wfn.org | [ENS] Executive Council discusses trends in Episcopal Church membership

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>Episcopal News Service
>February 21, 2010

Executive Council discusses trends in Episcopal Church membership

Researcher outlines characteristics of growing congregations

>By Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal News Service - Omaha, Nebraska] The Episcopal Church's
Executive Council heard here Feb. 21 that church membership and Sunday
attendance continued to decline in 2008, but also heard a call for the
church to promote knowledge of the characteristics of growing
congregations.

During his statistic-laden hour-long report, Kirk Hadaway, the
church's program officer for congregational research, told the council
that congregations grow when they are in growing communities; have a
clear mission and purpose; follow up with visitors; have strong
leadership; and are involved in outreach and evangelism.

Congregations decline, he said, when their membership is older and
predominantly female; are in conflict, particularly over leadership
and where worship is "rote, predictable and uninspiring."

The primary source of the statistics for Hadaway's report is the
canonically required (Canon 1.6.1) information filed annually with
diocesan bishops by each congregation. The so-called parochial reports
are due by March 1 of the following year. An example of the sort of
information gathered is available here. Hadaway analyzed the data
received to compile a variety of statistical reports and also cited a
variety of surveys of church members that he and others have
conducted.

The 2008 parochial reports show overall church membership at 2,225,682
people, with a total average Sunday attendance (ASA) at 747,376. Those
totals compare with 2007 membership of 2,285,143 and total ASA at
768,476. The dioceses in the United States saw a 2.8 percent drop in
membership and a 3.1 percent decrease in ASA. Overall church
membership -- including 10 non-U.S. dioceses -- was down 2.6 percent
and attendance dropped 2.7 percent for the entire church.

Hadaway suggested that "if we're going to turn this around -- or at
least turn around the decline -- more attention needs to be paid to
the things that result in growth, rather than to the broader cultural
factors that are affecting our current patterns." Those cultural
factors include such things as an aging population with declining
birthrates and an increase in the number of Americans who claim no
religious affiliation.

"The base problem is the fact that so many of our churches don't know
why they're there," he said. "It's a caretaker sort of ministry, which
is good and helpful, but it's a prescription for continuing decline."

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_119609_ENG_HTM.htm

-- The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is Episcopal News Service national
correspondent and editor of Episcopal News Monthly.