What is in a Name?

Here is a list of the frequency of words in the name of PC(USA) 10,655 churches, 3,633 different words (longer than 3 characters):

#	Name	Count
1	first	2,745
2	community	355
3	memorial	271
4	westminster	209
5	korean	184
6	trinity	152
7	covenant	128
8	church	127
9	hill	103
10	valley	102
11	grace	98
12	park	97
13	creek	94
14	faith	90
15	central	83
15b	spring(s)	82
16	christ	77
17	grove	75
18	hope	73
19	bethel	73
20	second	65
21	bethany	65
22	hills	64
23	calvary	63
24	west	63
25	lake	62
26	avenue	59
27	united	51
28	chapel	49
29	north	49
30	pleasant	49
31	john	44
32	northminster	42
35	shepherd	39
36	knox	39
37	andrew	39
38	ridge	38
39	good	38
40	south	37
41	heights	36
42	city	36
43	street	34
44	east	33
45	calvin	33
46	andrews	31
47	salem	30
48	zion	29
49	providence	29
50	river	28
51	highland	28
52	mountain	26
53	view	26
54	forest	26
55	rock	26
56	emmanuel	25
57	eastminster	25
58	island	24
59	southminster	24
60	third	24
61	federated	24
62	immanuel	23
63	fort	23
64	pine	23
65	center	23
66	washington	22
67	peace	22
68	bethlehem	22
69	ebenezer	22
70	hopewell	21
71	mount	21
72	unity	21
73	bethesda	21
74	buffalo	21
75	white	20
76	concord	20
77	james	19
78	university	18
79	college	18
80	liberty	18

#	Name	Count
1	first pc	2,533
2	westminster pc	191
3	community pc	163
4	upc	130
5	trinity pc	124
6	covenant pc	79
7	first upc	72
8	grace pc	64
9	central pc	62
10	second pc	60
11	faith pc	59
12	bethany pc	58
13	calvary pc	56
14	bethel pc	55
15	korean pc	46
16	christ pc	42
17	northminster pc	41
18	st andrew pc	37
19	memorial pc	29
20	st andrews pc	28
21	new hope pc	26
22	eastminster pc	25
23	southminster pc	23
24	hope pc	23
25	immanuel pc	20
26	hopewell pc	20
27	ebenezer pc	20
28	third pc	19
29	knox pc	19
30	good shepherd pc	19
31	providence pc	18
32	john knox pc	17
33	bethesda pc	17
34	emmanuel pc	16
35	st james pc	16
36	calvin pc	16
37	concord pc	16
38	bethlehem pc	16
39	highland pc	16
40	salem pc	15
41	st paul pc	15
42	university pc	14
43	unity pc	14
44	heritage pc	13
45	mt pleasant pc	13
46	peace pc	13
47	john calvin pc	13
48	north pc	12
49	st pauls pc	12
50	faith upc	12
51	fairview pc	12
52	church of the covenant pc	11
53	st johns pc	11
54	pleasant grove pc	11
55	zion pc	11
56	harmony pc	11
57	korean upc	10
58	new covenant pc	10
59	trinity upc	10
60	grace covenant pc	10

Additions to website - Top 50

On my page List of Synods/Presbyteries/Churches I have added a list of the Top 50 PC(USA) churches (as of 2006) by reported worship size. I have the highlighted those that are leaving in orange and the one hold back per-capita in yellow.

Presbyterians have Bishops??

This article on Memorial Park Presbyterian Church in Christian Today (Australia Edition) has what I hope is a typo. I emailed the website.

"James D. Berkley, Director of Institute on Religion and Democracy's Presbyterian Action Committee, said those who allowed the ordination of homosexual bishops within the denomination had capitulated to the spirit of the age while ignoring the clear and consistent witness of the Scripture."

Statistics of PCUSA

Check out my Synod/Presbytery page for more info. Of course these are 2006 numbers. If you have suggestions for additional lies, errr, statistics let me know. I have the raw data in three CSV files: synods, presbyteries, churches. Here is a summary:

• Synods: 16
• Presbyteries: 173
• Churches: 10,697

• Mega: (>2000) 9
• Large:(>300) 750
• Medium:(>50) 5,683
• Small:(<50)> 4,255

• Members: 2,238,880
• Worship: 1,176,884
• C Ed: 1,159,140
• Contributions: $2,318,909,951 (2.3 BILLION)
• Avg/Worshiper: $1,977

Note: For some reason Dakota (Native Americian) does not report numbers! 21 churches

Website Status Updated

I was finally able to get to start on the REAL website, instead of blog. Thanks to ibiblio for their patience with me.

Also, I have a complete list of churches in PCUSA, along with membership, worship attendance, CE enrollment, and contributions. I will be placing them on the new website when it goes live. Meanwhile, I will place the summary per presbytery. It looks like the average is $2,000 per worshiper.

Are Canadian Presbyterians Splitting Too?

Canadian Press Story: ORO, Ont. - Trinity Presbyterian Church in Oro, south of Orillia, is working to rebuild its congregation after losing members to a rival church. About 200 people attended the first service following the departure of more than 1,000 worshippers to former minister Rev. Carey Nieuwhof's Connexus Community Church, reports the Presbyterian Record on its website. Guest ministers will lead Sunday worship over the next few weeks. The congregation is also providing a children's program and developing a youth program, church officials told the magazine. Givings have been strong, said Rob Ward, an adherent active in the revitalization of the church. "We are seeking His kingdom and He is building His church," said Ward. Preparing a budget that will permit the congregation to meet its operating costs is the most immediate challenge, he said. Ed: Should I add this church to my list? Are there other churches in Canada splitting? I added a link to the new church "website", blog

Dismissial Negotiations Fail - Sessions calls for Disaffiliation

From the Pittsburg Post-Gazette Story: Church goes to court in bid to switch its affiliation.

Layman Story:

• Memorial Park Presbyterian Church
• Allison Park, PA
• Washington Presbytery
• Congregation voted 951-93-4 on June 3, 2007 to Dismiss to EPC
• Dismissial Negotiations Fail ( Presbyter$1.2 m (was 1.7) vs Session 0.5 m)
• Jan 2, 2008 Session unanimously calls for Disaffiliation vote by Congregation on Jan 19 and 20.
• Presbytery had take out newspaper adds before June vote!
• Presbytery had spoken to congregation in May

Convenant PC, Ft. Myers, Fl Calls for Vote

The Session of Covenant Presbyterian Church (Fort Myers, FL) by a vote of 21-1 has called for a congregational vote to dismiss to EPC on Feb 3, 2008. The next stated meeting of the Peace River Presbytery is Feb 28, 2008. The Church was founded in 1962 in the PCUS denomination. The PCUSA site list the members ship as 1,492 and worship size as 885. The synod is South Atlantic.

Interestingly, I only found out about this new development, because Charles Wiley (Coordinator, Office of Theology and Worship of the General Assembly Council, PC(USA) in Louisville, Ky.) complained about it in Presbyteran Outlook and was quoted in the Dec 24 blog of Presbyman (The Spoiled Dinner Party). Wiley's Post is also analyzed on the blog Recovering Presbyterian.

Found this 2003 Layman article about them no longer paying per-capita. So they have had integrity for some time.

Poll Results: What Is the 10% of the Proprerty for leaving?

• 64% (41)Blood Money!
• 15% (10)Proper Compromise.
• 14% ( 9)Not Enough.
•  6% ( 4)Never let them Go!

Now that this is a post, PLEASE leave a comment about why you voted the way you did even if you did not vote.