UMC Statistical Insights:
US Regional Conference
From the 2025 Statistical Tables
The data submitted by The United Methodist Church is one way we tell our story, in ways big and small. Local churches report their work each year, and this report shares what they reported, so congregations, conferences, and agencies can learn from one another and make wise decisions together.
THE YEAR IN SUMMARY (2025 vs. 2024)
WHAT 20,158 CONGREGATIONS DID IN 2025
1
UMC community ministries served neighbors 34 million times.
United Methodist congregations in the United States reported serving people 34,528,719 times in 2025 through food pantries, shelters, recovery groups, after-school programs, disaster response, and other community ministries. That is essentially the same reach as the year before (−0.25%), administered by the 20,158 congregations that reported, but the number of congregations filing fell 4.8%. Ministries offered by churches rose 4.08%. Fewer congregations, more ministries, with the same reach.
2
UMC churches had more than 850,000+ volunteers engaged in ministry.
Congregations offered 106,512 community ministries, 4,174 more than in 2024 (4.08% year over year). Of the 20,089 congregations reporting in both years, 4,441 offered more ministry opportunities than the year before. A total of 857,232 clergy and laity were engaged in mission. A total of 13,953 UMC volunteers served on mission teams (a 2.51% increase year over year), and 72,505 ministries were specifically with people who are poor and/or socially marginalized.
3
Faith formed in small groups & 2025 saw an uptick in professions of faith.
Congregations sustained 63,589 ongoing small groups, 1,058 more than the year before (1.69%). 25,444 people were received on profession of faith through confirmation, up 1,363 (5.66%), which was the largest gain of any participation measure. Closures fell from 960 the year before to 540, and 214 active congregations began as new church starts. Fewer doors closed, and new ones opened alongside them.
4
Participation trended downward.
Most participation measures drew back this year: in-person worship attendance −3.08%, professing membership −4.36%, baptisms −3.76%, Sunday school attendance −3.80%, and Vacation Bible School −2.33%. The movement is broad rather than concentrated, with many congregations experiencing similar decline.
5
Finances tell a steady story.
Congregations cut building debt by $106.7 million (−10.13%), and budget income rose 0.25%. Operating Costs also increased 4.85%. Faithful giving continues to sustain ministry in a year of rising expenses. Capital campaigns alone rose 26.53%.
HOW TO READ THIS REPORT
ONE YEAR, EVERY CONGREGATION
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20,158 congregations filed a report for 2025
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21,176 filed for 2024
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20,089 filed in both years
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1,087 filed in 2024 but not 2025
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69 filed for the first time
Each year's totals include every congregation that filed for that year, so the two years cover slightly different sets of congregations. Each table shows how much of a change came from congregations present in both years and how much came from the movement in and out, so the two are never mistaken for each other.
20,158
Congregations reporting in 2025
34.5 million
Community ministry interactions
4.08%
Community ministries offered
−10.13%
Building debt
WORSHIP AND DISCIPLESHIP
ATTENDANCE AND MEMBERSHIP DIPPED; PROFESSIONS OF FAITH AND SMALL GROUPS ROSE
In an average week 1,041,745 people worshiped in person and another 986,402 worshiped online. Congregations received 25,444 people on profession of faith through confirmation (5.66%) and sustained 63,589 ongoing small groups (1.69%), the two measures below that rose. Nine fell, among them in-person attendance at −3.08% and professing membership at −4.36%, while baptisms of those aged 13 and older held nearly level at −0.78%.
MINISTRY BEYOND THE DOORS
NEIGHBORS SERVED 34.5 MILLION TIMES
Food pantries and shelters. Recovery groups and after-school programs. Tutoring, clinics, and disaster response. In 2025 United Methodist congregations in the United States served people 34,528,719 times through 106,512 community ministries, which is an average of more than 94,000 people every day of the year, and about five ministries for every congregation that filed a report.
STEWARDSHIP
GIVING HELD, COSTS INCREASED
Budget income rose 0.25% in nominal terms while operating expenses rose 4.85%, so in real purchasing power, giving fell. The amount apportioned to congregations fell −4.10% and the amount paid fell −3.62%, though the share actually paid edged up from 81.1% to 81.5%. Building debt fell −10.13%, bringing debt against property value from 2.10% to 1.84%. Capital and designated giving rose 20.97%, but there is more to the story: about half is funds from other sources including the sale of buildings, and 98.2% of the increase comes from twenty-five congregations. Capital campaigns rose 26.53%.
BY JURISDICTION
THE SAME DIRECTION EVERYWHERE
All five jurisdictions lost worship attendance and all five reduced building debt. All five also offered more community ministries, received more on profession of faith through confirmation, and took in more capital and designated giving. Persons engaged in mission fell in four of the five, with South Central the exception. The picture is consistent across the country rather than concentrated anywhere.
BY CONFERENCE
THE YEAR IN CONFERENCES
This report looks at how conferences performed on nine measures of growth: worship attendance, baptisms of persons aged 13 and older, persons received on profession of faith through confirmation, persons served, ministries offered, persons engaged in mission, budget income, and capital giving, along with a reduction in building debt. A conference is shown as improving on a measure when it moved in the desirable direction. For each measure except building debt, that means an increase. For building debt, it means a decrease.
All nine measures are treated equally, so the results reflect how broadly a conference improved rather than how much it grew. They also do not indicate how a conference performed on the measures that matter most to any particular reader. One conference improved on all nine measures, five improved on eight, and ten improved on seven.
METHODOLOGY
WHAT IS BEING MEASURED
Scope
Congregations of The United Methodist Church in the United States that filed a local church report in 2024 or in 2025: 21,176 congregations in 2024 and 20,158 in 2025.
Nothing is excluded
No congregation is removed for any reason. Not for closing, not for departing, not for arriving during the period, and not for reporting a figure that looks implausible. Every reported value is in every total.
Church identifier
GCNO, the only identifier fully populated and unique in both years.
Conference and jurisdiction
Each congregation is grouped by its own conference in each year. Central Texas, North Texas and Northwest Texas merged into Horizon Texas for 2025 and are mapped accordingly in both years, without which South Central would appear to gain 18.9 percent in worship attendance.
DECISIONS AND KNOWN LIMITS
Online worship is not added to in-person attendance
Line 7 is the average in-person attendance and Line 7a is the number of persons who worship online. One is an average and the other a count, so no combined total is meaningful.
All dollars are nominal
Budget income rose 0.25 percent while operating expenses rose 4.85 percent, so in real terms giving fell.
Congregation counts differ between the years
21,176 against 20,158, a fall of 4.8 percent. Part of every total movement is that difference, which is why the decomposition exists.
Artificial Intelligence in preparation
AI was used to compute and check the figures in this report and to draft and edit text. No figure was generated or estimated by an AI system. Every number comes from what local churches submitted or from GCFA's official records and was reviewed by GCFA Data Services before publication.
HOW THE FIGURES ARE PRODUCED
Totals, not averages
Every figure is a summed total for the year. Averaging congregation-level percentages would weight a twelve-member congregation equally with a three-thousand-member one.
Every change is decomposed
Each measure shows how much of its movement comes from the 20,089 congregations present in both years, how much from the 1,087 in the 2024 file but not the 2025 file, and how much from the 69 new to 2025. The three parts add exactly to the total change.
Counts are counted
Where a figure states how many congregations rose or fell, that is a direct count over congregations present in both years with a value in both. It is never derived from a percentage.
Inflation
No dollar figure has been adjusted for inflation in this span of one year.
Nothing is estimated
If a congregation did not report a number, none was filled in for it. Every figure here was reported, and none comes from an outside source.
The Role of GCFA’s Data Services in The United Methodist Church
Under The Book of Discipline ¶807.15, the General Council on Finance and Administration maintains the authoritative database of official data on local churches, charges, and new church starts. The congregation counts and classifications in this report are drawn from that database and are reported here only in aggregate.
Every figure comes from what local churches submitted as part of the annual statistical report process; GCFA has compiled and presented these figures as reported for use by the denomination.