Declining Membership.

The 1980s marked the third consecutive decade of declining membership for America's top mainline Protestant churches. The United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Church of Christ, and the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. all experienced decreases in membership. For the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. and the Episcopal Church the decline was 25 and 28 percent, respectively, between 1965 and 1989, while the United Methodists, the nation's second largest Protestant body, reported losses of 18 percent during that same period. The loss of membership was accompanied by severe decreases in revenue for some denominations. The National Council of Churches (NCC), the umbrella organization for mainline Protestant denominations, suffered great financial hardship in 1989 and was forced to eliminate four hundred staff positions. Mainline churches also faced decreasing enrollments in their programs; Sunday school programs, once a staple of...