Dying yet, behold! We live!

The church is dying!

This has become the lament of The Episcopal Church.

Indeed, it is the lament of many church across denominational lines.

Even some Roman Catholic Churches are closing, although even half their rates 'low attendance' would constitute a ‘vital congregation’ in most of the other mainline Protestant denominations.

Part of it is true.

Average Sunday Attendance (ASA) is down, over all. That is due to the complicated and complex nature of this time of transition and uncertainty in our culture.

As Robert Putnam in his book, ‘Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capitol’, testifies, the nature of organizational membership across the cultural divide, has radically changed. He uses the decline of Bowling Leagues as a metaphor for this cultural phenomenon.

Putnam looks at the decline of what he calls ‘social capitol’ in America since 1950, and discusses the ways in which Americans have disengaged from political involvement including decreased voter turnout, public meeting attendance, serving on committees and working with political parties.

He cites Americans’ growing distrust of their government and accepts the possibility that this lack of trust is not without warrant.

It is an interesting if not painfully ironic parallel to church attendance that, in his metaphor of ‘bowling alone’, although the number of people who bowl has increased in the last 20 years, the number of people that bowl in leagues has decreased. Since people bowl alone, says Putnam, they do not participate in social interaction and civic discussions that might occur in a league environment.

I suspect that a growing number of people would identify themselves as ‘deeply spiritual’ who would never associate themselves with ‘organized religion.’

Therein lies the painful rub between what is happening in our culture and what is happening in our church.

All that being said, I want to address my self specifically to the lament which seems to be the loudest from conservative, fundamental, orthodox and neo-Puritan Episcopalians who lament the “serious decline” in ASA and church membership statistics, which gets trotted out like the proverbial ‘perp walk’ when a serial rapist or other criminal type has been apprehended.

As you might assume, it is always the “fault” of the “reasserters” (Lord, have mercy but I do deeply resent that term) as opposed to the “reappraisers” (Okay, I’ve already told you what I think about Dr. Kendall Harmon’s Lexicon of the Right Wing).

For those of you who are blissfully unaware, ‘reasserters’ is the term Kendall and Company use for those of us who are on the conservative, fundamental, evangelical, and (I know Kendall hates this term but it does apply to some in his ranks) neo-Puritan or Right side of the church aisle. The term ‘reappraiser’ is used to describe those who are liberal, progressive and otherwise on the Left side of the church aisle.

Anyway you look at it, it’s a set up for a rhetorical argument that has little to do with faith-based reality or faith or spirituality or anything having much to do with any one’s personal experience of God or Christ Jesus or the Holy Spirit in the institutional church.

At first, I decide that I would research the specific parochial reports of specific, ‘notorious’ ‘reasserters’ and ‘reappraisers’ and their congregations in The Episcopal Church (TEC).

I wondered what specific things anyone could say if they compared, say, my congregation with, say, that of Matt and Ann Kennedy’s. Or what about, say, Liz Zivanov and, oh, I don’t know, Don Pershall?

Or, perhaps, the congregation attended by Louie Crew and that of Sarah Hey? Or, what about the uber-Christian Ould Brothers “down under” and that of Fr. Jonathan, aka “MadPriest” in Northern England?

After a bit of contemplation, I decided to nix that idea as it began to feel a bit too much like ‘a near occasion of sin.’

So, I looked at the 2005 Parochial Reports by Province in The Episcopal Church. You can find these statistics here:

I decided to compare and contrast the statistical reporting of two dioceses in three Provinces as a snapshot of what is going on (at least statistically) in the church between diocese which proclaim to be Progressive/Liberal vs. Conservative/Evangelical. I hoped to find a window into the particular perspective of the Evangelical obsession with numbers and success.

I looked at the statistics for Province II, Province III and Province VIII. Specifically and admittedly arbitrarily, I looked at the dioceses of Albany and Newark, in Province II, Pittsburgh and Washinington in Province III and El Camino Real and San Joaquin in Province VIII.


The 2005 Parochial reports include statistics in the categories of

Parishes and Missions
Actual Baptized Members
Communicants in Good Standing
“Others”
Average Sunday Attendance
Church School Pupils
Baptisms: Child and Adult
Confirmations
Received
Marriages
Baptisms.

Just for the sake of argument, or as my friend, Denny used to say, “Just for ‘Ha, ha’s”, let’s look at three statistics: Parishes and Missions, ASA, and Baptism, Child and Adult as measures of growth.

Province II
Albany: Parishes and Missions: 118 ASA 18,894 Baptisms Child: 344 Adult: 76
Newark: Parishes and Missions: 113 ASA: 33,390 Baptisms Child: 618 Adult: 64

Province III
Pittsburgh: Parishes and Missions: 67 ASA: 16,450 Baptisms Child: 123 Adult: 123
Washington: Parishes and Missions: 92 ASA: 31,379 Baptisms: Child: 677 Adult:98

Province VIII
El Camino Real: Parishes and Missions: 50 ASA: 5,309 Baptisms Child: 45 Adult: 115
San Joaquin: Parishes and Missions: 47 ASA: 4,105 Baptisms Child: 70 Adult: 95

Well, if it’s true that “numbers lie and liars use numbers,” what do these figures tell us about the health and welfare of our church in places that are stridently orthodox and unapologetic progressive?

As Jesus might ask, “How do you read?”

I might also note that Jesus says, “Love my sheep.” Not, “Count them.”

(Okay. Don't believe me. That live link can be found at:

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/documents/2005_Red_Book_Table_of_Statistics_by_Prov_Diocese.pdf