After the closure of Christ Episcopal Church in Avon, the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut is beginning the process of deciding what to do with the property.
And that all starts with a community conversation Wednesday night.
“The purpose of tomorrow night’s meeting is not to decide what to do with the church at all,” Audrey Scanlan, the state diocese’s canon for mission collaboration, said Tuesday morning. “The purpose of tomorrow night’s meeting is to have a conversation about Avon.”
There’s a story that is not being told here. Looking at the Episcopal Church’s statistic web page, we discover a plunge in membership and giving in the last decade. In 2001, ASA was 150, and annual pledge and giving was over $250,000. In 2007, annual income was over $350,000. Then follows a sudden plunge with 2011 income at less than $120,00 and ASA at under 50. In ten years this congregation lost 2/3 of its ASA and an even higher percentage of income.
There’s more here.