Word came recently that the Episcopal Church national convention plans to affirm gay and lesbian clergy. Some celebrated, while others recoiled. The public pondered.
From the sidelines I say, “Hooray for the steady progress of God’s holy spirit.”
Word came recently that the Episcopal Church national convention plans to affirm gay and lesbian clergy. Some celebrated, while others recoiled. The public pondered.
From the sidelines I say, “Hooray for the steady progress of God’s holy spirit.”
[Comment deleted by Elf – comments advocating that people leave or go to particular churches are against TT19 comment policy]
What progress is the Holy Spirit making? Well, here in the Diocese of San Joaquin (ACNA), we are expecting nine more parishes to join us from outside our boundaries! How’s THAT for progress?
My comment to the newspaper:
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A recent survey of clergy revealed the UCC was the most liberal with respect to homosexuality with the Episcopalians coming in second. Guess what denomination was the fastest declining? The UCC. What was last year’s fastest declining (and most likely next year’s, too)? The Episcopalians.
Is this surprising? Compromise your foundation to pander to a small segment of the population, who by a recent Barna poll, aren’t even interested in organized religion – that’s going to end poorly.
The so-called “inclusive” churches are quickly becoming exclusively white, liberal and old. Here is a study about the UCC:
“As dire as the situation was in the mid-1970s, it was much worse by 2002. Attendees age 15 to 34 declined from 24 percent in the mid-1970s to only 10 percent in 2002 and attendees age 65 or older grew from 23 percent in the mid-1970s to 43 percent of all UCC attendees in 2002…the disparity between UCC attendees age 65+ and the U.S. population grew enormously, increasing from 9 percentage points to over 27 percentage points.”
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The Reverend Kevin then asked me for sources, so I wrote this:
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UCC study: Faith in America [Three Volumes] Changes, Challenges, New Directions, Charles H. Lippy, ed. ISBN: 0-275-98605-5, page 16 (see excerpt from Google Books here: http://tinyurl.com/m5lu7w).
Only 15% of homosexuals reported that were likely to attend a church service, read the Bible and pray to God during a typical week . The question didn’t break it down, unfortunately.
Barna’s conclusion: “The data indicate that millions of gay people are interested in faith but not in the local church and do not appear to be focused on the traditional tools and traditions that represent the comfort zone of most churched Christians. Gay adults clearly have a different way of interpreting the Bible on a number of central theological matters, such as perspectives about God. Homosexuals appreciate their faith but they do not prioritize it, and they tend to consider faith to be individual and private rather than communal.”
Thanks, robroy (#2). Once again, you got there the fastest with the most stats. Since this article was written by a UCC minister, I took particular interest in some of the details he mentioned that relate to the UCC. Especially that the first openly gay man ordained a pastor in the US was Bill Johnson, ordained in the UCC way back in 1972.
Now maybe robroy can work his computer-based research magic and find the numbers, but a little-known fact is that the UCC’s already severe decline would’ve been much worse if they hadn’t absorbed many of the MCC congregations in America. The article reminds us that the first Metropolitan Community Church was founded in LA in 1968 by the Rev. Troy Perry. I don’t know the exact figures, but since the UCC adopted its policy of all-out, unreserved support for the pro-gay agenda, hundreds of more conservative UCC congregations have fled the ultra-liberal denomination (about 200, IIRC). This has been partially offset by the influx of MCC congregations into the UCC. Otherwise the UCC’s decline would’ve been even more precipitous.
Like TEC, the UCC seems to have an unconscious death wish.
David Handy+
Dear David+, I don’t think the MCC influx into the UCC makes much difference. The MCC has had a membership of only 50,000. Because of the liberalization of the TEC and UCC, etc., with resultant defection to these liberal MSD’s, the MCC membership has been declining of late.
robroy (#5),
Thanks. I stand corrected. You are the stat king. Without the MCC influx, the UCC’s steep decline would’ve been merely slightly worse, not much worse.
My real point, however, was to call attention to the fact that while the UCC, like TEC, has suffered the defection of more than a few conservative congregations who finally got fed up with the extreme liberalism of their denomination, the UCC, unlike TEC in this case, was able to attract a few MCC congregations and entice them to affiliate with it because of the UCC’s unambiguously pro-gay stand.
However, I suspect that this pool has now dried up, and TEC probably won’t be gaining any MCC parishes. And the eclipse of the MCC stands as a grim warning that trying to build a denomination on being known as “the gay church” is a foolish and self-defeating strategy. Almost like building on quicksand (cf. the end of Matthew 7, the house built on sand versus the house built on the rock).
David Handy+
There are two denominations vying to be the “gay church” with one that already is. How big is the “pie” that they are vying for? Take away all the elderly in the UCC that are hanging around, waiting to die. Add the predominantly homosexual parishes of the TEClub. Finally, add the “entire” tiny MCC. It is a pretty small pie to be dividing into three or two if the MCC folds into the UCC. I would throw out a ballpark figure of 200,000(?). People who think that the TEClub won’t fall to much further, that most of the conservatives have left, are simply wrong.
The Holy Spirit must speak with forked tongue. He guided and taught us through Scripture and Tradition for over 2,000 years that homosexual activity is sinful. Now He allegedly says it is a sacrament. Not likely.