Episcopal Withering on the Vine
By Jeffrey Walton, Juicy Ecumenism.
Release of Episcopal Church statistics earlier this month hit hard: the worst-ever year-over-year drop in membership (down 88,306 persons, or 6 percent), while attendance saw a middling (19 percent) rebound from COVID-era lows. Access my report on those numbers here.
Attendance and membership are lagging indicators that tell us where the church has already been. Baptisms, confirmations and marriages can serve as leading indicators, giving a better sense of where the Episcopal Church is headed in the next 20 years. These figures paint a dire picture of a denomination that will see its decline accelerate and its ministry presence conclude in many communities.
Frank Assessments
Consider what the denomination’s top officials now openly acknowledge:
“Our context demands that we must help the church to face and engage the reality of decline,” Presiding Bishop Michael Curry candidly told the Episcopal Church Council of Bishops meeting virtually September 19 in his opening remarks. “This is not easy. The times are not easy.”
The numbers were unsurprising. In June, the Episcopal Church’s highest ranking lay officer, House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris, effectively signaled what was coming in opening remarks before the denomination’s Executive Council meeting in Providence, Rhode Island.
“At the churchwide level, we sometimes talk a little too much about numbers, numbers of people in the pews, and not enough about the fruit of our ministries,” Harris suggested, telegraphing that the numbers would indeed be horrid. “We worry about the dreaded ‘D’ word—decline—as though finishing the work that Jesus left for us to do on Earth was measured in Average Sunday Attendance or by the available funds in the parish bank account.”
But, as Harris acknowledged, “these things are important” and merit discussion especially in a governance context like the Executive Council.
For historical context, revisit 2011, when Episcopal Diocese of Washington Bishop Mariann Budde was among the very few bishops candidly assessing where most Episcopal parishes were headed. This was the same time period in which high profile bishops like Gene Robinson deluded themselves with fanciful dreams of liberal Roman Catholics converting en masse, lining up for Episcopal same-sex marriage rites.
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