Methodist Giving Increases, Membership Decreases

Giving to the United Methodist Church (UMC) increased by nearly 4 percent despite the loss of more than 69,000 members, according to a new report on the 2004 season.

“We are grateful for the significant number of local congregations and conferences that faithfully met their commitment to make possible the work of our church,” said Sandra Lackore, the denomination’s treasurer.

The results are in lockstep with the larger trends that have been characterizing America’s historical mainline over the past several decades: decline in membership, increase in budget.

According to the statistics, United Methodists gave $4.4 million more than the $159.3 million offered in 2003 to the UMC’s seven designated funds last year.

“The faithfulness of United Methodists is amazing,” Lackore said. “We have spent far too little time as a denomination helping our members and friends connect their faith journey with their giving journey. Despite that, faithful United Methodists continue to generously support our denominational financial covenant.

“We are thankful for all those who yearly make it possible for their church to meet needs that they will never personally see. That’s what keeps our connectional covenant strong,” she added.

Membership meanwhile declined by 69,141 to a total of less than 8.2 million U.S. members.

“This figure is based on congregational statistics collected for 2003 and reported through the annual (regional) conferences after their sessions in spring 2004. These numbers reflect a continuing decline in U.S. membership that has been ongoing for at least three decades. The giving reported here is for 2004,” according to the United Methodist News Service.

For more information on the report, visit: www.umns.org