Subject: NR1995-016: CRC Drops by 7%, Loses 22,000 Members in 3 years NR #1995-016: For Immediate Release 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 [NOTE: A camera-ready graph accompanying this article illustrating CRC membership figures is available upon request.] by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer Reformed Believers Press Service GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (February 17, 1995) RBPS - The Christian Reformed denomination has lost members for an unprecedented third year in a row, a loss now totalling over 22,000 - more than the total memberships of many of the smaller Reformed denominations such as the Orthodox Presbyterian Church with which the CRC maintains ecclesiastical fellowship. Many of these members have joined the rapidly growing conservative secession movement from the denomination which has almost quadrupled in size during the same period. While many mainline denominations are used to reporting annual declines, until three 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 138-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 over seven percent of the total denominational membership, which reached a high of 316,415 members in 1992. The current CRC membership stands at 294,179 -- a level last seen fifteen years ago in 1980. Most of the loss can be attributed to three groups of churches which are largely composed of seceders from the denomination. Of the three, the largest is the Alliance of Reformed Churches, whose 55 independent congregations total 10,805 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. The oldest and smallest of the secession groups is the federation of Orthodox Christian Reformed Churches, a small 1200-member denomination largely composed of churches organized in the late 1980's. Adding up all the secession groups accounts for four-fifths of the decline, but that still leaves 6000 missing members who have disappeared since 1993. Where did the missing members go? "The numbers don't tell us of course exactly why people left," said CRC General Secretary Dr. David Engelhard. "One of them obviously is disenchantment with synod's continuing change in mind with respect to women in office, and that accounts for loss of people on both sides of that issue." "A number of people have been leaving because of worship style; also perceptions of how outreach ought to be done in the late 20th century and what the culture requires and what is the best way to woo people for the gospel of our Lord," Engelhard added. "Some find that the CRC is not as up to date as they would want to be in some of those matters. Those seem to be the kind of reactions and remarks that come my direction." "Of course, we're always saddened when the numbers go down from the year before, particularly the precipitous drop from 1992, and now again this year." However, Engelhard pointed to one bright spot in the CRC Yearbook: the denomination continues to receive sizeable numbers of members through evangelism, part of a denomination-wide mission emphasis begun in the late 1980's which had originally set a goal of 400,000 members by the year 2000. In 1995, the CRC received nearly 2500 members through evangelism. "I would be much more concerned if our loss of numbers were due to a failure to take the Great Commission seriously and our proclamation of the gospel," said Engelhard. Cross-References to Related RBPS Articles: #1993-015 [Title unavailable; article addresses problems with Christian Reformed yearbook statistics] #1993-044 First General Assembly of Christian Presbyterian Church Enrolls 41.4% of Christian Reformed Koreans #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 #1995-017 Alliance of Reformed Churches Continues Dramatic Growth Contact List: 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 ------------------------------------------------ file: /pub/resources/text/reformed: nr95-016.txt .