From: Darrell128@aol.com Date: Fri, 21 Feb 1997 05:28:22 -0500 (EST) Subject: NR 97020: CRC Membership Loss Speeds Up: 30,551 Members Lost in 5-Year Slide NR #1997-020: Christian Reformed Membership Loss Speeds Up: 30,551 Members Lost in Five Year Slide The Christian Reformed denomination has lost members for an unprecedented fifth year in a row, a loss now totalling over 30,551 -- more than the total memberships of almost all the North American Reformed and Presbyterian denominations with which the CRC maintains ecclesiastical fellowship. The current CRC membership stands at 285,864 -- a level last seen 26 years ago in 1971. Nearly two-thirds of the loss can be attributed to four groups of churches which are largely composed of seceders from the Christian Reformed denomination. While many mainline denominations are used to reporting annual declines, until five years ago the CRC had been quite different. Prior to the beginning of the secession, the CRC had only experienced two years of decline in its 140-year history, the largest of which was prompted by the 1925 secession which began the Protestant Reformed denomination. NR #1997-020: For Immediate Release Christian Reformed Membership Loss Speeds Up: 30,551 Members Lost in Five Year Slide * Drop from 316,415 peak in 1992 to 285,865 reaches 9.7% loss * Decline wipes out 26 years of CRC growth, knocks denomination to 1971 levels * Yearbook drop from 291,796 to 285,864 leads to 5932-member loss this year by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (February 20, 1996) URNS -- The Christian Reformed denomination has lost members for an unprecedented fifth year in a row, a loss now totalling over 30,551 -- more than the total memberships of most of the North American Reformed and Presbyterian denominations with which the CRC maintains ecclesiastical fellowship. Many of these members have joined the rapidly growing conservative secession movement from the denomination. While many mainline denominations are used to reporting annual declines, until five years ago the CRC had been quite different. Prior to the beginning of the secession, the CRC had only experienced two years of decline in its 140-year history, the largest of which was prompted by the 1925 secession which began the Protestant Reformed denomination. In 1925, the CRC lost 1288 members, about 1.2% of the total denominational membership at that time, according to official denominational statistics reported in the Christian Reformed yearbook. By contrast, the current secession has prompted a much larger decline of nearly ten percent of the total denominational membership, which reached a high of 316,415 members in 1992. The current CRC membership stands at 285,864 -- a level last seen 26 years ago in 1971. The 1997 annual decline of 2.03% is only a hundredth of a percentage point less than the second-highest percentage decline in CRC history, which occurred two years ago when the CRC dropped from 300,320 members in 1994 to 294,179 members in 1995. Nearly two-thirds of the loss can be traced to churches which are largely composed of seceders from the Christian Reformed denomination. Of the four major groups of seceding churches, the largest is the Alliance of Reformed Churches, whose 43 member congregations total 9259 members. The second group, the Christian Presbyterian Church, is entirely composed of Korean congregations, most of which left the CRC under the leadership of Dr. John E. Kim, formerly pastor of the CRC's second-largest church. At their initial organization in 1993, the Christian Presbyterians counted over 6000 members and have continued rapid growth, but part of the initial membership and most recent growth has been from the receipt of members and congregations which never were Christian Reformed; 2934 of the initial members came from CRC sources and some additional Korean CRC members have left since that time. The oldest and smallest of the secession groups is the federation of Orthodox Christian Reformed Churches, a small 1399-member denomination with 14 churches. So far, 24 secession churches with approximately 3900 members have chosen not to affiliate with any of the organized denominations and most are loosely associated under the rubric of the Alliance of Reformed Churches. In addition, individual churches and groups have left the CRC to affiliate with other denominations such as the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Presbyterian Church in America, Protestant Reformed Churches, and Canadian Reformed Churches. CRC General Secretary Dr. David Engelhard said he was "caught a bit by surprise" by the decline, which followed a smaller loss of only 2383 members last year. "It's not ideal; the Christian Reformed Church has not obviously gone out of its way to lose members," said Engelhard. "I hadn't anticipated that the number would be quite so high. According to Engelhard, much of the decline could be attributed to denominational infighting. "It's got itself in a very serious discussion about women in office and some of this membership loss is a result of that," said Engelhard. "You know as well as I do that all thirty thousand people are not in independent churches and they haven't all gone to the Orthodox Presbyterian Church or the Presbyterian Church in America, either. Nobody can say that all thirty thousand people left on account of the women in office decision, but it is certainly a significant number." "With this loss of six thousand, at an average of 250 people in a congregation we're talking here about a number equal to about fifteen congregations or maybe twenty," said Engelhard, who noted that outside of Classis Illiana the decline was spread more evenly throughout the denomination than in recent years. "The best I can figure out with the exception of the De Motte [Indiana] church which lost 141 members and Second Highland [Indiana] and those few that pulled away, the rest of it is five, six, seven in various places. This averages a loss of six members from every congregation, with the exception of the loss of part of a congregation in De Motte and Highland and a whole congregation in Bethany South Holland [Illinois] and Franklin Lakes [New Jersey]." Engelhard noted that a number of secessions had taken place around the end of the year and were not reflected in the CRC yearbook numbers. In addition to those cited by Engelhard, Cloverdale CRC of Boise, Idaho, has seceded from the denomination and minorities have seceded from churches in Momence, Illinois; Phoenix, Arizona; Walnut Creek, California; Leduc, Alberta; Vergennes, Vermont; and Lynden, Washington. According to Engelhard, while the denomination leadership is disappointed by the unexpected rate of decline, there are no plans in place to stem the losses. "I don't know that there are any plans at this time; there is no specific strategy other than to do what we've always tried to do, to have good leadership that gives direction through example. The denominational ministries are working with churches and classes to plant churches and strengthen them; church planting doesn't come easily." Despite the decline, Engelhard said there were some bright items in the statistics. "The one feature of our statistics which I think is still encouraging is the number of people that have come in through evangelism in the course of the year; there was a 1% increase through evangelism," noted Engelhard. "The other fact is the professions of faith of the young people this year was 4350, that's an encouraging sign I think that even though we lose some people through indifference and rejection of the faith, the Lord is still working." "I still think those two points are something we need to have some rejoicing over," said Engelhard. Cross-References to Related Articles: #1993-004: Christian Reformed Financial Crunch Prompts Hiring and Salary Freeze, $4.5 Million Denominational Budget Cut #1993-015: Massive Membership Decline Wipes Out Three Years of Christian Reformed Growth; Largest Decline in CRC History Knocks Denomination Back to 1989 Levels; CRC Yearbook Undercounts Loss By 4500 members #1994-006: 1994 CRC Yearbook Reports Loss of 11,000 Members, Ten Years of Growth Wiped Out; 3.5% drop from 311,202 to 300,320 members unprecedented in CRC history; Accelerating denominational loss totals 16,095 or 5.1% since 1992; CRC yearbook claims drop from 311,202 to 300,320 equals decline of 783 #1995-016 Continuing Christian Reformed Hemorrhage Costs CRC 22,000 Members in Three Years; Unprecedented Loss Tops Seven Percent of Pre-1993 Membership, Knocks Denomination Back Fifteen Years to 1980 Membership Levels #1996-019: Christian Reformed Decline Reaches 7.7% of Denomination; Fourth Consecutive Year of Decline Costs CRC Over 24,600 Members, Drops Denomination Back to 1979 Levels Contact List: Elder Pete Elzinga, Interim Committee Chairman, Alliance of Reformed Churches 10532 Paw Paw Dr., Holland, MI 49424 H/O: (616) 772-2918 Dr. David Engelhard, General Secretary, Christian Reformed Church in North America 2850 Kalamazoo Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49560 O: (616) 246-0744 * H: (616) 243-2418 * FAX: (616) 246-0834 * E-Mail: engelhad@crcnet.mhs.compuserve.com Rev. Jerome Julien, Stated Clerk, United Reformed Churches in North America 3646 - 193rd Pl., Lansing, IL 60438 H/O: (708) 418-5321 * FAX: (708) 418-5591 Dr. John E. Kim, President, Chongshin Theological Seminary 31-3 Dong-Jak Kuq, Sadang-Dong, Seoul, KOREA * FAX: 011-822-536-2602 Rev. Al Korvemaker, Yearbook Manager, Orthodox Christian Reformed Churches 326-19533 Fraser Hwy., Surrey, BC V3S 7K7 H/O: (604) 574-2240 Rev. Dwight Dong-Wan Kim, Recording Clerk, Christian Presbyterian Church 4741 N. Glen Arden Ave., Covina, CA 91724 O: (213) 665-0224 * H: (818) 332-9686 ---------------------------------------------------------- file: /pub/resources/text/reformed/archive97: nr97-020.txt .