SUNDAY attendance at Episcopal churches in the United States has almost halved in the past decade. It has fallen by 43 per cent to an average of 373,000.
The number of baptised has also decreased steadily, by 21 per cent over the decade, with a fall of more than 90,000 in 2021-22 alone.
The overall figures for the decade to 2022 appear to reflect the effect of internal disputes. One of the areas showing the sharpest fall in Sunday attendance was South Carolina, where the average fell, between 2011 and 2020, by 78.5 per cent. This was chiefly due to the acrimonious split in 2012 over issues such as blessings for same-sex couples.
The effect of the Covid pandemic must be factored in, too, and there is evidence that congregation numbers are recovering, with a rebound of 60,000 last year in Sunday attendance, although not back to pre-pandemic levels.
The parochial data released by the Episcopal Church does not include virtual attendance at “hybrid” services.
Other regions of the US that have experienced falls by more than a half in membership and attendance include areas in Province IX, which includes the Church in Central and Latin America.
As in many other denominations, the largest group of worshippers — 49.5 per cent — are over-65s. Children and teenagers constitute 12.5 per cent.
Unlike the Church of England, giving has remained largely steady. In 2022, the total in donations from pledges and offerings at services was about $1.3 billion, six per cent higher than in 2013.
The collection of data from parishes also included questions about what church communities hoped for from the future, and what opportunities and challenges they faced. Respondents were also asked what they were doing to address racial injustice.
The 11,000 responses to these questions were analysed for the Church by a sociologist at the University of Notre Dame, Taylor Hartson. He identified four main themes from respondents’ answers: returning to in-person worship; sustaining new growth; recovering lost younger generations; and planning for the future in the midst of increasing costs.
“Many parishes are experiencing increasing costs associated with older-building maintenance and utility use, while also experiencing a decrease in available finances from income and pledges,” Mr Hartson said. “Some parishes have had to dip into endowment funds to keep up with building maintenance, some have been fortunate to secure grants, and others have had to face the difficult decision of closing the parish because they were no longer financially able to support a congregation. With inflation affecting costs and pledging, parishes are faced with difficult decisions about how to plan for their futures.”
The deputy executive officer of the General Convention, the Revd Molly James, told the House of Bishops last week: “While there are indeed downward trends or challenges evident in our data, the data also shows much cause for hope.
“We still have tremendous human, material, and financial resources. People are seeking what our congregations offer. We have communities whose primary characteristics are hospitality and love, who seek to offer a place that helps people make meaning in their lives. For all these reasons, we can be hopeful about our future.”