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Facing Episcopal Church decline

By David Goodhew

Editor’s note: This article examines data from the Episcopal Church’s dioceses in the United States. It does not include overseas dioceses, such as those in Province IX, where the situation is quite different.

For viewing on some smaller mobile phones or tablets, it may be best to orientate the screen horizontally, to view the charts below. Otherwise, the paper is embedded as a .pdf below the main post.

An article with updated figures from 2017 is posted here

New analysis by Dr. Jeremy Bonner, a Durham-based researcher, offers clarity on the numerical fortunes of the Episcopal Church (TEC) in the USA in recent decades. Discussions of TEC’s numerical fortunes usually take place within the context of its divisions, with the result that clarity is often the first casualty. Using a range of measures, looking across a long period of time, and supplemented by the latest data from TEC, Bonner’s work offers an academically robust picture of what has been happening to the main Anglican church in the United States. This is highly significant for American Anglicans, but also for the wider Communion.

Numbers are not the be-all and end-all, but they do matter. If we believe Christian faith is good news, we should be seeking its proliferation, and be worried when it shrinks. Ignoring uncomfortable numbers does no good. Indeed, it only means the problems will have increased by the time we face the true state of affairs.

This article examines TEC using a range of measures, then explores how TEC compares with other denominations. Finally, it offers comments on the causes of these shifts and their wider significance.

Which numbers?

TEC deserves commendation for the accuracy of its data (some of the most accurate data of any member of the Anglican Communion), and its frankness in publishing such data. This article relies on the material from Bonner’s important chapter in a new work, Growth and Decline in the Anglican Communion, 1980 to the Present (Routledge, 2016), which I had the privilege of editing. This chapter is supplemented here by the latest TEC data. There are four key metrics: members, average Sunday attendance, baptisms, and marriages.

Membership

The chart below shows how TEC lost almost a quarter of its members, 1986 to 2010, within the context of a rapidly rising population. Between 2010 and 2015, TEC’s baptized membership dropped further by 172,000 to 1,779,335, meaning the overall drop in membership from 1980 to 2015 was on the order of 30%.

Episcopal Church Baptized Membership 1980-2010[1]

Region 1980* 1985* 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
East 999,947 939,423 874,564 832,842 768,702 712,609 627,067
South 580,543 612,336 638,405 661,934 675,744 667,536 618,672
Midwest 482,677 447,299 423,180 398,528 370,821 336,526 291,113
West 493,759 516,900 509,901 511,183 513,778 488,705 415,055
TOTAL 2,556,926 2,515,958 2,446,050 2,404,487 2,329,045 2,205,376 1,951,907

* A conversion factor of 0.918427 has been applied to the raw data to render it compatible with that for 1990 and subsequently.

Membership decline was slower in the 1980s and 1990s and became marked since 2000. There were significant regional differences, with decline worst in the East and Midwest and some growth in the West and the South (up to 2000), though all regions have been shrinking since around 2000. Decline between 2010 and 2015 is slightly slower than in 2005 to 2010, but continues to be pronounced.

Average Sunday attendance

Membership is an imprecise measure, since it includes many who may have limited involvement in congregational life. Figures for average Sunday attendance offer a harder metric and a more striking message.

Episcopal Church Average Sunday Attendance 2000-10[2]

Region 2000 2005 2010 Percentage Change, 2000-05 Percentage Change, 2005-10
East 262,696 232,767 191,963 -11.4 -17.5
South 263,265 252,338 220,122 -4.1 -12.8
Midwest 138,310 122,884 101,651 -11.1 -17.3
West 192,308 179,282 144,095 -6.8 -19.6
TOTAL 856,579 787,271 657,831 -8.1 -16.4

The reporting of average Sunday attendance began in 1991. During the 1990s average Sunday attendance was relatively stable but from around 2000 serious decline set in. This has continued and TEC’s average Sunday attendance dropped by nearly one third between 2000 and 2015, from 857,000 in 2000 to 579,780 by 2015. While there is some regional variation, substantial decline has been happening across the country.

Baptisms

Baptism offers a different kind of measure, giving some sense of the number of people joining TEC and, for a church with a strong stress on infant baptism, a sense of the demographic trajectory of the church.

Episcopal Church Child Baptisms, 1980-2010[3]

Region 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
East 20,789 21,566 22,123 19,056 15,971 13,195 9,828
South 12,128 13,214 13,562 12,719 12,421 10,989 8,465
Midwest 10,444 9,934 9,102 7,580 7,174 5,760 4,218
West 12,806 13,697 12,075 11,429 11,037 8,736 6,479
TOTAL 56,167 58,411 56,862 50,784 46,603 38,680 28,990

 

Episcopal Church Adult Baptisms, 1980-2010[4]

Region 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
East 2,244 1,825 2,159 2,190 1,945 1,508 1,060
South 1,701 1,507 2,129 1,991 2,067 1,644 1,118
Midwest 1,392 1,109 1,214 1,005 1,192 940 615
West 2,121 2,177 2,342 2,064 2,027 1,528 979
TOTAL 7,458 6,618 7,844 7,250 7,231 5,620 3,772

As Bonner notes, “For both groups … the rate of baptism has been cut almost in half over a thirty-year period.”[5] But the rate of decline has steepened. Child baptisms increased slightly in the early 1980s, then declined dramatically from around 1990. That decline has continued since 2010. In 2000 TEC baptized 46,603 children, but new numbers show that in 2015 TEC baptized 24,069 children, nearly half the number baptized in 2000. Adult baptism’s decline started later but has been even more striking. In 2015, 3,305 adults were baptized by TEC, less than half the number of adults TEC baptized in 2000: 7,231.

Marriages

However startling the drop in baptisms, the most dramatic data is for marriages. Here the decline has been steady, from 38,913 in 1980 to 11,613 in 2010. This has dropped further to 9149 in 2015. In other words, in 2015 TEC married less than a quarter of the number it married in 1980.

Episcopal Church Marriages, 1980-2010[6]

Region 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
East 14,356 13,809 12,555 9,894 8,253 5,744 4,430
South 7,506 7,362 7,181 6,652 5,912 4,399 3,279
Midwest 7,742 6,119 5,293 4,240 3,559 2,778 1,833
West 9,309 7,837 6,786 6,088 4,717 3,269 2,071
TOTAL 38,913 35,127 31,815 26,874 22,441 16,190 11,613

The decline in baptisms and marriages predates the decline in Sunday attendance. There could well be a causal link between these phenomena, but the nature and extent of that link has yet to be clarified.

Comparison with other churches

What of other denominations? Are things worse for TEC than elsewhere, or sometimes better? Bonner’s chart below summarizes the key changes. Between 1980 and 2010 some American denominations grew (notably Roman Catholicism, the Southern Baptist Convention, Mormons and Pentecostals — although some of these have seen their rate of growth shrink in recent years) and others have declined to varying degrees. TEC is not the worst performing of U.S. denominations, but it is one of the worst. The mainline churches have, in the main, done worse than the non-mainline.

Percentage Change in Denominational Membership, 1980-2010[7]

Denomination 1980-1990 1990-2000 2000-10 1980-2010
Roman Catholic Church +12.4 +16.2 -4.9 +24.1
Southern Baptist Convention +16.3 +5.0 +0.0 +22.2
United Methodist Church -4.0 -6.7 -4.7 -14.6
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America -2.8 -2.2 -18.2 -22.3
Presbyterian Church (USA) -11.4 -11.6 -21.9 -38.9
The Episcopal Church -13.4* -5.3 -15.7 -30.9*
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints +31.9 +19.3 +45.5 +128.9
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod -0.7 -3.2 -9.9 -13.4
United Church of Christ -4.9 -14.8 -24.4 -38.7
Assemblies of God +34.0 +18.5 +14.9 +82.6

*These figures do not reflect the change in calculating active membership in the 1980s.

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Explaining the shifts

Why is this happening? Explaining decline and growth of churches is a complex task. A wide range of caveats is needed. But some comments are possible.

Division?

One explanation is division. TEC lost a number of congregations in recent years to what is now the Anglican Church in America (ACNA). But TEC has declined by a far larger amount than can be accounted for by such divisions. Moreover, in several key metrics TEC’s decline long predates these divisions. Even if you add TEC and ACNA together, Anglicanism in the United States has dramatically declined in recent years. A later article will focus on ACNA’s numbers and how these compare to TEC’s.

Demography?

A crucial factor is demography. TEC membership since the 1950s has correlated strongly with those segments of the population with the lowest birth rates — those who are most highly educated and/or in households with high earnings.[8] This, combined with other factors, means TEC’s membership is increasingly elderly. The most recent data shows that from 2008 to 2014 TEC congregations have continued to age, with 27 percent over 65 in 2008 but 31 percent over 65 in 2014.[9] A further key aspect of demography is ethnicity. The U.S. population has dramatically diversified ethnically in recent decades, and this process continues. But as of 2014 TEC remained 87 percent white, with little sign that this is changing.[10] Regardless of recent splits, demography is pushing TEC towards decline.

Secularization?

A separate question is secularization. U.S. churches for many years appeared less vulnerable to secularization than those in Western Europe, but this is changing. Mainstream Protestant denominations such as TEC have been particularly vulnerable to secularity. The evidence of Western Europe seems to be that as societies move out of Christendom, those churches that are most willing to recognize and adapt to their minority status have most ability to survive within the harsher climate of a secular age.

Church policies and practices?

Notwithstanding these points, church policy also plays a significant role in promoting decline or growth. From the early 1990s TEC has started around 12 congregations a year across the United States, markedly fewer than in the 1970s and ’80s and vastly fewer than in the 1950s and ’60s (when between 40 and 100 were being founded each year).[11] Yet the U.S. population grew dramatically during that period. Recently TEC has made efforts to plant more churches, but it is unclear how effective this has been. Wider evidence suggests that disinterest in starting new congregations correlates with a greater propensity to decline.

Lessons for the wider Church

U.S. Anglicanism operates in a very different context to other parts of Anglicanism. That said, there is much for wider Anglicanism to learn from the U.S. experience. Bonner’s analysis shows how TEC has dramatically declined in recent years. There is a sense that the wider Anglican Communion has not awakened to how far and fast that decline has happened. In significant parts of the United States, TEC has ceased or will soon cease to have a meaningful presence. That said, those who write TEC off are overstating their case. Despite severe decline, it remains a substantial presence in parts of the nation, especially in some major cities.

Estimating the size of TEC’s decline and understanding its causes is complex. Suggesting remedies is beyond the scope of this short article. But a few things can be said.

First, churches need to face demographic realities. If, for example, a city’s or town’s ethnic make-up shifts, wise dioceses and congregations will adapt, not pretend everything is the same.

Second, denominations have to learn to value the local church theologically. If the local church is seen only as an adjunct to some higher good, often called the kingdom, it is not surprising that little effort is made to multiply such congregations or seek their growth. Seeing kingdom as different from, and better than, church is against the grain of the New Testament, in which local churches are integral to the kingdom. The things that we value are the things that tend to flourish. If we want to see growing local churches, we need a theology that values the local church more. Conversely, theology that ignores or even downplays the growth of congregations needs to be questioned, not least for its internalization of the fatalism of the secular zeitgeist.

Third, the secular West is a tough climate in which to sustain congregational life, but it can be done and is desperately needed. For example, there is an avalanche of data that shows how well-being correlates with being part of a congregation.[12] And the practices that promote congregational growth are, to a degree, known; they are not a complete mystery. Focused attention on such practices and the theology that undergirds them is central to the existence of Anglicanism in the United States and elsewhere.

The Rev. Dr. David Goodhew is director of ministerial practice at Cranmer Hall, St. John’s College, Durham University, England. More can be found on this subject in Jeremy Bonner, “The USA,” in D. Goodhew (ed.), Growth and Decline in the Anglican Communion (Routledge, 2017). For an overview of the book, see his Covenant post “Is Anglicanism growing or dying? Statistics, the C of E, and the Anglican Communion.” 

[divider]Footnotes[/divider]

[1] J. Bonner, “USA,” in D. Goodhew (ed.), Growth and Decline in the Anglican Communion, 1980 to the Present (Routledge, 2016), table 12.3, p. 234.

[2] Bonner, “USA,” Table 12.5, p. 235.

[3] Bonner, “USA,” Table 12.7, p. 236.

[4] Bonner, “USA,” Table 12.8, p. 236.

[5] Bonner, “USA”, pp. 236-37.

[6] Bonner, USA,” p. 227.

[7] Bonner, “USA,” Table 12.11, p. 239.

[8] Bonner, “USA,” p. 227

[9] See: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/library/document/episcopal-congregations-overview-charts; http://www.episcopalchurch.org/files/episcopal_congregations_overview_2014.pdf, accessed 9 June 2016.

[10] Ibid.

[11] http://www.episcopalchurch.org/files/number_of_episcopal_congregations_by_year_founded.pdf, accessed 9 June 2016.

[12] T. Luhrmann, When God Talks Back, (Vintage Books, 2012), p. 331.

Goodhew- Facing Episcopal Church decline

15 COMMENTS

    • Thanks for this, Charles – fascinating data on Maryland. The above is very much a ‘broad brush’ approach. I’d be very interested to know how you feel it compares with your diocese. From a first reading, it seems to fit with what the article says, but you would be best placed to comment.

      • Maryland is, I would guess, typical of the the major east coast dioceses. If you look at the ASA data for the period, the only provinces with more than one diocese losing less than 20% attendance were 4 (southeast), 8 (far west), and 7 (south central). In the northeast, midwest, and north plains, the numbers are almost universally and consistently dreadful.

      • Maryland is different. The churches right on the DC line (Bethesda, Chevy Chase) and some in the city (Georgetown, national cathedral) are growing rapidly. These congregations left the politics at the door and preach Jesus. Their priests preach old-school homilies and use Rite I at some masses. Evensong is frequent with some even using the old 1662 BCP service.

  1. Thanks for this article. As I watch the esoteric, down-in-the-weeds but potentially divisive discussions about our Book of Common Prayer, I wonder how and when (if ever) we are going to realize that we are climbing the wrong ladder in the wrong forest. If we don’t in our hearts believe in the good news and spreading it to all kinds of people, we are frankly doomed to increasing irrelevance,

    • I find it good that Rite I and 1662 BCP Evensong are some very well attended services especially in the cities. No discussion over the services here.

  2. Thank you for this. These statistical realities must be faced (indeed will be faced, whether we acknowledge them or not as our churches grow smaller), however, I would like to challenge your framing a bit.Attendance patterns in churches vary with cultural patterns and cultural realities. It is far too simple to say “secularism” or “division” or even “Sunday kids soccer games” and think we have explained much of anything.

    Church decline goes along with an increasing lack of trust in the church and political polarization along with a number of other factors–though I would say that “secularization” is an outdated & not entirely helpful category, since many of the “Nones” turn out to have religious belief, just not coherent religious practice, for instance. But many in our country (and elsewhere) have decided (not altogether irrationally, I might add) that Christian churches are not to be trusted.

    I don’t have the name of the scholar right now-he was recently misquoted by Vice President Pence. His sociological study indicated that church attendance among those who attended church multiple times per week was holding steady (not growing, mind you, holding steady) while moderate, regular church attendance was declining pretty precipitously and was mirrored almost exactly by an increase in religious non-affiliation. While some might be tempted to look for the intense commitment, multiple attendance route as a revitalization route, not that that number is not increasing anywhere, and that has never been the strength of Anglicanism. We can’t change major societal trends by force of will or advertising campaigns.

    What we can do is to have healthy congregations that survive and live no matter the trends. In a healthy congregation, people know what is vitally important about the church, why they are there and why they will remain even when things go badly. This comes out of our deeply held values-our faith in the love of God, the love and life of Jesus as it has been lived and proclaimed in the church through millennia and throughout the world. If we think and teach that those values are big numbers and comfortable, well-staffed churches, we are already cooked and nobody will have a reason to continue if things ever go badly. In a healthy church, it is the Christians who do the Christianing–that’s not something delegate to professionals–the clericalism problem we have is not so much traditionalism as clergy looking to be the heroes, getting everything done and showing that they are busier than anyone else, instead of being presbyters (elders) holding the flock accountable for living the Christian life. It’s harder, perhaps to do this, it doesn’t look like your fantasy you made up in seminary, but it’s essential. But congregations only grow when people within them believe that what is there is vitally important, not just nice.

    It won’t do to change the truly deeply held values of a congregation (by looking at “conservative” church growth for instance) for it’s only those deeply held values that hold the church together. However speaking and living those values with conviction (see Bishop Curry’s famous sermon as a small example) will sustain the church, and if we are trustworthy enough for long enough, perhaps societal patterns will start to shift.

  3. After a lifetime in The Episcopal Church, I left because it simply doesn’t represent my values. I believe in tolerance, inclusion, and social justice. The church claims to support all these things, but I ran into one too many situations in which the church says one thing, but does another. Nor is the church a safe place when it comes to sexual harassment: I reported a case and was told by the diocese that the matter was not “of weighty and material importance to the ministry of the church.” My diocese then knowingly turned a blind eye to retaliation by the rector of my church.

    To TEC I say this: Good riddance! You talk a good game, but the reality is far different.

  4. I think technology has played a big role in changing our culture. We want to get the Good News on our time. We don’t see the point in wearing clothes we never otherwise wear and getting in a car to drive to church to listen to 150 year old songs.

    I still attend mass as a Catholic, but less now. It’s very hard to bring my children there. I’m watching the already declining energy rapidly seep out of our church with Pope Francis at the head. It’s like the “breath of fresh air” that Francis brought was ultimately a net negative. I saw this coming because of my outlook on human nature. Our elites LOVE Francis, the media, the politicians do too. If we’re honest it was everyone who isn’t Catholic or is a non practicing Catholic that loved Francis. These same people never went to mass and still don’t. Catholics are slowly realizing we’ve traded our identity and some theology for a quick burst of popularity and the faithful are trickling out. This isn’t all of our problem, but when you lose the regulars, you have to say you did something wrong or you want to take it all down and rebuild.

    If not for immigration, we’d be in decline, just less than TEC. I pray for the Catholic Church, and I’ll pray for TEC. I know God can handle all of this.

  5. Episcopal clergy are recruited mostly from outside the church, believe it or not, and are too sophisticated. This is not a good combination and has predictable results. In other words, the PEC gives every appearance of lacking interest in developing its own people. These converts also seem too Protestant and rationalistic. The Catholics talk about “Future Church”. The Anglicans need to start talking about dead church [theirs].

  6. I’m 29 and was raised in the Episcopal church, and was sad to see both my brother and sister turn their backs on the faith.
    In my view the church has become too secular, as well as no longer being dynamic. It should be a force for morality, but there is never a push in the Episcopal church for members to adhere to Christian morality. We used to read Bible passages at my church, but it was always the same ones, and there was never any attempt to explain them in a modern context or how to apply them to your own life. I learned more about Christianity in my own time, on the internet.
    And don’t take this the wrong way, because I’ve been in a gay relationship myself, but I think one thing that pushed the decline was the church’s acceptance of gay people in the clergy. Just look at how prominent gay clergy are in the Catholic church, and all of the controversy that has come along with it. I’m not talking about pedophilia either, but sexual harassment of young adults by older male clergy. There’s a channel on youtube called “Church Militant” which has done an excellent job documenting this problem in the Catholic church, and honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if this comes to light in the Episcopal church as well.
    I’d like to note too that the decline in church membership has paralleled a decline in overall happiness. All of the least spiritual countries are also the most miserable

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