64% of Episcopal congregations acknowledge conflict over the ordination of gay clergy
TEC loses one diocese a year over lost membership
News Analysis
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
4/1//2009
The consecration of the openly homosexual Bishop of New Hampshire, V. Gene Robinson has proven to be the single greatest cause of conflict in The Episcopal Church. That action has resulted in rapidly declining and permanently lost members and financial decline with little hope of recovery.
A report by the Committee on the State of the Church airs the criticism that TEC seems unwilling to recognize the presence of a major source of internal controversy. Some argue that the disputation is having an adverse impact on the Church's common life, as reflected in declining membership and attendance statistics.
The metaphor most often used in the report was that we "failed to acknowledge the elephant in the room," referring to what many view as the momentous decision by the 74th General Convention (2003) to consent to the consecration of the Bishop of New Hampshire.
In the 2005 Faith Communities Survey, in which about 4,000 of The Episcopal Church's congregations participated, about 37% reported having at least one very serious internal conflict, resulting in some members leaving the church. Fifty-three percent reported that the conflict was resolved. When asked about the source of the conflict, 35% of those reporting very serious conflict stated that it was over the decisions of the 2003 General Convention.
In the 2008 Faith Communities Today Survey of Episcopal parishes and missions, reports of conflict over that issue have not diminished: 64% of Episcopal congregations acknowledge having some kind of conflict over the ordination of gay clergy. And most of that conflict was of a serious nature. Overall, 47% of Episcopal congregations had serious conflict over this issue, 40% indicated that some people left while 18% indicated that some people withheld funds.
Furthermore, the rate of decline in Average Sunday Attendance from 2003-2007 among congregations with serious conflict over the ordination of gay clergy was 35% higher than congregations with no conflict over the issue (and accounted for more than double the aggregate loss).
To quote Dr. Kirk Hadaway: "The age structure of The Episcopal Church suggests an average of forty thousand deaths and twenty-one thousand births, or a natural decline of 19,000 members per year, a population larger than most dioceses. The advanced-and still advancing-age of our membership, combined with our low birth rate, means that we lose the equivalent of one diocese per year."
In the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s, TEC was growing faster than the population, due to a high birth rate and the fact that many formerly unchurched persons were joining Episcopal congregations, usually with their families.
By the late 1960s, the birth rate had dropped greatly, and many of TEC's youth began to drop away from The Episcopal Church as young adults-a large number never to return. This trend, plus the fact that the decline in the birth rate was greatest among the college-educated population (which increasingly is our primary constituency), began the process through which the average age of adult Episcopal membership diverged from the larger population.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and even into the 1990s, TEC gained more adult members than it lost through persons changing denominations (particularly former Roman Catholics). In the past, more people joined The Episcopal Church than left, making up most, but not all, of the natural decline among participating adult members, until recently.
A recent analysis of religion in American life, such as the 2008 study "US Religious Landscape Survey, Religious Affiliation: Diverse and Dynamic" published by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, suggests that a far larger percentage of Americans than was historically true report no formal religious affiliation at all.
Regarding the age structure of The Episcopal Church two facts emerged. First, one of the top five priorities articulated by General Convention for the 2006-2009 triennium was "youth and young adults". However, the Executive Council, in developing the draft budget for the 2009 - 2012 triennium, did not list "youth and young adults" as one of their mission priorities. Second, in the recent reorganization of The Episcopal Church Center staff in New York City, the position of Staff Officer for Youth and Young Adult Ministries was eliminated with the duties of that officer re-distributed to other ministry areas.
The Local Episcopal Congregations Financial Crisis
Over the last five years, income growth was at least keeping pace with inflation-good news. However, with net losses in membership and attendance, the continuing financial burden falls more heavily upon remaining members.
A very substantial fraction of TEC's congregations-two-thirds-reported that in 2008 they experienced some level of financial difficulty. Eight percent report "serious" difficulty, 17 percent report "some" difficulty, and another 42 percent describe their financial circumstances as "tight, but we manage."
The increase in parishes experiencing financial difficulty between 2000 and 2005 is alarming, jumping from 44% to 68%. While that does not worsen between 2005 and 2008, the rate is far too high to allow a rosy picture to be painted...
Legal Picture
It should be noted that with the departure from their fellowship of members of congregations, and now leaders of certain dioceses, additional legal expenses have been incurred by The Episcopal Church at all levels, not to mention the expenditure of time, talent and energy. What has, thus far, remained unstated is, that as a consequence of this strife, substantial funds have been diverted from the mission and ministry of many congregations and dioceses, adding to the financial burden.
Some dioceses' like Northern Michigan total Sunday attendance is less than one solid evangelical Episcopal congregation in another part of the country. The Episcopal Church's Doctrine of Inclusion is not bringing people into the Episcopal Church. It is driving them away.
The argument is that The Episcopal Church needs to do a major "reorganizing", just as large companies and firms are doing right now, as the system itself is broken. But it is not about "reorganizing" the church. That is simply moving the deck chairs around the Titanic. The church is following the bell curve of GMC, if not Lehman Brothers.
Is the current leadership of The Episcopal Church equipped or empowered to do the type of reorganization that must be undertaken in order for TEC to survive? The answer has to be a flat no.
The new Anglican dioceses being formed in the US, but outside of TEC, and the promise of a new Anglican province in North America are only making matters worse for TEC, not better. Raging at them and denying their obvious existence and continual rise will not help TEC for two reasons.
The first is that the emerging province and dioceses are focused on The Great Commission not MDGs. Evangelism and discipleship are their focus, not pansexuality, same sex rites or any of the panoply of abhorrent sexual behaviors TEC leadership is promoting.
The organizational structures of the new province are based on mission and ministry to the local parish and not to a centralized committee or national church. Furthermore, the parishes will own their properties. There is no Dennis Canon. So, they will sink or swim based on the pastor's ability to draw people in with a rigorous New Testament gospel.
The Anglican District of Virginia (ADV) churches in Virginia are looking more and more like a diocese within a diocese that will not go away. They are actually growing despite lawsuits, which the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia wishes would just evaporate. It's not going to happen.
Even when the diocese, and by definition The Episcopal Church, win the properties they have lost the hearts, minds and pocket books of the people. The diocese is left with a shell or façade of a church. Numbers don't lie.
The way The Episcopal Church has been doing business over the past thirty years is going to have to change. If it doesn't, it will simply lose the plot - a plot that many now believe has been irretrievably lost.
A report on communication problems within The Episcopal Church and the "state of flux" that it has been in for the past three years was largely aimed at Director of Communications, Robert Williams, who was appointed to serve following Director, Dan England. A new director, Anne Rudig, hired and started her work in January 2009, is turning things around, VOL has been told.
The Episcopal Church's Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget and Finance (PB&F) also acknowledged a tough economic outlook for the church "given the world's economic crisis." Episcopal Church Treasurer Kurt Barnes pointed out that "The world has changed a couple of times".
The budget will not be complete until General Convention approves it, a vote now scheduled for July 16. The budget takes effect January 1, 2010. The committee is crafting a budget that acknowledges the financial restraints caused by the economic downturn. At the same time it articulates a sense of its agenda, called "finding blessing and abundance in what is hard and difficult."
PB&F member Tess Judge (lay deputy from the Diocese of East Carolina), referring to what she called the economy-based "fear factor," said that "it's a real time for us to do a lot of praying and thinking creatively." House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson echoed that thought.
"This budget cannot be business as usual." During her opening remarks, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori summarized what she describes as the mission and ministry priorities for the Episcopal Church as it faces the next triennium.
The priorities she listed were evangelism, growth and congregational development; what she called "mission to and with the least and poorest among us" and "innovation and efficiency and best practices." She said that those priorities "reflect significant continuity with where we've been, but I think they will continue to encourage us to grow and deepen our ministry to God's creation."
The problem with this is that Jefferts Schori's understanding of mission is not The Great Commission. Evangelism is not about seeking and saving the lost. For her, there are no lost to be saved, interfaith dialogue precludes any such talk. The new fangled language of the "other", the latest in Episcopal nomenclature along with inclusivity, diversity and pluriformity, guarantees that The Episcopal Church will continue to slide inevitably towards the abyss with no eye to pity and no arm to save.
END
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