The leadership of the "new province" keeps making claims that they are the portion of the church planting churches and growing. I know that the Diocese of Pittsburgh is not growing and posted the chart earlier in the year but here's the link to it again. In 2007, average Sunday Attendance (ASA), the best indicator of vitality, fell below 8000 for the first time.
http://12.0.101.92/reports/PR_ChartsDemo/exports/ParishRPT_126200885511AM.pdf
But much the same is true for the other three diocese who have supposedly left. None have shown growth.
Ft. Worth is down slightly to about 7000 ASA
http://12.0.101.92/reports/PR_ChartsDemo/exports/ParishRPT_126200885043AM.pdf
San Joaquin has been steadily declining for seven years to below 4000 ASA.
http://12.0.101.92/reports/PR_ChartsDemo/exports/ParishRPT_126200885453AM.pdf
As has Quincy whose ASA for the entire Diocese is below 1000.
http://12.0.101.92/reports/PR_ChartsDemo/exports/ParishRPT_126200885134AM.pdf
It is difficult to know what the leadership means when they make claims about growth.
You might also notice that the number who actually show up is a fraction of the Baptized members. This is not unusual but makes one wonder about the 100,000 membership number that keeps getting bandied about.
Incidentally, the charts are from the Episcopal Church Center and represent the numbers submitted by the dioceses.
2 comments:
When I finally had the chance to come back to my Episcopal Church (I worked for years in large RC Churches as a music director/organist), the first Sunday I heard my churches rector, a woman bashing the Episcopal Church Leaders. My first thought was "do I want to wake up to this every Sunday?" It was just really judgemental and negative. I did go back and even joined the choir but the bashing continued. I wanted to hear a positive message, something encouraging. I wanted to explore a relationship with the God. What I got was "we're all broken, sinners etc..." We were just despicable people. I heard about these people living ungodly lives, especially the gays.
I finally did some reading and found out what was transpiring in the church (2005). I left for another Episcopal Church.
The next church I went to had people grabbing the air (or peach pickin' as one of my college friends calls it). The priest then began to bash TEC. I lasted until the sign of peace and said well, maybe no church on Sunday. Eventually I did find a little church 10 miles away and there I've been since.
The moral of the story? All the negativity, the bashing just was a turn off. These people hate with a passion. I've never thought I knew who was right or wrong nor cared. I just try to give my best to all I do and give my all to those in my life. I'll let God worry about who's in and who's out.
If numbers are down maybe a little more positive message and getting rid of the mentality "I'm saved and you're damned." Maybe number will improve.
The parish you found sounds wonderful--I hope it grows. Very sorry to hear about the criticisms of TEC leadership from the pulpit in your other parishes; although our rector is "conservative" theologically and a TSM graduate, he has never done that. He ministers to the whole parish. I don't like "bashing" whatever side it comes from; I hear it from the "liberal" side from the vicar of the little church we attend in the summer, and I sometimes hear it in large gatherings in the Diocese of Pittsburgh.
Post a Comment