Daring to be a Different Church

http://www.livingchurch.org/publishertlc/viewarticle.asp?ID=3128

[The Living Church] 13 Mar 2007--At St. Stephen’s, the parish I serve, we decided to scrape the rust off tired, contentious, and unhealthy practices and dare to do church another way. In just 18 months, our attendance is up some 100 worshipers per Sunday, our monetary giving has increased by some 45 percent, and participation in our adult formation classes has increased by more than 100 percent. More importantly, St. Stephen’s has become a much more vibrant faith community because we have taken these five very practical roads to revival....

All Episcopalians, liberal and conservative, I believe can learn from this article. I have been involved number of growing churches, Episcopal and non-Episcopal, and my own experience in these churches support what the author has written. By growing churches I mean growing not only in numbers of members but also in terms of spiritual depth and increased ministries.