A Request to the ACNA: Release the Numbers (Updated)
Every year we are treated to a booster shot of schadenfreude as the Episcopal Church publicly releases its membership statistics. On one level, rejoicing in TEC's decline is fine and good...the less people exposed to heresy the better. On another level I think we (meaning me especially) should be careful not to rejoice because others are weeping. There's a balance somewhere between being thankful that more people are turning from false teaching and empathizing with those who have poured their lives into a failed and declining institution. I suppose we'll have to learn to live into the tension.
But I did want to openly note that for all its faults, the Episcopal Church has publicly released its membership statistics. That's a good thing. It keeps everyone honest (or, at least, it should) and it helps people to assess the health of the body.
To my knowledge the ACNA has yet to release any membership or attendance statistics at all. Archbishop Duncan did mention some of the results of the most recent parochial reports in his State of the Church address...but actual details were sparse. That means that the ACNA does have the numbers but, for some reason, has apparently decided not to release them.
Perhaps it's just an oversight? The ACNA is still in start-up mode after all. But maybe there is some embarrassment there too? Maybe the numbers aren't what we've been told to expect? Whatever the case, I'd like to encourage the ACNA to go ahead and publicly release membership statistics.
It's better to have such things out in the open than not. We need to know how we're doing. Most press releases from the ACNA chalk up success after success. That's good on one level because it does build up missionary steam and encouragement. But when you only hear success stories from an official press, it does, over time, cause some people to question the veracity and legitimacy of the news. And the grapevine--be it accurate or not--often tells a very different story which only adds to the suspicion.
So, to whoever makes such decisions, please publicly release the ACNA membership statistics. Honest and open self-assessment is hugely important both for the purposes of knowing how we need to change/grow and to build trust in the Church. The success stories will be far more encouraging when people are sure that the full story is not being concealed.
Of course, if the stats have already been released somewhere and we've missed it, then forgive me and nevermind this post.
Update: I just got off the phone with Brad Root at the ACNA provincial office. Brad is in charge of collecting and presenting the parochial data for the province. He told me that his office is right now in the process of bringing together some statistics that will be published, if all goes as planned, by next week. He cited three main causes of the delay: 1. Being a relatively new province that is made up of once distinct ecclesial entities, information sharing and inter-provincial communication can be a less than smooth process. 2. The electronic data collection method is new, just rolled out last year, so gathering and assessing the data that has been received has not been glitch-free. 3. Deciding how best to present the collected information has taken a lot of time.
Brad agreed that getting the information out publicly is vital and said that he and his office are working very hard to get that done.
I told him that I was happy to hear that the ACNA was committed to openness and that I'm looking forward to seeing the data next week
But I did want to openly note that for all its faults, the Episcopal Church has publicly released its membership statistics. That's a good thing. It keeps everyone honest (or, at least, it should) and it helps people to assess the health of the body.
To my knowledge the ACNA has yet to release any membership or attendance statistics at all. Archbishop Duncan did mention some of the results of the most recent parochial reports in his State of the Church address...but actual details were sparse. That means that the ACNA does have the numbers but, for some reason, has apparently decided not to release them.
Perhaps it's just an oversight? The ACNA is still in start-up mode after all. But maybe there is some embarrassment there too? Maybe the numbers aren't what we've been told to expect? Whatever the case, I'd like to encourage the ACNA to go ahead and publicly release membership statistics.
It's better to have such things out in the open than not. We need to know how we're doing. Most press releases from the ACNA chalk up success after success. That's good on one level because it does build up missionary steam and encouragement. But when you only hear success stories from an official press, it does, over time, cause some people to question the veracity and legitimacy of the news. And the grapevine--be it accurate or not--often tells a very different story which only adds to the suspicion.
So, to whoever makes such decisions, please publicly release the ACNA membership statistics. Honest and open self-assessment is hugely important both for the purposes of knowing how we need to change/grow and to build trust in the Church. The success stories will be far more encouraging when people are sure that the full story is not being concealed.
Of course, if the stats have already been released somewhere and we've missed it, then forgive me and nevermind this post.
Update: I just got off the phone with Brad Root at the ACNA provincial office. Brad is in charge of collecting and presenting the parochial data for the province. He told me that his office is right now in the process of bringing together some statistics that will be published, if all goes as planned, by next week. He cited three main causes of the delay: 1. Being a relatively new province that is made up of once distinct ecclesial entities, information sharing and inter-provincial communication can be a less than smooth process. 2. The electronic data collection method is new, just rolled out last year, so gathering and assessing the data that has been received has not been glitch-free. 3. Deciding how best to present the collected information has taken a lot of time.
Brad agreed that getting the information out publicly is vital and said that he and his office are working very hard to get that done.
I told him that I was happy to hear that the ACNA was committed to openness and that I'm looking forward to seeing the data next week
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