Bringing the total to 315, an additional 12 churches are the latest committing to the Plan for United Cooperation. This brings the total to 70% of the disciples listed in our Church Locator. New to the list are seven churches from the Middle East, one from London, one from the Philippines and three from the US. See the list of committed churches below. Several other churches have announced their agreement in principle with the Unity Proposal but not wishing to commit at this time.

Disciples Today Article – August 13,2006

There’s a few things to keep in mind about the 70% statistic:

• The Church Locator does not list all of our churches. The Chicago International Church of Christ is not listed, neither is Rancagua Church in Chile. The second church in Eqypt listed as signing the UP, for example, is not on the list. Neither is the Metro Languna church.
• Not all churches gave their membership, so at best we can only estimate. This estimate is probably as close as we can get if we talk about individual members.
• Some churches listed in the locator do not exist. For example, Des Moines does not exist and neither does Rapid City, SD. The three members there are military and attend church in Denver.
• The churches in India do not match those listed on the Indian Churches of Christ website.

Accounting for three of these four things, the estimated number of churches from our ‘historic’ movement is 558. This includes the various Portland churches, using the Indian churches as listed on the website, and removing churches that do not exist. The fourth, not knowing the membership amounts in various places, shall be compensated by counting number of churches that signed. This is done because that number, though still an estimate, is more likely to be accurate.

And for those that object, leaving out the Portland churches, not already on the church locator affects perecentages by half a percent overall, half a percentage point in the US, and much less everywhere else (0 in Africa).

Percentage of churches signing the UP per ‘region’ is:

Africa
70 churches 43 yes 27 undecided 61.43% approve the UP
Asia/Pacific
130 churches 108 yes 22 undecided 83.08% approve the UP
Canada/United States
163 churches 74 yes 80 undecided 9 no 45.40% approve the UP
Eurasia
46 churches 38 yes 8 undecided 82.61% approve the UP
Europe
60 churches 11 yes 49 undecided 18.33% approve the UP
Lat. America/Caribbean
75 churches 35 yes 40 undecided 46.67% approve the UP
Middle East
14 churches 9 yes 5 undecided 64.29% approve the UP

WORLD
558 churches 318 yes 231 undecided 9 no 56.99% approve the UP

No votes are counted only if I have word from a member or have publicly stated that they would not sign. I believe the number is slightly larger, but cannot confirm it.

This says a few things:

• The undecideds appear to be in North America and Europe.
• The overall percentage of churches approving the UP is approx 57%.

This would also appear to support information from Andy Flemming’s Missions report that former World Sectors have changed less than churches in North America and Europe.

This is a for what it is worth. Statistics can show anything you like when there is a semi-informed public. You can count members and make it look like almost 3/4 of all ICoC members ratify the UP. You can count churches and make it look like slightly more than half. Either way this counting should be irrelevant. It should not be important who signed and who didn’t. My guess is that the Gang of Nine has figured out that the UP only works if everyone signs it. As long as there are non-signers, there are issues that could create more division, not less.