"Every day in this world, fear keeps challenging faith, and faith still always wins."
Moses Kumar, General Secretary of GCFA
Adam Hamilton presented some startling statistics.
Comparison statistics since five years ago:
Membership down 5.3%
Worship Attendance down 8.7%
Confirmations and baptisms down 21%
Young adult voice: The UMC's inability to adapt will mean that young people will go elsewhere.
52 % of active clergy are 55-72 years old. Within 20 years, 14,000 of our clergy will be retired.
This is the driving force for the Call to Action plan for restructuring the denomination.
It will be interesting to see what the legislative committees do with this legislation, and the resultant action of the General Conference. There will be no change without risk and sacrifice.
The first presentation was aimed at filling the Conference with hope. The second intended to instill fear. 'Very unsettling!
No comments:
Post a Comment