How many members does Struthers Memorial Church have?

 Updated 19 March 2013

Two years ago we published on this site a summary of where each of the Struthers churches is; and for each an estimated attendance based on the information then available to the public.

Over the last two years we have revised this from time to time to reflect new information sent to us.

There is no desire on our part to present any incorrect information. We do believe that there is a need for Struthers Memorial Church to be very honest and open about its size, and about the impact on growth of leadership decisions that have been made in the past. One result of this information being made available on this website has been a truer appreciation of the extent of SMC; and how many branches are either very small or have closed altogether.

We have said all along if any Struthers church leader wants to present information to us showing that these estimates are wrong we will change them in the light of that new information being made available to us. Similarly if the organisation published its own official membership/attendance numbers our doing so would become unnecessary.

We do believe it is important that people understand the reality on the ground when Struthers preachers are talking about revival and projected radical growth in the Struthers churches. That has been a major part of Struthers preaching continually for over 40 years and the situation that has been arrived at is presented here.

So in an attempt to clarify the facts of the situation we have put together from online sources and our best information available to us from those who have contacted us a list of the locations, and our understanding of the number of adults (including teenagers) attending for each Struthers branch church at their main Sunday morning service. To our knowledge these figures are not published by SMC. It is interesting that on the Struthers Cumbernauld church website attendance figures for youth meetings and outreaches are now routinely quoted but not Sunday morning attendance figures - for some reason. As before we have tried to estimate the figures reasonably generously.

If any one would like us to change a figure so we can reflect the situation on the ground more accurately then please let us have that and we will gladly update the table. Church attendance numbers fluctuate so our membership estimates are given as a range for each. For reference : a link to the original article is here

Church

Current leader

When established

Attending

Scotland

Greenock

Mrs Grace Gault

1955

30-35

Gourock

Mr Robert Cleary

1960s

10-12

Combine their meetings with Greenock on a Sunday evening

Port Glasgow

Mrs Joan Jewell

1960’s

8-10

Glasgow

Mrs Alison Speirs

Early 1970s

45-50

Falkirk

Miss Jennifer Jack

Early 1970s

30-35

Edinburgh

Miss Effie Alexander

Eartly 1970s

8-10

Gorebridge

Mr Bill Winning

1970s

20-25

Cumbernauld

Mrs Diana Rutherford

Mid 1980s

30-35

England

Pudsey

Mr & Mrs Bill & Judy Rukin

1970

20-25

Aylesbury

Miss Pauline Anderson

Late 1970s

12-15

Referred to for some reason as the “London” church though well outside the M25 and far nearer Milton Keynes or Luton

Wales

Neath

Mr Gareth Watkins

Early 2000s

20-25

If these figures are correct the total

Group Membership/Attendance is

233 to 277

Churches which have closed

Bridge of Weir

Chelmsford

East Kilbride

Inverkip

Larkfield

Montrose

Skelmorlie

Wallyford

Churches which have disaffiliated

Tranent

Early 1980s

Churches which formerly had close links

Kirkby Christian Fellowship, Merseyside

Mid 1990s

So (as far as can be understood from public sources) in March 2013 there are

8  Scottish congregations - 7 with a building

2  English congregations

1  Welsh congregation

And - across all the branches - a total Sunday morning attendance of around 250 people

In addition 9 branches have now either closed or disaffiliated

Whether the fact that one English church is in the north and the smaller English church in the south along with the more recent addition of a Welsh group justify the claim of:

          “a large group of churches with branches throughout Scotland and England”

is up to the reader to decide.

And if growth of the churches and the numbers attending have indeed been a feature of Struthers churches in the last 40 years - as has often been claimed - then some consideration needs to be given to what has happened to that growth.

Alternatively the churches and leadership could keep ploughing on - on the assumption that during the next 40 years the same preached messages, the same leadership approach and the same people management skills will, somehow, yield different results.

If anyone would like us to change or add to any of the information in this article please let us know via our e-mail address

Items Updated on 19 March 2013

Changes:

Addition of Chelmsford and Skelmorlie to the list of closed churches

Reduction of estimated attendance at Glasgow, Cumbernauld, Falkirk, Edinburgh & Neath based on new information available to us. Some of these changes reflect people reported to have left; and some reflect that our original estimates appear to have been too high in some cases.

These branch reductions when added together show a significant decrease in the overall attendance figures ranges.

These attendance reductions are also consistent with the dramatic reduction in church donations income shown in the most recent Struthers church Report and Accounts.

Items Updated on 17 February 2012

Changes:

Clarification of the former status of Kirkby Christian Fellowship based on new information received

Reduction of estimated attendance at Glasgow and Cumbernauld based on new information sent to us

Items Updated on 20 July 2011

Changes:

Update to the statements given on the new SMC website

Removal of Shetland who are not mentioned in the new SMC website list of churches

Addition of Kirkby Christian Fellowship, Merseyside to the list of churches which have disaffiliated from SMC.

Link to the Rick Ross forum discussion on Kirkby Christian Fellowship

Reduction of estimated attendance at Greenock