Why This Denomination May Soon ‘Be on Life Support’

Based on recent statistics, the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA) faces a “dire” and “vastly diminished” future—and may even cease to exist in a few decades. Although numbers can’t tell the whole story of a church body, the ECUSA has experienced major declines in attendance and membership.

“The overall picture is dire,” says the Rev. Dwight Zscheile, an Episcopal priest and professor. “Not one of decline as much as demise within the next generation unless trends change significantly.” During the past decade, the ECUSA has lost one-quarter of worship attendees.

“At this rate,” says Zscheile, “there will be no one in worship by around 2050 in the entire denomination.” While offering pledges have increased, “the fact that fewer people are giving more money is not a sustainable trend over the long term,” he adds. Read More

Increased offering pledges are not an uncommon reaction to the decline of a church. People will give more money in hopes that it will keep the church going. But declining churches need more than money. What they need most is people.

While conservative Anglicans attribute the decline of the Episcopal Church to its increasing progressivism, the reasons for the denomination's decline are much more complex. A number of these reasons also affect the Continuing Anglican churches and the Episcopal Church's conservative Anglican rival, the Anglican Church in North America.

I "left" the Episcopal Church in 2002. Pushed out may be a more accurate description of my departure. A major factor was the apathy of my parish's rector and the deanery's clergy. The county in which my parish was located was one of the fastest growing counties in the state. Churches were growing with the population, including my own, and a number of denominations were planting new churches. Yet the clergy in my deanery, including my rector, showed negligible interest in evangelistic outreach, much less church planting. Unless the bishop launched a church planting initiative and encouraged the involvement of the local clergy, they were content to sit on their thumbs and do nothing.

The Episcopal Church had been involved in a Decade of Evangelism in the closing decade of the twentieth century. One of the greatest obstacles to the success of that initiative was Episcopal clergy. Their attitude was "Episcopalians don't do evangelism."

Since that time an aging base, shifting demographics, clergy apathy, and the denomination's progressive drift have contributed to its decline. A number of its congregations are already on life support. They are subsidized by the diocese and must share clergy with one or more other congregations. A priest or other minister who must serve several yoked congregations cannot devote their time and energy to turning a congregation around. As more and more congregations require life support, dioceses are faced with the choice of unplugging those congregations that are the least viable.

What the Episcopal Church needs is an infusion of new blood, new ideas, far greater openness to evangelistic outreach and church planting, and the early retirement of the older progressive denominational leaders. The latter have appointed clergy and promoted initiatives which are not a good fit with the communities of struggling congregations and have added to the challenges these congregations face.

In order for a denomination to go on life support, it will need a healthier denomination to provide it with that support. To what denomination can the Episcopal Church turn?