Presbyterian freshmen on the decline

Senior Doug Smith said one reason he chose Whitworth was for its strong connection with the Presbyterian church he attended in his hometown of Tucson, Ariz.

Smith received Whitworth's $1,000 Presbyterian Leaders Scholarship based on his application.

"I just checked the box for Presbyterian and I think that's all I did to qualify for it," he said.

The number of first-year students entering Whitworth who claim to be Presbyterian has fallen by 8.2 percent since 2001, according to results from the cooperative institutional research program freshman survey.

One reason the percentage of Presbyterians at Whitworth has been shrinking may be that the size of the Presbyterian church has been shrinking, said Gary Whisenand, director of Institutional Research.

The percentage of students claiming to follow other Christian denominations has decreased, while the percentage claiming to be "Other Christian," which includes non-denominational Christians, increased by 7.7 percentage points.

Whitworth administers a four-page survey created by the Higher Education Research Institute of the University of California at Los Angeles, in all freshman seminar classes every two years.

The survey asks first-year students questions about their background, family history and high school experience, Whisenand said.

Whisenand said students taking the survey chose between 19 options for religion, including nine denominations of Christianity and seven religions not explicitly Christian.

Whisenand said because Whitworth is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church USA, administrators keep a close eye on the number of Presbyterian students enrolled and would not like to see that decrease.

Dean of the chapel Terry McGonigal said it's important to Whitworth that it maintains strong Presbyterian enrollment.

"It is important educationally for you as a student that a good number are coming from Presbyterian churches so they can reflect the influence of the Presbyterian church in their lives to other students," he said.

McGonigal said Whitworth keeps strong ties with the PCUSA by being an active member of the Association of Presbyterian Colleges and Universities, communicating with Presbyterian churches around the world, offering its facilities and services to local Presbyterian churches and holding a Presbyterian mission to be agents of transformation in the world.

McGonigal said Whitworth is pleased that many current students actively volunteer with Presbyterian organizations and that there are many graduates in the Presbyterian church.

McGonigal said Whitworth does specifically recruit Presbyterian students but many Presbyterian students are attracted to Whitworth because of church ties with the institution.

Many Presbyterian students receive scholarships to attend Whitworth, he said.

According to the PCUSA Congregations and Membership table, which was last updated in 2006, the PCUSA has lost members each year since 1996.

PCUSA membership has declined from about 2.6 million reported members in 1996 to about 2.3 reported members in 2006, a 13.8 percent decrease, according to the table.

McGonigal said Whitworth has good reason to expect greater decline in Presbyterian enrollment from the decline in Presbyterian membership.

"The reason we hold our own is because of connections with vibrant Presbyterian churches on the West Coast," he said. "We will continue to work hard at strong communication with those churches."

McGonigal said declining membership is not limited to the PCUSA.

He said numbers in many mainline denominations are decreasing because more people are moving away from churches with denominational affiliations.

Other denominations that have seen a Whitworth student decrease since 2003 include Episcopalian (0.1 percent), Lutheran (3 percent), Methodist (1.4 percent) and United Church of Christ (0.9 percent).

The only denominations that have seen increases in the survey results are Baptist, 1.6 percent since 2001 and Church of Christ, 1.2 percent since it became an option on the survey in 2005.

"The fact is that more and more people of the Christian faith are moving from denominational churches to independent ones," McGonigal said.

The survey results reflect that idea.

The percent of students claiming to be "Other Christian" has risen from 32.4 percent in 2001 to 40.1 percent in 2007, an increase of 7.7 percent.

McGonigal said he believes many Christians feel their churches' doctrines do not fit their needs and are attracted to non-denominational churches.

"I think the root of the breakdown is a real erosion of the church's understanding of the Christian theology on which it's founded," he said.

Whisenand said the larger entering classes generally make for more religious diversity.

The percentage of students claiming to follow a religion besides Christianity has fallen from 7.5 percent in 2001 to 6.4 percent in 2007.

Contact Natalie Johnson at natalie.johnson@whitworthian.com.