, 2,167 of 3,366 (64%) General Church members are
Academy or Bryn Athyn College alumni. But out of 2,456 who were baptized
as children but did not attend New Church schools, only 209 have become
members. About 50% of living alumni are General Church members, but this
probably understates their actual participation, because many are involved
without having formalized their membership.
Meanwhile, Convention membership has declined from 5,000 in 1925,
to 3,000 in 1975 and barely 1,000 now, according to reports in The Messenger.
Their strategies, he suggested, are not working.
He also offered statistics on other North American denominations,
ranging from the largest – the Catholic Church, with 66.6 million – to the
Episcopal Church – 14th largest, with a decline from 3.4 million in the mid‘60s to 1.9 million now. Some have been growing, such as the Southern Baptist
Convention, the Mormons and the Church of God, while others – including
the United Methodist Church, Evangelical Lutheran, Presbyterian and
Episcopal