wfn.org | Episcopalians: Survey says youth and spiritual growth are number one priorities

[dmack@episcopalchurch.org]

March 6, 2002

2002-053

Episcopalians: Survey says youth and spiritual growth are 
number one priorities

by Jan Nunley

(ENS) Taking a "snapshot" of the Episcopal Church's passions and 
priorities to determine where the church's money should go is a 
daunting task. But that's what Executive Council asked a 
marketing research firm to do six months ago, and they heard the 
results at its meeting in San Antonio February 22-25.

At its June 2001 meeting in Salt Lake City, the council passed a 
resolution that proposed hiring a firm to conduct a survey of 
Episcopal Church members, asking them what mission priorities 
should drive budget considerations. The Executive Council passes 
on budget recommendations to its administration and finance 
committee, which holds hearings and forwards its recommendations 
to the Program, Budget and Finance Committee at General 
Convention.  

The marketing research firm RoperASW was hired to 
conduct the survey of congregation members, clergy, bishops, 
national leadership and General Convention deputies. The results 
were based on a total of 2,173 returned questionnaires from all 
five constituencies, with the highest response rate from 
national leadership and bishops. 

Profiles in diversity

The average respondent tended to be male, in his mid-50s, and 
from the South or West. Half or more of bishops, national 
leaders and General Convention deputies are "cradle 
Episcopalians," but  46% of congregation members and 54% of 
clergy joined the Episcopal Church with their families before 
they were 13, or individually before they were 30.

The results showed that Episcopalians are "highly interested" in 
all parts of the Episcopal Church, and tend to be ecumenical, 
pro-technology, and socially consciousthat is, they "want the 
Episcopal Church to speak out on a variety of issues." 

But they differ somewhat on which issues deserve the church's 
attention. There's high consensus on the importance of issues 
such as the exploitation of children, human rights violations, 
world poverty, and racism. But congregation members disagree 
strongly about addressing debt in third world countries. That 
issue ranks lowest on the congregation members list, while 
bishops see it as a top tier issue and other constituencies see 
it as, at the least, a second tier issue.

All constituencies agree that "attending church on Sunday" and 
"spiritual growth" are the two most important aspects of parish 
life, and everyone (except bishops) agrees that attending church 
on days other than Sundays is the least important aspect of 
parish membership.

Priorities are youth, spiritual growth

The Roper survey showed that, across the board, Episcopalians 
agree on two areas of mission focus: increasing the number of 
youths and young adults active in the church, and promoting 
spiritual growth and discipleship. But then differences emerge. 
For congregation members and national leaders, nothing else 
shares the top tier, but bishops, clergy and General Convention 
deputies think "reaching out to the unchurched" should share top 
billing, and deputies add "outreach programs at the 
congregational and diocesan level" to their list. Congregation 
members include "reaching out to disaffected church members" in 
their second tier of importance, but for all other groups, it's 
last on the list. By contrast, congregation members thought 
"establishing new congregations" should be the church's lowest 
priority.

Other priorities included increasing the number of members in 
individual congregations, achieving full status for women within 
the church, expanded training for lay leadership, and having the 
church reflect the increasing diversity of the population.

The Roper survey revealed that all five constituencies believe 
that the Episcopal Church is "doing too little" about increasing 
the number of youths and young adults active in the church, and 
about reaching out to the unchurched.  "The clear desired focus 
of Episcopal Church outreach programs is youth," said the 
report. "Liturgical resources for multi-ethnic communities" and 
"innovative liturgies for changing constituencies" are at the 
bottom of the list, with one out of five believing "too much" is 
done to change liturgies.

Differing information sources

"Each constituency experiences the parts of the Episcopal Church 
differently," the survey reports. "Few feel they know a lot 
about the provinces or the Anglican Communion," but  
congregation members tend to know most about their parishes, 
clergy their parishes and dioceses, bishops their dioceses and 
the church at the national level, and national leaders and 
deputies know their parishes, dioceses and the national church. 
Yet those who admitted that they didn't know much about the 
church beyond the local parish expressed a curiosity and even an 
eagerness to know more, raising some important questions for 
communications in the church.

All but congregation members find out about the church's 
activities primarily through personal interaction, meetings and 
conferences, and reading the church's national newspaper, 
Episcopal Life. Bishops think that the Episcopal News 
Service is the most effective source of information. 
Congregation members rely on bulletin inserts and announcements 
and pulpit announcements and consider them the most effective 
sources. The two least utilized sources of information are the 
church's web site and various list services for committees, 
boards and agencies, and along with secular media, most thought 
them the least effective as well. Interestingly, bishops thought 
pulpit announcements--the most relied-upon form for most 
congregation members--were the least effective.

"Communications to congregation members are highly dependent on 
attending church. The implication is that drifting away from 
church attendance means losing contact with current 
information," said the report.

Funding past--or future?

Because the survey is meant to guide budget decisions, there is 
some concern that it may encourage funding patterns that reflect 
the church's past more than its future.

The Roper study concluded that "where the energy is in the 
Episcopal Churchis youth. Every constituency believes that the 
future of the church depends upon retaining young people in the 
church and attracting young people to the church. No matter what 
the question, the answer is youth." 

But the survey responses were overwhelmingly from older adults, 
and reflect their priorities, not those of younger Episcopalians 
and unchurched youth. "If the average age of respondents was 57, 
we can assume that there were not very many young people in the 
sample," said Thom Chu, program officer for the Episcopal 
Church's young adult and higher education ministries. "The 
nature of the survey methodology may help us to know where the 
church has been and where it is today, but it is not clear where 
it should be going.

"But we needn't wait for a more thorough survey of our younger 
members to begin acting on our impulse to reach younger people, 
" Chu added. "I read this as an invitation for all church 
members to make a personal discipline to be in a relationship 
with a younger person, whether in the church or not. And I think 
that congregations should take a look at their collective 
checkbooks and see how this impulse to reach more young people 
is really reflected in their staffing and spending."

Another area of concern is church growth and evangelism. All 
those who responded to the survey want growth in existing 
congregations, but "establishing new congregations" is not seen 
as a priority, and even among those who place high importance on 
new congregations, few believe more effort is required. That 
runs counter to the received wisdom of church growth experts, 
and to the thrust of the 20/20 initiative, according to some 
observers. 

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--The Rev. Jan Nunley is deputy director of Episcopal News 
Service.