The very fact of seeking to justify (or reconstrue) the numbers situation indicates that this is not some minor issue. That said, it does appear that some quarters of TECdom accept that the situation is one of decline and then go on to say that this is as it should be. This seems to go hand-in-hand with a Jesus who came to save mankind, died and rose again, and created a church with built-in contradictions. “That you may be many and diverse and disagreeing and living into tensions, even as the Father and I are One.” So too, “it is better that I go away, so that you may diminish to only those who know the special truth/thruths.”
“That you may be many and diverse and disagreeing and living into tensions, even as the Father and I are One.†So too, “it is better that I go away, so that you may diminish to only those who know the special truth/truths.â€
Such has been their philosophy(notice I don’t say “theology”) for years. They don’t care if it’s a “church” with 20 people, so long as it’s 20 people with their definition of the “right” ideas.
And such an “ideal” has way more to do with the adversary than the Triune God.
I just followed the links and read Bonnie Anderson’s remarks. The statistics in print have been changed and are now the correct ones, next to the statistics are is footnote saying corrected May 23, 2011.
What is remarkable is that anyone who visits as many dying Episcopal parishes as Ms Anderson does could have possibly thought the Episcopalians in the 65+ category were under-represented with respect to the general population.
Whatever the deficiencies of her statistical analysis, the really depressing part of her speech is the lengthy blather of institutional change boilerplate that she supposes offers a way out of our problems. Anyone who has ever seen this kind of stuff knows that it signals an institution that suspects that it is doomed but which has no idea what to do about it, or which is so attached to what it is doing wrong that it cannot speak openly about doing what really needs to be done.
The very fact of seeking to justify (or reconstrue) the numbers situation indicates that this is not some minor issue. That said, it does appear that some quarters of TECdom accept that the situation is one of decline and then go on to say that this is as it should be. This seems to go hand-in-hand with a Jesus who came to save mankind, died and rose again, and created a church with built-in contradictions. “That you may be many and diverse and disagreeing and living into tensions, even as the Father and I are One.” So too, “it is better that I go away, so that you may diminish to only those who know the special truth/thruths.”
Thank you Rob Roy. In addition to figure 4, figures 6 and 7 (dealing with conflicts in parishes) are worth looking at.
“That you may be many and diverse and disagreeing and living into tensions, even as the Father and I are One.†So too, “it is better that I go away, so that you may diminish to only those who know the special truth/truths.â€
Such has been their philosophy(notice I don’t say “theology”) for years. They don’t care if it’s a “church” with 20 people, so long as it’s 20 people with their definition of the “right” ideas.
And such an “ideal” has way more to do with the adversary than the Triune God.
E.g., watch this whole thing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQE4ryqdvMg
Noting the scene from 2:49 on, I’m not buying it with two men/two women, regardless of all TEC’s attempts to remake God in man’s image.
I just followed the links and read Bonnie Anderson’s remarks. The statistics in print have been changed and are now the correct ones, next to the statistics are is footnote saying corrected May 23, 2011.
What is remarkable is that anyone who visits as many dying Episcopal parishes as Ms Anderson does could have possibly thought the Episcopalians in the 65+ category were under-represented with respect to the general population.
Whatever the deficiencies of her statistical analysis, the really depressing part of her speech is the lengthy blather of institutional change boilerplate that she supposes offers a way out of our problems. Anyone who has ever seen this kind of stuff knows that it signals an institution that suspects that it is doomed but which has no idea what to do about it, or which is so attached to what it is doing wrong that it cannot speak openly about doing what really needs to be done.
Many thanks Rob Roy.