If, as followers claim, Christianity is a story of victory, today’s service at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd offers a pretty resounding amen.
Tucked into the far northwestern corner of Highland County, the tiny church is celebrating its 20th anniversary, marking two decades of determined stewardship and refusal to acknowledge the grim facts of life for mainstream religion today.
[blockquote]”That kind of grip has been elusive for Episcopal Churches nationwide. Membership slipped through denominational fingers in alarming rates over the first decade of this century, as average Sunday attendance fell by 23.2 percent.
Figures within the 50-church Diocese of Southwestern Virginia were not much better. Average Sunday attendance fell by more than 19 percent.”[/blockquote]
Goodness me, I wonder what on earth could have happened in the “first decade of this century” to cause such an amazing plummet!
Boy — were the revisionist activists at the 2003 General Convention ever wrong. I wonder if they’ve ever been able to admit it even privately among themselves.