COMES THE DAWN
Rounding out the MCJ’s first-ever Jim Naughton Day, the Genius of Georgetown finally notices what most people figured out a long time ago. The number of Episcopalians in this country is dropping like a millstone tossed into the sea:
I know it is fashionable, and possibly theologically correct, to say that numbers don’t tell the true story of a church’s value or fidelity, and I am aware that there are signs of vitality all over the Episcopal Church, but these numbers suggest an abbreviated future for our brand of Christianity, at a time when it seems to me that the world needs it more than ever.
Jim doesn’t know what to do about it but he knows what won’t help.
Rather than devote ourselves to reversing this trend, we seem to be on the verge of spending the next four or five years arguing about more pressing matters, such as the size of the House of Deputies. And, while I am as eager as the next person to test the proposition that people searching for meaning and transcendence in a materialistic post-modern culture are powerfully attracted to increased ecclesial efficiency, I wonder if we have chosen the best time for an extended examination of our belly buttons.
Jim? A bunch of us have quite a few ideas for reversing the Episcopal decline into total irrelevance. If you ever need them, be sure to let us know.
I know it is fashionable, and possibly theologically correct, to say that numbers don’t tell the true story of a church’s value or fidelity, and I am aware that there are signs of vitality all over the Episcopal Church, but these numbers suggest an abbreviated future for our brand of Christianity, at a time when it seems to me that the world needs it more than ever.
Jim doesn’t know what to do about it but he knows what won’t help.
Rather than devote ourselves to reversing this trend, we seem to be on the verge of spending the next four or five years arguing about more pressing matters, such as the size of the House of Deputies. And, while I am as eager as the next person to test the proposition that people searching for meaning and transcendence in a materialistic post-modern culture are powerfully attracted to increased ecclesial efficiency, I wonder if we have chosen the best time for an extended examination of our belly buttons.
Jim? A bunch of us have quite a few ideas for reversing the Episcopal decline into total irrelevance. If you ever need them, be sure to let us know.
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