Closed for 17 years, St. Jude’s in Franklin opens for prayer

From  Connecticut-

When Barbara Burns plays the organ at St. Jude’s Church in Franklin, she thinks about her mother singing with the church’s choir 60 years ago.

“You can almost see your family up here, in the choir, teaching Sunday school,” said Burns, 81, sitting near the pulpit on her familiar cushioned seat at the organ during a recent Thursday service.

Burns, who began going to St. Jude’s as a child, played the organ at the Episcopal Church faithfully for 46 years before it closed in 2002. She said her family shared a love for the old hymns that were played there.

More here-

https://www.concordmonitor.com/St-Jude-s-Church-in-Franklin-reopens-after-16-years-26438525

Is Christian language to blame for falling church attendance?

From The Church Times-

CHRISTIANS talk in code. They are not alone: the same is true of chemists, chiropractors, and cricket commentators. Code is a handy shorthand for those who can decrypt it. It can even be reassuring. Dot, dash, dot-dot-dash. If someone replies in the same code, we know we are being understood.

But, simultaneously, the code excludes those who cannot read the secret language. Perhaps that is the intention, or perhaps we simply cannot admit that, while we think we are speaking with clarity, in fact we’re talking gibberish.

And code also quickly descends into cliché: a language we automatically tune out of. When the cricketing pundit Geoffrey Boycott first used the term “the corridor of uncertainty” to describe the passage of a fast ball whistling close to the off stump, it was refreshing, even poetic. Now it’s a dreary Test Match Special mantra.

https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2019/18-january/features/features/is-christian-language-to-blame-for-falling-church-attendance?fbclid=IwAR3DUh0hOHja1eP0Tlmt3PBuh-KCwLnANdIQ4RKEqIcEFFqrWBTzxHYtnr8

IS ANGLICANISM GROWING OR DYING? STATISTICS, THE C OF E, AND THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION

From The Living Church-

Clearly, it hasn’t fared as well as many parts of the Anglican Communion. Does that mean it is “dying”? Or are parts of it dying? And how does the C of E compare with the rest of the Anglican Communion? Many parts are growing. But others are declining, and North American Anglicanism is generally shrinking faster than the C of E. Growth and Decline in the Anglican Communion, 1980 to the Present (Routledge, 2016), a new book by an international team of researchers, sheds light on all these questions.

Questioning “growth” and “decline”

Talking about the “growth” or “decline” of any church body needs great care. Numerical growth is not the be-all and end-all. Growth, for the Christian, means growth in personal holiness and wholeness in Christ, just as much as it means growing in service of others as well as “bums on seats.” But numerical growth of congregations and growth in the number of congregations are a crucial part of Christian life. Scripture, core doctrines, and key figures in the Christian Church — from St. Francis to John Wesley, from St. Cuthbert to St. Irenaeus — urge us to grow churches.

More here-

http://livingchurch.org/covenant/2016/12/16/is-anglicanism-growing-or-dying-statistics-the-c-of-e-and-the-anglican-communion/

8 Episcopal parishes in New Haven consider future as congregations shrink, costs grow

From CT-

 St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in New­hallville is confronting questions about its very existence, but it is not alone.

Eight Episcopal parishes in New Haven have been engaged in talks at the diocesan offices in Meriden about their future. Like all of the so-called mainline Protestant denominations, the Episcopal Church is dealing with the decline in churchgoers while many parishes are weighed down with expensive, if beautiful, churches.

“We have until Dec. 4 really to resolve several issues that we have to address,” said Lou Campbell, senior warden of St. Andrew’s. These include “a deficit that accumulated over many, many years … and also we don’t have a priest so we have to start moving toward getting a priest.”

More here-

http://www.nhregister.com/lifestyle/20160530/8-episcopal-parishes-in-new-haven-consider-future-as-congregations-shrink-costs-grow

SALON MAGAZINE SEES DECLINE OF AMERICAN CATHOLICS AS VICTORY FOR ABORTION

A Rebuttal to the previous Salon post from Beitbart-

In a recent article in Salon Magazine, pro-abort Patricia Miller can barely control her glee in the numerical decline in the number of Americans professing an affiliation with the Catholic Church, as she imagines a nation where the most vociferous opponent to abortion-on-demand is silenced.

Miller asserts that conservative Catholic bishops have had a disproportionate influence in the culture wars, and she envisions the falling number of Catholics as lessening bishops’ moral authority on such issues as abortion and religious liberty.

http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/05/21/salon-magazine-sees-decline-of-american-catholics-as-victory-for-abortion/

What’s really killing the church

From Christian Century-


I went to see a woman of senior years—in England she is still called “an elderly lady.” She’d left the church when she was a young woman and wanted to come back.

Ah, I thought, a familiar story. A young person grows up in the church, but when she becomes a young adult she decides to get outside and smell a different air. Now that she was over 90 she thought it was time to give the church a second chance. She took her time, I thought, but the church had been patiently waiting for her all this time, as parents do for prodigals.

So I asked, “What was it that led you away from the church for 75 years?” Nothing to lose, I thought. I may learn something. But I forgot the first rule of the inquirer: never ask a question to which you might get an answer you’re not ready to hear. I was in for a shock.

“It was when we wanted to get married. We were in love. The rector wouldn’t marry us.” Well, this sounds intriguing, I thought, and, always a soft touch for the romantic twist on a story, I blundered in where angels fear to tread. “So was there something wrong?” I asked. “Had your husband been married previously, or were you too young, maybe?”


More here-


http://www.christiancentury.org/article/2013-07/what-s-really-killing-church#.UegVZg8ZDqg.facebook

Episcopal Church in Totowa closing after 91 years

From Newark-

Borough resident Shirley Gerhardt, 88, remembers her early days at the Christ Episcopal Church on Totowa Road. She started going there as a teenager.

Church members sing hymns and the Rev. Mark Waldon leads a service on Sunday. It is the church’s final service as they are closing after serving the community for 91 years.

"My father used to say I spent more time there than I spent at home because I used to do yard work in the garden, planted plants and all kinds of stuff, in addition to actually worshiping there," Gerhardt said.

She would go on to represent the church before the Diocese Council, which with the working group that governs the church, and last week recalled some of the outreach efforts that the church conducted in its prime.

They started a program for residents at Preakness Healthcare Center in Wayne, Gerhardt said. The church provided the residents of Preakness with games and entertainment on a monthly basis, something that lasted until the 90s, she said. They also reached out to St. Paul’s Church in Paterson to help with their men’s shelter.


More here-


http://www.northjersey.com/news/186264892_Episcopal_Church_in_Totowa_closing_after_91_years.html

Christ Episcopal Church in Avon to Close

From Connecticut-

Christ Episcopal Church in Avon has announced it will be closing its doors for good at the end of this month.

According to Marge Griffin, senior warden at Christ Church, 35 members in good standing of the church voted at a special meeting on Nov. 18 to dissolve the parish. Years of declining membership, financial issues and changing demographics were given as the reasons for the closure.

David Paye, Christ Church assistant treasurer, said that in the beginning of 2012, membership totaled 110 people. That number has dropped throughout the year to below 100 people, he said. Griffin said 64 members left in 2010-2011 – many of them with children in search of a church with more young families. At one point in the church’s history, said Karin Hamilton, director of communications for the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut, membership was as high as 223 families.

More here-

http://avon.patch.com/articles/christ-episcopal-church-in-avon-to-close

Nigeria: Bishop Laments 30 Percent Drop in Church Attendance

From Nigeria-

The Kaduna Diocese of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) said on Friday that worshippers' attendance in its churches has dropped by 30 per cent.

The Diocesan Bishop, Most Rev. Josiah Fearon, after the First Session of the 19th Synod in Kaduna, attributed the poor attendance of faithful to the current national security challenge.

Fearon said the drop in church attendance had also contributed to a 60 per cent drop in financial support to the church through the offering of tithes and the Church fund raising for the development of projects.

He specifically attributed the decline in fortunes to the spate of attacks on Christians during church services.

"A significant number of our members prefer to stay within the safety of their homes rather than go to church and be bombed to death".

The clergy man said that the security challenge had adversely affected the entire North-East region economically, socially and politically.

Fearon flayed the incessant killings in some part of the Northern states, in spite of pleas from religious leaders, individuals and national and international organisations.

More here-

http://allafrica.com/stories/201208110459.html

THE CHURCH VANISHES

From Patheos- (Philip Jenkins)

I am a member of the Episcopal Church, USA (hereafter TEC). I am increasingly worried that in a few years, I might be THE member of the Episcopal Church, USA, the last of my kind.

As Rod Dreher, Ross Douthat and others have pointed out, the church has just issued a summary of its attendance statistics from 2000 to 2010, and they are incredibly bad even by the standards of liberal mainline denominations. Nationwide, average Sunday attendance fell by 23 percent in that short decade, from 857,000 to 658,000. In some dioceses, though, the contraction was far worse – 72 percent in Pittsburgh, 73 percent in Fort Worth, 80 percent in San Joaquin. Now, there is limited comfort in these statistics, because some at least of the factors causing decline will not recur in the next decade. As these three dioceses show, part of the fall in numbers involved the defection of Episcopal believers to new and more conservative Anglican denominations, formed in protest against TEC’s liberal stance on issues of sexuality and morality. As these traditionalists have already gone, they no longer survive to flee again.

Dare we hope that if those ideological battles are not exactly over, yet the worst is probably past?
Having said this, in other ways the figures are actually worse than they appear, as the attendance figures represent a net, combining losses and gains. In fact, many Episcopal churches actually added members in the decade from Catholics fleeing that church – usually on those familiar matters of gender and sexuality. So the overall fall of 23 percent includes those new additions, minus a catastrophic exodus of more traditional Episcopalians.

More here-

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/anxiousbench/2012/07/the-church-vanishes/

Can Christianity Be Saved? A Response to Ross Douthat

From Huffington-

In recent days, conservatives have attacked the Episcopal Church. The reason? The church has just concluded its once every three-year national meeting, and in this gathering the denomination affirmed a liturgy to bless same-sex unions. Conservatives assert that the Episcopal Church's ever-increasing social and political progressivism has led to a precipitous membership decline and ruined the denomination.

Many of the criticisms were mean-spirited or partisan, continuing a decade-long internal debate about the Episcopal Church's future. However, New York Times columnist Ross Douthat broadened the discussion, moving beyond inside-baseball ecclesial politics to ask a larger question: "Can Liberal Christianity be Saved?"

The question is a good one, for the liberal Christian tradition is an important part of American culture, from dazzling literary and intellectual achievements to great social reform movements. Mr. Douthat recognizes these contributions and rightly praises this aspect of liberal Christianity as "an immensely positive force in our national life."

Despite this history, however, Mr. Douthat insists that any denomination committed to contemporary liberalism will ultimately collapse. According to him, the Episcopal Church and its allegedly trendy faith, a faith that varies from a more worthy form of classical liberalism, is facing imminent death.

More here-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diana-butler-bass/can-christianity-be-saved_1_b_1674807.html?utm_hp_ref=religion

For sale: One church with smalltown charm in Oakfield

From Wyoming-

If you’re in the market for a property filled with colorful stained glass windows, decorative mahogany wood, plenty of reading materials and an entertainment center, Steven Metcalfe has got just the thing.
St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, which closed for services in August 2009, is up for sale.

“We would love for somebody to come in and operate a church here. We’re open to whoever can see the possibilities,” the Rev. Metcalfe said Tuesday at the South Main Street site. “It’s a beautiful example of a small town church; it has been a fixture in this community. I know folks here are eager to make a sale possible. There’s a lot you can do with it, especially with the house next door.”

Metcalfe is leading the effort on behalf of St. James Episcopal Church. In 2009, the Batavia church got a letter from St. Michael’s officials informing them there were not enough people to support the Oakfield site any longer.

With the bishop’s blessing, St. James took over the property and has been maintaining it and paying utility and insurance costs with some leftover funds from St. Michael’s account. It has taken a couple of years to work out the details and the site is now up for sale. The church and former rector’s house are on 1.2 acres and are going as a package for $150,000.

More here-

http://thedailynewsonline.com/news/article_be2459e4-a489-11e1-960b-001a4bcf887a.html

Episcopal Diocese closes historic St. Margaret’s Church

From Florida-

With a dwindling congregation of about 40 members and a shortage of funds, St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, Hibernia, on Fleming Island officially closed its doors after holding its last worship service March 4.

The closing left some members surprised and upset, one parishioner said.

"The congregation is very upset about this -- they were doing everything they could, but it wasn’t enough … People were crying," said Anna Grass, who attended the final service. "Some of these people had been there for 30 years."

The church’s Pine Avenue campus includes an original Carpenter Gothic chapel, built in 1878 with its adjoining cemetery. The chapel is one of the five oldest wooden church buildings still in use in Florida.

St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church and the cemetery are on the National Register of Historic Places. As part of the restructuring, the Diocese said it will take into account the historical significance of the chapel.

"I don’t think that a part of the plan is to do anything to disturb the historical nature of that space," said Doug Walker, the Bishop’s deputy for advancement/executive director of Episcopal Foundation. "It is our intent to keep it as a worship space." In the meantime, the Diocese will maintain the church grounds and pay the bills for the church. "Typically, that is the case for churches that are unable to fund any of their current operating expenses -- the Diocese will pick those up," said Walker.

More here-

http://www.claytodayonline.com/ee/claytoday/en/component/fullstory/20120322_014_art_0/episcopal-diocese-closes-historic-st-margarets-church

Church giving drops $1.2 billion reports 2012 Yearbook of Churches

From NCC-

Churches continue to feel the effects of "the Great Recession" of 2008 as contributions dropped $1.2 billion, according to the National Council of Churches' 2012 Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches.

Membership trends in denominations reporting to the Yearbook remain stable, with growing churches still growing and declining churches still declining, reports the Rev. Dr. Eileen Lindner, the Yearbook's editor.

The 80th annual edition of the Yearbook, one of the oldest and most respected sources of church membership and financial trends in the U.S. and Canada, may be ordered for $55 each at www.yearbookofchurches.org.

Not all churches report their financial information to the Yearbook, Lindner said, but the downward trends are reasons for concern.

The nearly $29 billion contributed by nearly 45 million church members is down $1.2 billion from figures reported in the 2011 Yearbook, Lindner said.

"This enormous loss of revenue dwarfs the $431 million decrease reported last year and provides clear evidence of the impact of the deepening crises in the reporting period," Lindner wrote.

In terms of per capita giving, the $763 contributed per person is down $17 from the previous year, according to Lindner, a 2.2 percent drop. The decline "took place in the context of ongoing high unemployment and a protracted economic downturn," Lindner wrote.

More here-

http://www.ncccusa.org/news/120209yearbook2012.html

Worship goes on amid dispute at Crystal Cathedral

From CBS-

The soaring, glass-paned megachurch built decades ago by the Rev. Robert H. Schuller will keep airing its weekly "Hour of Power" television broadcast and hold services, despite a dispute between its board and its 85-year-old founder that has torn apart the storied congregation.

In a statement released Tuesday, Crystal Cathedral Ministries said it will hold regular worship services on Sunday and continue to air the television program both domestically and internationally, although Schuller and his family members have been fired or have cut ties with the church.

Crystal Cathedral Ministries also said it objected to attempts by Schuller and some of his family members to collect more than $5.5 million in breach-of-contract claims and to file intellectual property claims against the church. Crystal Cathedral Ministries is in bankruptcy and sold its landmark cathedral and 31-acre campus last month to help pay off more than $40 million in debt.

The claims would leave the church with no money for operations or to pay its unsecured creditors, even with a $3.5 million settlement proposed by the Schullers, the statement said.

Schuller and his wife Arvella, 81, resigned abruptly from the ministry's board last weekend because of the dispute. On Sunday, the last family member at the Crystal Cathedral — daughter Sheila Schuller Coleman — announced she was leaving to start a church with her parents' blessing.

More here-

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505245_162-57397006/worship-goes-on-amid-dispute-at-crystal-cathedral/

Former Members Say Church Leaders Doomed St. Margaret's

From Florida-

Questions are still swirling around the abrupt closing of one of America's oldest churches. St. Margaret's Episcopal Church in Fleming Island is shut down.

"I've been a lifelong Episcopalian. And right now, I just don't have faith in the Episcopal church," said Lee DiGiovanni.

Former members are speaking out, saying their faith is shaken. These four say they were all stripped of leadership positions at the church and told to stay away.

"Throwing out all of the leadership of this small church broke this church," said Shirley Trane. "The problem was we have been members for many years, and we saw the membership going down, down, down and nobody was really worrying about it."

They say they took their concerns to Bishop Samuel Howard. They provided a letter Bishop Howard wrote. "The atmosphere of complaint and derogatory comments has continued," he wrote last July.

More here-

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/article/246809/483/Former-Members-Say-Church-Leaders-Doomed-St-Margarets

Another Episcopal cathedral shoe drops

From Get Religion-

It is the year 2012, do you know where your local Episcopal cathedral is? Are you sure that there still is one?

Veteran religion-beat pro Richard C. Dujardin at The Providence Journal had a short, but important, story the other day about a church closing that — if what I am hearing is correct — represents a bit of a trend in the hard-hit liberal Protestant economies of the Northeast and Midwest. What we have here is a story that needs a few more facts on the ground and in the pews.

The basic question: Is there an official list somewhere of the Episcopal Church cathedrals that are being closed and/or sold? Does anyone have a website up with folks placing bets attempting to predict which of these lovely sanctuaries will be the first to be turned into condos? A really spectacular bed and breakfast? Here is the opening of this timely report:

More here-

http://www.getreligion.org/2012/02/another-episcopal-cathedral-shoe-drops/

St. John Cathedral to suspend services on finances

More from Rhode Island-

The Episcopal Cathedral of Saint John in Providence announced Tuesday that it is suspending its services this spring due to a lack of financing.

The Cathedral said it was suspending worship and pastoral services, with the last service to be held April 22 at 9:30 a.m. There are 52 Episcopal churches in Rhode Island, six of which are in Providence.

“The Cathedral congregation has experienced serious financial difficulty, and a decision was made to suspend services for now,” said the Rt. Rev. David Joslin, acting dean of the Cathedral, noting that the financial situation has been “evolving for many years … [and] now needs to be addressed.”

“This decision, of course, was not made lightly or quickly. It does not permanently close the Cathedral; it only ceases the usual Sunday services and pastoral care,” he said.

More here-

http://www.pbn.com/Episcopal-Cathedral-to-suspend-services-on-finances,65544

Providence's Episcopal Cathedral of St. John to close, final services April 22

From Rhode Island-

The Episcopal Cathedral of St. John -- which began as King's Church in 1722 and is the Diocese of Rhode Island's fourth oldest church -- is shutting down, with a final service set for April 22.

Parishioners of the cathedral church, the seat of Bishop Geralyn Wolf, learned the news on Sunday from the Right Rev. David Joslin, the cathedral's interim dean, and Deacon Barbara May-Stock, during the parish's annual meeting on North Main Street.

Parishioner Marjorie Beach says many were in tears when advised that because of declining numbers of pledging families and the cost of salaries and benefits, the parish could not longer continue -- at least for now. The church closed temporarily once before -- during the American Revolution.

http://news.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/2012/02/episcopal-cathe.html

The End of Church

From Diana Butler Bass-

Something startling is happening in American religion: We are witnessing the end of church or, at the very least, the end of conventional church. The United States is fast-becoming a society where Christianity is being reorganized after religion.

In recent decades, untold numbers of people have left the Roman Catholic Church. In a 2008 survey, Pew research found that one in 10 Americans now considers themselves an ex-Catholic. The situation is so dire that the church launched a PR campaign inviting Catholics to "come home," to woo back disgruntled members. There was a slight uptick in Catholic membership last year, mostly due to immigrant Catholics. There is no data indicating that Catholics are returning en masse and much anecdotal evidence suggesting that leaving-taking continues. Catholic leaders worry that once the new immigrants become fully part of American society they might leave, too.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diana-butler-bass/the-end-of-church_b_1284954.html