Anglican Attendance Strongly Rebounds
by Jeffrey Walton, Juicy Ecumenism:
Anglican congregations in the United States, Canada and Mexico are reporting a significant attendance increase of 17,228 persons following a widespread return to regular worship services post-COVID. The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is also reporting modest growth in both membership and total number of churches in 2022.
Overall Average Principal Service Attendance in 2022 was 75,583, up 30 percent from 58,255 in 2021. Membership increased 2,549 (up 2 percent from 122,450) in 2021 to 124,999 in 2022. Congregations grew by three to 977 total.
Membership and attendance are among several metrics tracked year-over-year by ACNA. Baptisms were up 27 percent and confirmations up 25 percent from 2021-2022. Receptions from other liturgical denominations were down 8 percent, while reaffirmations were up 46 percent.
“The bottom line in 2022 is that membership and the total number of our congregations showed modest increases, while attendance has rebounded encouragingly and pastoral ministry has bounced back significantly,” ACNA Canon for Communications Andrew Gross told ACNA Provincial Council on Friday, June 23 at Christ Church Cathedral in Plano, Texas. Gross noted that attendance remained down from a pre-COVID high of 84,310 in 2018.
Attendance appears to be healthy across most of the ACNA: only three dioceses out of 29 jurisdictions reported a decline from 2021 to 2022. Membership, which was less volatile amidst the period of COVID restrictions, was mixed: 18 of the 29 reported a gain across the same period.
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