The implications of declines in churchgoing and the aging trend of people who do go to church do not all have to be gloom and doom. Instead, they can prompt Episcopalians to be agents of change in the church and in the world.<\/p>\n
That was the hopeful message heard by people participating in the first of four Insights & Ideas events, held in recognition of the Church Pension Group\u2019s 100 years service to the Episcopal Church. The so-called \u201cCentennial Conversation,\u201d held at St. Bartholomew\u2019s Church in Manhattan, featured two panels of experts, as well as interaction with audience members.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome see the aging of the church as the last gasp of a great church. I just don\u2019t see that at all,\u201d said the Rt. Rev. Clifton Daniel III, acting\/interim dean at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, New York. \u201cI don\u2019t think we need to worry about the death of forms and shapes and ministries that it\u2019s taken. The church is going on.\u201d<\/p>\n