Posted on 10/26/2011 3:36:47 PM PDT by NYer
WASHINGTON -- Once a flagship denomination of American mainline Protestantism, the U.S.-based Episcopal Church has for the first time in decades reported membership below two million.
Self-reported statistics provided by the denomination this month show that the church has dropped from 2,006,343 members in 2009 to 1,951,907 in 2010, the most recent reporting year. The loss of 54,436 members increases the annual rate of decline from 2 percent to 3 percent, outpacing the most recently reported declines in most other mainline churches. The church's 10-year change in active members has dropped 16 percent.
A branch of the otherwise fast-growing 80 million member worldwide Anglican Communion, the third largest family of Christian churches globally, the Episcopal Church had also seen a steady decrease in the number of parishes, losing or closing over 100 in 2010, as well as a drop in attendance from 682,963 in 2009 to 657,831 in 2010, a 4 percent drop. Fifty-four percent of all U.S. Episcopal Churches suffered attendance loss over the prior year. Over the last decade, attendance was down 23 percent.
The denomination, which once claimed over 3.5 million members as recently as the mid-1960s, has lost over 40 percent of membership even while the U.S. population grew by over 50 percent.
A statistical summary provided by the Episcopal Church can be viewed here.
Jeff Walton, spokesman for IRD’s Anglican Action Program, commented:
"The drop below 2 million members is noteworthy, but the precipitous drop in attendance is even more dramatic, boding poorly for the Episcopal Church’s future. Almost one-quarter of Episcopalians who were in the pews in 2000 have vanished.
"Departures to other churches have fueled Episcopal decline, as have decreasing baptisms and its graying population.
"These statistics contrast sharply with more theologically conservative Anglican churches in the global south, many of which are witnessing skyrocketing numbers.
"Despite all its liberal cheer leading about inclusiveness, the Episcopal Church is a dwindling, nearly all white, increasingly gray-headed denomination with a grim future, absent divine intervention."
Gee. I wonder why.
Our experience mirrors yours. We are still registered in the parish we left back in 05. The only way a parishioner’s name ever comes off is via a transfer to another TEC parish.
In the delusional “we-create-our-own reality” world of the Episcopal Church, apparently leaving the church does not mean leaving the church.
Wonder when the leadership will insist upon firing the guy at 815 who annually publishes these stats.
Count me as another former Episcopalian. Left in ‘97 after my Diocese decided, “all gay, all the way” was the way to go to get more money and members. That was the beginning of the end, together with such practices as pagan worshipping in the Labyrinth. Since 2003, my former parish has lost at least 2/3 of its members, according to its own statistics page on the Episcopal Church website. I don’t shed any tears, although my family had been members of that church since its founding in the 1860s.
Regarding average Sunday attendance, I think that figure is in the 600,000 range now.
Membership and ASA by diocese, 2008-2009
They claim about 700K for ASA in 2009, which means it's probably much worse in reality. I trust them about as far as I can kick them up a chimney.
In contrast, our Catholic parish is doing well -- new members every week and lots of activity (and orthodox teaching and liturgy). We even have good music!
As we hiked through the Hall of Bishops on our way to the church, there was a long haired hippie type guy, barefoot, eyes closed, in the lotus position in the middle of the Labyrinth painted on the floor of the Hall of Bishops. The old oil portraits of the Bishops of Atlanta were looking down their noses at him. Poor guys -- they never imagined it would come to this!
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