David Virtue reports- “FIRST TIME: EPISCOPAL CHURCH DROPS BELOW 500,000 IN AVERAGE SUNDAY ATTENDANCE” https://virtueonline.org/first-time-episcopal-church-drops-below-500000-average-sunday-attendance kinda shocking to me… but supports everything we’ve been seeing over the last 10-15 years, what do you all think
The statistics being referred to are from 2020. Of course attendance declined. Churches were shutdown, and a lot of parishioners died. That’s hardly something to celebrate or gloat over. Long-term, the membership and attendance picture is indeed troubling, not just for the Episcopal Church but for American Christianity in general. I think we’re all smart enough to recognize that just about everything about 2020 was an anomaly, and not to read too much into it. I’m far more interested in seeing what happened with these statistics in 2021.
I got ahold of some of the statistics for the Roman Catholic diocese of Columbus, OH for 2021. A bleak picture. The rebound was poor and parish consolidations are on the docket for this year and next. There are still UMC churches not having in person services here and there. I can't imagine why people are putting up with that at this stage of the game. I expect those hold out parishes to mostly disappear. There are a lot of UMC parishes in this area and those that want to go to church have options other than parishes which have stayed on the Covid train all this time. It might not be the church they've gone to the last 35 years but you don't have to drive more than 3 or 4 miles to find another one in most of the County.
This might be helpful to some. Bishop Love talks about his trial and excommunication from the Episcopal Church: https://virtueonline.org/anglican-bishop-opens-about-leaving-episcopal-church