Rev. George Speake presented the Statistician’s Report Friday afternoon, providing insight into the trends for local church worship attendance, participation in ministries, and giving.
The first report in the Conference Workbook (beginning on page 85) reflects the data for all 780 churches for the 2022 calendar year. The Conference began 2022 with 213,576 members and ended with 162,625, including 628 members in The United Methodist Collective. This reflects a loss of just over 52,000 members.
The second report (beginning on page 87) looks at the data from a slightly different perspective. This report considers only the 531 churches remaining after last year’s disaffiliations. Those 531 churches had a total membership of 166,285 at the beginning of 2022 and ended the year with 161,997. This number, plus the 628 members of the UM Collective, represents a loss of only 5,353 members, not including disaffiliations.
Speake stated that “in these two reports, you will notice that not all the decline in membership was the result of disaffiliation. There was also continued membership auditing [of church rolls] last year, and of course, the normal ebb and flow of other membership changes.”
- Professions of Faith, restored membership, and new members from other denominations increased.
- The average worship attendance was 29,698, up from 2021.
- Baptisms in 2022 were up by 656, totaling 1,356.
- The combined giving in apportionments for the 531 churches contributed over $10MM in 2022. Giving for apportionments decreased by $1.16 MM from what was budgeted.
- UMCOR, General and Advance Specials offering, and missionary support offerings increased by $347,837, for a total of $778,320. $8.4 MM was contributed to local benevolent causes in the local communities and worldwide.
As Speake finished his report, he announced his retirement with those gathered as he said “my last slide…is my LAST slide.” Following the report, Dr. Christine Dodson and NC Conference members thanked Rev. George Speake for over 32 years of service as the NC Conference Statistician.
The Statisticians Report is on pages 85-88 of the Conference Workbook.