Episcopalians continue to die “a death of a thousand cuts” as the vast majority of church dioceses report continued declines in both membership and attendance for the year 2019.
Statistics recently released by the Office of the General Convention show membership in an uninterrupted drop of 38,404 persons to 1,637,945 (-2.29%) in 2019, while average Sunday attendance declined 13,547 persons to 518,411 (-2.25%).
Across the denomination, three-quarters of Episcopal parishes now have an average attendance of fewer than 100 persons. Median attendance across the church has dropped from 53 to 51 in the past reporting year. During the past five years, 61% of congregations have seen attendance declines of 10% or more, up from 59% the prior year.
The statistics cover the year 2019 and are unaffected by expected attendance drops due to COVID-19 restrictions in 2020.
Two groups of #Episcopal Church dioceses are being hit especially hard: firmly revisionist dioceses like Newark and New Hampshire, & formerly orthodox dioceses that have more recently gone revisionist, such as Northern Indiana, Fond du Lac and Eau Claire. https://t.co/rIhZolicCj
— Jeff Walton (@jeffreyhwalton) October 7, 2020