Local church statistics at a glance
Local church statistics do more than count members. They show how a congregation is aging, where participation is concentrated, and how worship attendance relates to the formal rolls.
Fast facts
- Prior active members: 319 and adjusted membership: 319 (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
- Total ending active members: 314 after 2 gains and 7 losses (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
- Average weekly worship attendance: 150 compared with 314 active members (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
- Friends of the congregation: 25 and ruling elders on session: 9 (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
- Budgeted income: 696,114 versus budgeted expense: 917,585 (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
Table of contents
- What these local church statistics cover
- Membership and participation
- Age, gender, and youth mix
- Impairment and accessibility counts
- Racial-ethnic profile
- Financial picture
- What stands out in the numbers
What these local church statistics cover
This dataset is a snapshot of one congregation’s annual report, and it is rich enough to describe a lot of institutional life from a few core counts. It includes membership totals, gains and losses, worship attendance, age distribution, racial-ethnic counts, impairment counts, and budget figures, all tied to the same source label: 2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744.
A useful way to read local church statistics is to separate them into three layers:
- membership flow, which shows whether the congregation is growing, shrinking, or holding steady;
- participation patterns, which show who is actually present in worship and ministry life;
- capacity and resources, which show whether the church can sustain its program and mission commitments.
That structure matters because a church can look healthy in one layer and strained in another. In this case, the numbers tell a mixed story: the membership base remains close to steady, attendance is strong relative to the roll, and the budget shows a substantial expense challenge.
Membership and participation
The clearest starting point is the membership base. The congregation reports 319 prior active members and 319 adjusted membership (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744), which suggests no net correction in the starting base. From there, the year closes with 314 total ending active members (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
That ending total is the result of modest movement rather than dramatic churn:
- Youth professions: 7 (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
- Professions and reaffirmations: 2 (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
- Total gains: 2 (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
- Deaths: 7 (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
- Total losses: 7 (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
- Baptisms presented by others: 1 (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
Why the membership numbers matter
A congregation with 314 ending active members and 150 average weekly worship attendance is not a church that exists mostly on paper. The attendance figure is almost half of the active roll, which is a meaningful signal of engagement when read alongside the formal count (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
That relationship gives the membership data more texture:
- the church appears to have a visible worshiping core;
- the active roll is not inflated far beyond participation;
- attendance is substantial enough to suggest regular communal life rather than occasional gathering.
The 25 friends of the congregation count also matters here (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744). It suggests a circle of people connected to the church who may not be active members but still contribute to its social and practical ecosystem. In a local church setting, that kind of nearby support often helps explain why attendance can stay strong even when membership edges downward slightly.
Age, gender, and youth mix
The age distribution is one of the most revealing parts of the dataset because it shows where continuity may be strongest and where future participation may need attention. The total age distribution equals 314, matching the ending active member total exactly (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
Age distribution table
| Age group | Count | Share of active members |
|---|---|---|
| 17 and under | 5 | 1.6% |
| 18 to 25 | 7 | 2.2% |
| 26 to 40 | 32 | 10.2% |
| 41 to 55 | 34 | 10.8% |
| 56 to 70 | 90 | 28.7% |
| Over 70 | 146 | 46.5% |
| Total | 314 | 100.0% |
The table shows a pronounced concentration in older age brackets. The over 70 group alone accounts for 146 members, or 46.5% of the active total, while the combined 17 and under plus 18 to 25 groups account for 12 members, or 3.8% (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
That is not a small tilt. It means the congregation’s age profile is weighted heavily toward later life stages, with the 56 to 70 group adding another 90 members on top of that (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
What the age mix implies
A church shaped this way often has a few visible strengths:
- long institutional memory;
- experienced leadership and volunteer habits;
- continuity in worship expectations and congregational culture.
It also has a few obvious pressure points:
- youth formation has a smaller base;
- intergenerational transfer is likely to depend on a relatively small number of households;
- future membership renewal may rely heavily on retention rather than large influxes.
The youth-related counts make this even clearer. The report lists 2 children age 4 and under, 4 elementary school youth, 4 middle school youth, 0 high school youth, and 10 total youth in congregation (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744). That is a compact youth presence, especially compared with the older-age cohorts.
Gender distribution
The gender counts are fairly balanced, though not equal:
- Women in the congregation: 170 (54.1%) (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
- Men in the congregation: 143 (45.5%) (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
- Non-binary members: 1 (0.3%) (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
These figures do not suggest a dramatic gender imbalance. Instead, they show a congregation with a modest female majority and a tiny non-binary count recorded in the report. Read alongside the age data, the gender mix suggests that local church statistics can hide more complexity than a simple headcount would show.
Youth counts by school stage
The youth data also reveals where the congregation’s youngest members are concentrated. There are no high school youth in the report, while the elementary and middle school counts are tied at 4 each (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744). That is an important detail because it means the church’s youth pipeline is not broad across all school stages. Instead, it is narrower and skewed toward younger children and early adolescents.
Impairment and accessibility counts
The report includes a set of impairment counts that are especially useful for thinking about accessibility and care. These are not abstract categories; they tell you where a congregation may need practical support, communication adjustments, or physical accommodations.
The counts are:
- Hearing impairment: 10 (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
- Sight impairment: 4 (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
- Mobility impairment: 25 (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
- Other impairment: 10 (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
Why this section is important
The largest category here is mobility impairment at 25 (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744). That is significant because mobility tends to affect more than physical access alone. It can shape seating needs, entry and exit patterns, transportation planning, and participation in fellowship events.
The hearing and sight counts also point to communication choices. If a church is serious about inclusion, local church statistics like these should influence how announcements are delivered, how printed materials are formatted, and how volunteers are trained.
A few practical takeaways follow from the counts themselves:
- accessibility is not a side issue when the report records impairment across multiple categories;
- a single approach will not work, because hearing, sight, mobility, and other needs are not the same;
- the congregation’s service design should be evaluated against the people actually counted in the report, not against a generic church model.
Racial-ethnic profile
The racial-ethnic counts show a congregation that is majority White with smaller but visible multiracial representation in several groups. The total racial-ethnic count equals 314, again matching the active membership total (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
Racial-ethnic breakdown table
| Group | Count | Share of total |
|---|---|---|
| White | 292 | 93.0% |
| Black/African American/African | 8 | 2.5% |
| Asian/Pacific Islander/South Asian | 10 | 3.2% |
| Hispanic/Latino-a | 4 | 1.3% |
| Native American/Alaska Native/Indigenous | 0 | 0.0% |
| Middle Eastern/North African | 0 | 0.0% |
| Multiracial | 0 | 0.0% |
| Total | 314 | 100.0% |
This is a strongly concentrated profile, with White members at 292 and the next-largest group being Asian/Pacific Islander/South Asian members at 10 (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744). The report also lists 8 Black/African American/African members and 4 Hispanic/Latino-a members (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
Reading the numbers carefully
Local church statistics in this area should be read as descriptive rather than predictive. The report does not tell you where people came from, how long they have attended, or which ministries they are shaping. It does, however, show the congregation’s current composition clearly enough to support practical planning.
A few observations are grounded directly in the numbers:
- the congregation is not evenly distributed across racial-ethnic categories;
- several categories are recorded as zero, which matters for understanding local diversity;
- the total count aligns exactly with active membership, which suggests the report is internally consistent in this section.
Financial picture
The financial data is the other major area where the numbers tell a sharper story. The report lists budgeted income of 696,114 and budgeted expense of 917,585 (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744). That is a substantial gap.
Financial snapshot table
| Measure | Amount |
|---|---|
| Budgeted income | 696,114 |
| Budgeted expense | 917,585 |
| Regular contributions | 579,985 |
| Other income | 131,074 |
| Investment income | 300,413 |
| Local program spending | 775,056 |
| Investment expenditures | 206,936 |
| Local mission spending | 63,173 |
| Per-capita apportionment | 10,091 |
| Capital expenditures | 9,347 |
| Other mission spending | 29,143 |
The comparison is straightforward: the budgeted expense figure is higher than the budgeted income figure by 221,471 if read directly from the two reported amounts (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744). That makes the financial profile one of the most important parts of the local church statistics dataset.
Where the resources show up
The major spending categories are revealing. Local program spending: 775,056 is the largest line in the report, followed by investment expenditures: 206,936 (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744). Those figures suggest a church with substantial ongoing program commitments and a meaningful level of financial activity beyond simple maintenance.
The income side has its own important structure:
- Regular contributions: 579,985 (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
- Other income: 131,074 (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
- Investment income: 300,413 (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
The presence of 300,413 in investment income stands out because it is large enough to matter materially in the overall picture (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744). When paired with the spending lines, it suggests that the congregation’s financial life is not driven by a single stream of support. It appears to have a diversified resource base, even though expenses still exceed the stated budgeted income figure.
Mission and apportionment
The report also includes several more focused line items:
- Local mission spending: 63,173 (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
- Other mission spending: 29,143 (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
- Per-capita apportionment: 10,091 (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
- Capital expenditures: 9,347 (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
Those categories matter because they show how the congregation balances internal operations with outward commitments. The mission lines are meaningful in their own right, but they are relatively small compared with local program spending. That tells you the center of gravity is inside the congregation’s continuing program life, not in a very large separate mission budget.
What stands out in the numbers
A good reading of local church statistics does not stop at listing figures. It identifies the few numbers that change how you understand the whole picture.
The biggest takeaways from this report
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The congregation is slightly smaller at the close of the year than at the start. The shift from 319 prior active members to 314 total ending active members is modest, but it is real (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
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Worship participation is strong relative to the roll. 150 average weekly worship attendance is a meaningful share of the 314 active members total (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
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The age profile is heavily weighted toward older adults. 146 members over 70 is the single largest age category by far (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
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Youth presence exists, but it is narrow. The report records 10 total youth in congregation and 0 high school youth (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
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Accessibility counts point to real care needs. 25 mobility impairments and additional hearing, sight, and other impairments suggest that accessibility planning should be concrete, not theoretical (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
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The financial gap deserves attention. Budgeted expense at 917,585 exceeds budgeted income at 696,114, which makes the cost structure one of the central strategic questions in the data (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).
A simple read of the overall picture
Taken together, the numbers describe a church with stable membership at the core, meaningful worship participation, a strongly older age profile, a modest but present youth base, and a financial structure that carries more expense than income on the budget lines provided. That combination is exactly why local church statistics matter: they make visible the balance between vitality and strain without requiring speculation.
If you read only one thing from the report, let it be this: the congregation is not defined by one number. It is defined by how membership, attendance, age structure, accessibility, and budget all interact inside the same annual snapshot (2024 Church Statistical Report, Westminster PIN 744).