UMW STATISTICS SHOW DECLINE Are pastors responsible

When the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church merged in 1968 to form the United Methodist Church, the combined church membership was 11 million, with more than 42,000 churches. According to the May 1968 issue of Together magazine, there were more than 38,000 United Methodist Women (UMW) groups, with a total membership of 1.7 million.

Since 1968, there has been a steady UMW decline. Statistics from 2002 show 775,939 members of UMW. Comparing the 2002 UMW membership with the original combined Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren membership in 1968 shows a membership drop of 56.8 percent. (Total membership loss in the same period is more than 25 percent.)

It is noteworthy that the number of churches with UMW groups has declined along with individual UMW membership. In 1968, more than 38,000 churches are identified as having UMW groups; the 2001 statistics show them in only 22,321 churches. This is a loss of 42.8 percent of UMW groups, while the denomination-wide number of churches lost was 16.3 percent.

The decline does not seem to have plateaued in recent years. Within the last five years, UMW has lost more than 129,000 individual members (14 percent loss) and more than 1,600 churches no longer have UMW units (7 percent loss).

2003 Update
According to a General Council on Finance and Administration report, the 2003 figures for the year ending December 31, show another decline in UMW membership and units. The membership figure for this period is 765,724 for a decrease of 10,215 members. The number of churches reporting UMW membership was 21,521 for a decrease of 399 units.

Who is responsible?
Most interestingly, letters to the editor from two former Women’s Division retired staff persons blamed “Good News pastors” for this decline. One letter made a slight accusation against the RENEW Editorial Team—but pastors were the really bad guys (or gals). It was even suggested that the day may come “when the Judicial Council is asked to consider whether the active and willful subverting of Para. 255.4 is a chargeable offense against a pastor.”

A recent mailing to a bishop by the chief executive of the Women’s Division also claimed that “some pastors facilitate the work of RENEW to close UMW units (which RENEW does not advocate), some receive no information about such efforts, even in their own congregations and some express indifference.”

This is strange indeed. The Women’s Division comes under the authority of the General Conference, not under the Council of Bishops or any other agency. The local United Methodist Women’s organization comes under the Women’s Division through the district and conference UMW, not under the Administrative Council of the local church or the pastor. The Women’s Division has responsibility for the programs, policies and spending of the UMW organization. Pastors have no input, even if they disagree with the spending or program content. Are pastors, then, to blame if UMW membership declines, or if the women of the church refuse to give their funds to support things with which they disagree?

Thousands of women have connected with the RENEW Network, or other viable renewal groups, to educate themselves and to make informed, intelligent decisions about their UMW ministry and the influence of the Women’s Division—yet, the truth that women can and do think for themselves and make their own decisions is not acknowledged. Instead, pastors are held responsible for a program over which they have no oversight. Who’s really responsible for UMW membership loss? Someone needs to look in the mirror.

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