CHICAGO - The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America said baptized membership fell by 1 percent to 4,984,925 during 2003.

The report said half the net decline of 250,000 members during the past 12 years of decline occurred in 2002 and 2003. Listed causes included elimination of inactive members from the rolls, disbanding of 36 congregations and loss of eight congregations with 11,020 members who left the denomination last year.

The Evangelical Lutherans said fully active "communing and contributing" membership decreased by 110,641 the past two years, reaching 2,349,855.

The annual financial report showed total receipts for the 10,657 congregations of $2,554,509,414, up $61.2 million from 2002. Congregations reported nearly $1.7 billion in savings and investments.

Contributions averaged $550 per confirmed member, an annual increase of nearly 3 percent.