1. The United Church of Christ is a dynamic, evolving movement of people and institutions across location and time. The contents of this Power Point presentation attempt to provide a deeper understanding of this movement, though what is articulated in these pages provides only a narrow view of a much broader landscape.
Statistics—basic numerical facts about a particular organization or body—present specific bits of information to assist humans in illuminating the past, realizing the present, and envisioning the future. As such, this profile provides a general statistical overview of the state of the denomination—past and present. In addition, there are two “Special Report” sections highlighting research conducted in the past year—one on local congregational growth, outreach, and budgets/finances and the other on highlights from the Faith Communities Today 2015 National Survey of Congregations. As always, this profile provides a closer look at overall church location, size, membership, ministerial demographics, and stewardship and finances.
Information for the profile was drawn primarily from data reported through the UCC Data Hub annually for the production of the UCC Yearbook & Directory.

2. * The number of congregations increases to 5,148 if Schedule 1 and 2 congregations are included.
** Calculations on Stewardship and Finances include Schedule 1 and 2 churches. Averages are calculated among giving congregations only and exclude congregations that did not give in that particular category in 2014.
*** Special Support refers to financial gifts for any UCC agency and/or organization. This figure includes funds sent through Conferences and Associations, as well as funds sent directly to UCC-related organizations.

3. UCC Congregations and Members
At the end of 2014, the United Church of Christ reported 5,062 active congregations with a total of 943,521 members. Overall, the membership of the UCC represents less than one percent (0.6%) of total U.S. church membership and is concentrated in the Great Lakes, Middle Atlantic, and New England regions of the country.

4. Growth and Decline
Similar to other Protestant denominations, the UCC has experienced a decline in the numbers of congregations and members in recent decades. From 2000 to 2010 alone, the UCC encountered a net loss of 696 congregations and 318,897 members. Some of this decline, however, began prior to the formation of the denomination in 1957, as the number of congregations steadily decreased despite membership increases in the UCC’s early years.
In the past five years ( ), 331 congregations were removed from denominational records. Congregational decline has slowed in recent years, however. In 2006 and 2007, the UCC experienced a loss of nearly three congregations per week on average; but from 2008 through 2014, only one congregation was eliminated from denominational records per week on average.
In total, 106 congregations received standing and were added to the UCC over the last five years. On average, a new congregation (a church that received standing, affiliated, or merged with another congregation) was added every 2.5 weeks.

5. Membership Growth And Decline
In general, the number of members removed each year exceeds the number of members added for that same time period. Members are removed from denominational records for a number of reasons including death, transfer of membership to another denomination, or updating of church membership records.
The difference between UCC members removed and added was greater in 2014 than in 2010, though it was not the greatest difference on record. Since 2005, however, the difference has increased on average when compared to previous years.

6. Congregations by Race/Ethnicity
A significant majority (87.1%) of congregations in the UCC self-identify as White/Euro-American (meaning that most members of a congregation belong to that particular racial/ethnic group). Over the last decade, the percentage of White/Euro-American congregations decreased by 2.6%; and the percentage of Hispanic/Latino congregations decreased by 1.0%. The percentage of Bi-Racial/Multi-Racial and Other congregations increased by 2.2%, followed by Asian / Pacific Islander congregations increasing by 1.0%. Percentages of African-American and Native American congregations also increased slightly.

7. Congregations by Date of Organization
While the UCC has only been in existence since 1957, many of its congregations were founded by predecessor denominations. Over two thirds of churches (68.2%) were organized before Two out of ten congregations (20.9%) were organized between 1900 and 1969, and one in ten (10.9%) were organized in the last 32 years. Over time, the percentage of the UCC’s newest churches ( ) is slowly increasing while the percentage of older churches (pre-2000) is slowly decreasing.

8. Congregation Size by Membership
Nearly one in three UCC members (29.7%) belong to congregations of members, and this figure did not change significantly over the past decade. However, an increased percentage of UCC individuals held membership in smaller churches over this same time period, with 33.2% of all members attending congregations with 200 or fewer members in 2014 compared to 24.9% of all members in This trend is expected to continue in future years.
As a result, the number of smaller membership UCC congregations increased over the past decade. Four in ten congregations (43.3%) reported a membership of 100 or fewer, compared with 35.3% in Congregations with members increased slightly since 2004, from 26.1% to 26.7%.

9. Worship Attendance
When considering worship attendance figures rather than membership size, even more congregations are categorized as smaller churches. In 2014, eight in ten churches in the UCC (79.5%) had a weekly worship of attendance of 1-100, which was a 14.6% increase from Over time, the percentage of congregations with greater worship attendance numbers has decreased steadily, with the most dramatic decreases occurring in congregations of worship attenders over the last 20 years.

10. Worship Attendance and Membership
The relationship between worship attendance and membership is shifting over time. From 2004 to 2014, decreased percentages of people attended worship when compared to total congregational membership. On average, 92.5% of a 1-50 member congregation’s total membership attended worship on a weekly basis in In 2014, an average of 80.6% of members attended weekly worship for the same size congregation. Interestingly, however, congregations with over 1,000 members increased worship attendance percentages from 2004 to Overall, a greater percentage of members regularly attend worship in smaller congregations when compared with larger congregations, which suggests that the nature of relationships in smaller versus larger congregations may affect overall participation rates.

11. Worship Attendance and Membership
Roughly 3.6% of UCC congregations (182 total churches) reported worship attendance numbers that exceeded membership numbers in There are a variety of reasons that this phenomenon occurs within congregations: Federated churches usually report all UCC members but also report total worship attenders from partnering denominations, large numbers of children or youth may attend worship, or some churches may not emphasize membership.
It is interesting to note that worship attendance exceeded membership in small to mid-sized congregations and not in larger congregations. This was also the case for these congregations in 2009, and the overall number of these types of congregations did not change significantly since that time.

12. Congregational Designations
From 2008 to 2014, there was a 56.2% increase in the number of Open and Affirming (ONA) congregations in the United Church of Christ, from 792 churches (14.7% of all UCC churches at the time) to 1,237 churches (24.1% of all UCC congregations in 2014). On average, congregations organized in the years (37.0%) were designated as ONA more frequently than churches organized before that time period (21.1%).
Roughly eight in ten congregations (82.9%) self-identify as being accessible to individuals with disabilities. While the specific types and degrees of accessibility among these congregations are unknown, it is interesting to note that congregations organized before 1970 (84.7%) identified as accessible more frequently than congregations organized in the years (68.5%).

13. UCC Authorized Ministers
As of August 1, 2015, there were a total of 7,438 active (non-retired) Authorized Ministers in the United Church of Christ (Ordained, Licensed, Commissioned, Dual Standing, and Ordained Ministerial Partner Standing). Ordained Ministers were the largest percentage of active ministers reported (82.7%); and Licensed Ministers comprised the second largest group of Authorized Ministers (9.2%).

14. Summary of UCC Ordained Ministers
At the end of 2014, 10,013 Ordained Ministers in Full Standing were reported, including Retired Ministers and Pastor Emeriti. Of those 10,013 Ordained Ministers, one-half (50.3% or 5,026) were employed, with 72.3% (3,635) of those employed actively serving in a local church (either a UCC church or non-UCC church). Over one-third (38.6%) were Retired Ministers or Pastor Emeriti, and 11.2% were unclassified (ministers who did not hold a position at the time of Yearbook production or whose position had not been reported at that time) or were on a leave of absence.
See Appendix A for a detailed summary of Ordained Ministers by classification.
From 1984 to 2014, Ordained Ministers decreased in number by a net total of 144 (-1.4%). While currently employed Ordained Ministers decreased by nearly one-third in the last three decades (by -30.6%), unclassified / leave of absence Ordained Ministers increased in the same time period (by +60.3%).

15. Trends in Ordained Ministry
Over the last 25 years, the number of Ordained Ministers has remained relatively stable; however, the number of Retired Ministers and Pastor Emeriti has increased steadily. Interestingly, in this same time period, the number of Ordained Ministers serving in local congregations decreased at steadily similar rates due to overall congregational and membership decline. If past trends continue, which are predicted to be the case, there will be no clergy supply shortage in future years, even though retirements continue to increase.

16. UCC Authorized Ministers by Age
Statistical information regarding Authorized Ministers in the denomination reflects an increasingly aging population. When all active (non-retired) Authorized Ministers were considered, over half were age 60 and above (54.1%) and over one-fourth were (28.4%), making 82.5% of all active ministers age 50 and above. When measuring changes over time, the percentage of pastors and co-pastors under 60 decreased in the last decade from 67.6% to 48.7%, while pastors and co-pastors 60 and over increased significantly (+80.6%).

17. UCC Authorized Ministers by Race/Ethnicity
The majority (88.7%) of all UCC Authorized Ministers identified as White/Euro-American, with 11.3% identifying as non-white. Among the various types of authorization, Ministers with Dual Standing were the most racially/ethnically diverse group with three in ten (29.9%) ministers listed as non-white. Commissioned Ministers and Ministers with Ordained Ministerial Partner Standing were the least racially/ethnically diverse authorization groups, with no Asian/Pacific Islander, Native American, or Bi-Racial/Multi-Racial ministers listed within denominational records.

18. UCC Authorized Ministers by Gender
Approximately 52.0% of active, non-retired Authorized Ministers in the United Church of Christ identified as male, 47.9% identified as female, and 0.1% identified as transgender/gender-variant. There were more male ministers than female ministers within each authorization category, except for Commissioned Ministers, of which there were 3.3 times the number of females compared to males.

19. UCC Female Ministers in Local Churches
The number of active female Ordained Ministers increased significantly over the last decade, from 33.4% in 2004 to 48.6% in Over one-third (33.3%) of all local church pastors (including senior pastors) were female, compared with over one-fourth (28.7%) ten years ago. Over half of co-pastors (51.5%) and interim / supply pastors (53.4%) were female, and over two-thirds (70.3%) were associate / assistant pastors.

20. Ordinations and MIDs
The number of ordinations per year decreased over the past decade from 202 in 2005 to 140 in Throughout this time period, the annual average of ordinations was 161 compared to the annual average of 197 ordinations. When reviewing trends over the past several decades, however, ordination numbers fluctuated in similar ways; and it is yet to be seen whether this decrease signals a continuing trend.
As of December 31, 2014, there were 740 active Members in Discernment on record within the denominational database. Members in Discernment (or MIDs) were concentrated within larger Conferences, as is to be expected, with Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Ohio Conferences reporting 26.4% of the total number of MIDs.
In terms of gender, females comprised 53.5% of the total number of MIDs (a greater percentage than that of current female Authorized Ministers). Members in Discernment were also more racially/ethnically diverse than current Authorized Ministers with 17.3% identifying as non-white (compared with 11.3% of Authorized Ministers identifying as non-white).

21. Stewardship and Mission Support
Totals for wider church stewardship and giving by local congregations of the United Church of Christ decreased over the past several years; however, there were increases in the number of congregations participating in special offerings.
For special offerings giving from local congregations, each offering experienced an increase in the percentage of participating congregations over the past decade. In 2004, 52.3% of churches participated in the Neighbors in Need offering; and participation increased by 4.2% in Even more striking, 25.6% of congregations participated in the Strengthen the Church Offering in 2004; and in 2014, 41.3% participated in this offering, a 15.7% increase over the past decade. In addition, the Christmas Fund offering increased by 9.3% from 2004 to 2014.

22. Stewardship and Mission Support
In overall mission support, the total increased slightly from the previous year by $139,622 (+0.2%). Special support increased by $3,387,033 (+22.3%), while other gifts, conference basic support, and national basic support decreased. Since 2010, national basic support and other gifts experienced the greatest decreases (-17.5% and -17.0%, respectively); and conference basic support decreased by 9.3%. Special support, however, experienced an increase since 2010 (+4.1%).

23. Local Church Financial Trends
Local congregational expenses increased over time while income decreased. Operating expenses for an average local congregation in 2014 was $166,806, a $2,817 average increase from Average total income for a local church in 2014 was $230,841, a $31,372 decrease from Both the average expenses and income for local congregations increased in the last decade from $132,359 and $125,227 in 2004, respectively.
In 2004, Our Church’s Wider Mission (OCWM) giving represented 5.1% of a local congregation’s total expenditures. This percentage decreased to 4.3% of a local church’s total expenditures for 2014.
Overall expenditures for congregations of the United Church of Christ increased from $938,000,522 to $950,538,969 in a period of four years (December 31, 2010 to December 31, 2014), a 1.3% increase. This is due largely to increases in capital expenses and local church expenses over time (with minor fluctuations by year).

24. The Church Dollar
In the last decade, the distribution of the church dollar experienced some noticeable shifts. Current local expenses increased by $.02, and capital expenses remained the same (with minor fluctuations from year to year). Special support and conference basic support remained the same, and national basic support decreased to less than $.01 on the dollar.

25. SPECIAL REPORT: Congregational Growth, Outreach, and Budgets/Finances
Despite overall decline, a majority (60.9%) of UCC congregations have either plateaued or grown in membership over the past five years. Compared with growth rates between 1999 and 2004, however, a smaller percentage of congregations experienced growth in the last five years, though the percentage of plateauing and declining congregations each increased slightly.
In examining congregational growth by size, a greater percentage of congregations with members and over 600 members experienced growth over the last five years, compared to other churches of respective size. When comparing growth rates to today, however, the percentage of congregations within each size category that experienced growth decreased significantly, except for congregations with 600 to 1,000 members in which the percentage increased from 8.5% in 2004 to 12.1% in 2014.

26. Growing UCC Congregations
Overall, a greater percentage of newer congregations grew between 2009 and 2014, with over one-fourth of all churches organized in experiencing membership growth by more than 10%.
In analyzing growth by the primary race/ethnicity of congregations, greater percentages of non-white congregations experienced growth over the last five years, with Native American and Bi-Racial/Multi-Racial congregations experiencing the greatest growth overall (20.0% and 22.2% of total Native American and Bi-Racial/Multi-Racial churches, respectively).

27. Growing UCC Congregations
Over one-fourth (26.0%) of all congregations within the Rocky Mountain Conference experienced membership growth over the past five years. On the whole, Conferences on the West Coast and in the South contained greater percentages of congregations that experienced growth in this time period, which mirrored general U.S. regional church growth trends.
More than twice the percentage of Open and Affirming (ONA) congregations grew from 2009 to 2014 than non-ONA congregations. When compared with , both ONA and non-ONA congregations experienced a decrease in the percentage of growing congregations in , which is not surprising given overall trends.
In conducting advanced statistical analyses examining the effects of membership size, date of organization, race/ethnicity, and ONA status on congregational growth and decline, it appears that these factors—singularly or combined—do not significantly affect a congregation’s growth or decline.

28. Congregational Outreach
For the first time in 2014, UCC congregations were asked to annually report community participation numbers, the estimated number of individuals in the wider community (beyond church participants) who attended church-sponsored events or were impacted by the church’s ministries. While these numbers were only estimated figures, it is important to begin to reflect on and report UCC congregational impact within local communities.
In total, congregations reported that an average of 666 community members was impacted by church activities and initiatives in Congregations reported a range of 0 to 70,092 individuals impacted by outreach efforts and programs. As expected, larger congregations reported greater numbers. The total sum of community participants was 766,719 (with 22.4% of congregations reporting).

29. Mission/Immersion/Service Trips
This number is expected to change as more congregations report this figure over time. In another annual reporting first, congregations were asked to indicate whether members of their congregation participated in a U.S. or international mission / immersion / service trip in In total, 416 (8.1%) congregations reported that their members had participated in such trips.

30. Congregational Budgets and Finances
As expected, average budgetary categories for congregations of varying sizes increased as membership increased in Interestingly, however, deferments remained relatively similar for the largest three congregational membership categories.

31. Congregational Budgets and Finances
Pledges calculated as a percentage of total income for 2014 increased as membership increased. For 1-50 member congregations, pledges constituted over half (55.9%) of total income. On average, member congregations had the largest percentage of pledges to total income (71.6%).

32. Pastor Salaries and Benefits in Church Budgets
In most congregations, ministerial compensation comprises a significant portion of overall church budgets. In examining 2014 data reported by local churches, solo pastorate compensation and related expenses constituted a larger portion of congregational operating expenses than senior pastor compensation and expenses. This is expected since larger congregations possess greater funds and resources to support multiple staff. Comparisons between full-time and part-time solo pastorates were relatively similar, with salary and housing allowance for full-time pastors constituting 32.4% of total operating expenses and salary and housing allowance for part-time pastors constituting 35.4% of total operating expenses.

33. SPECIAL REPORT: Highlights from FACT 2015 National Survey of Congregations
In early 2015, the United Church of Christ participated in the Faith Communities Today (FACT) National Survey of Congregations to look at religious life in America. The survey was completed by 910 UCC congregations (17.7% of all UCC churches) through a well-informed leader (a pastor, staff member, church administrator, or lay leader). The following are a few highlights of some of the findings from this survey. Additional results will be available at
As a whole, young adults (ages 18-34) are present within six in ten UCC congregations (59.2%); and on average, this age demographic constitutes only 6.2% of the total participants in any given congregation.
In general, one in ten congregations (10.1%) have a thriving or solid ministry specifically for young adults; and two in ten (21.2%) churches have made progress in this ministry area. The majority of UCC churches struggle with starting a ministry with young adults.
For UCC congregations with young adults, over three-fourths (77.7%) reported that young adults participate by attending worship services; and 69.1% indicated that young adults participate in other programs and activities that the church offers.

34. Young Adults Demographics
In terms of family structures, over three-fourths (76.8%) of young adults in UCC churches are either married without children or single (with or without children).
Of participating young adults within UCC congregations, 68.9% come from families already within the congregation. In contrast, only one-fifth (21.9%) are from surrounding communities; and 9.2% are from other settings/locations such as nearby companies, colleges or universities, or military bases.

35. Young Adult Engagement
Congregations indicated that some young adult programs received more emphasis than others when it came to involving this age group in the congregation. While most congregations did not have specific programming for young adults, the programs or activities that churches did have tended to be service or social oriented groups such as community service activities, social media sites, fellowship groups, and mission trips.
In general, the majority (68.3%) of congregations does not place a high priority on engaging young adults in their congregations or considers other priorities to be more immediate. One in ten congregations (10.5%), however, views young adult engagement as one of their top priorities.
Churches also provided insight into which factors they believed would be helpful to improving ministry with young adults. UCC congregations indicated that more interest on the part of young adults was most important, with 67.0% of congregations selecting that this was either “Very Important” or “Essential.” Congregationally-focused factors were also rated as “Very Important” or “Essential,” with 64.2% desiring ideas or strategies for engaging young adults and 63.9% wanting better contact with young adults in the community.
In the average UCC congregation, 6.6% of total participants identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT). This was a 2.2% increase from FACT 2010 survey results, which indicated that only 4.0% of participants in churches identified as LGBT. While some respondents stated that no one in their congregations identified as LGBT, other congregations indicated that 90% of their total participants identified as LGBT.

36. Congregational Leadership
In comparing responses from the Faith Communities Today 2010 to the 2015 surveys around UCC leadership, pastor employment status had not changed significantly over the last five years. There was a slight decline in the percentage of full-time paid pastors, from 64.0% to 62.9%. As a result, the percentage of part-time paid and unpaid pastors increased slightly

37. Paid Congregational Staff
When considering worship attendance compared to the number of paid full and part-time staff, churches with a weekly attendance of 1-50 were more likely to employ a part-time pastor. Churches with attendees were more likely to employ more than one full-time pastor/program staff person. In general, the number of staff within a congregation increased as weekly attendance increased.

38. Bi-Vocational Pastors
The majority of pastors in UCC congregations (75.4%) are not bi-vocational; but one-fourth of pastors are either bi-vocational by choice (14.9%) or bi-vocational by circumstance (9.7%). Of the total number of bi-vocational pastors, 62.1% worked in secular settings and 37.9% served in ministry-related settings