The Episcopal Church's House of Deputies regularly produces a "Blue Book Report" for the consideration of General Convention, based on survey's of Episcopal Church congregations. It is out. Here is an article about it.
And here are some highlights:
"In a similar survey undertaken in 2005, 37 percent of congregations reported serious conflict that resulted in at least some members leaving. About one-third of those responding in 2005 attributed the conflict to decisions made during the 2003 General Convention. In a similar survey conducted in 2008, 64 percent of congregations reported some level of conflict over the ordination of homosexual clergy, with most reporting such conflict to be serious."
"Overall, 47 percent of Episcopal congregations had serious conflict over this issue, 40 percent indicated that some people left and 18 percent indicated that some people withheld funds...”
"The report noted that The Episcopal Church has an average 19,000 more deaths than births each year, which is comparable to the loss of an entire diocese annually."
"In 2005, 44 percent of congregations reported experiencing some degree of financial difficulty. By the 2008 the figure had increased to 68 percent."
"Only one domestic diocese, South Carolina, reported growth in active members and communicants in good standing between 2003 and 2007."
Well done, Episcopal Church. When you forsake the Gospel and persecute the orthodox, when you exchange your birthright for tepid folderol about carbon footprints, when your religion consists only of what you can plunder from the secular left's most vapid sloganeers, people aren't interested. Particularly the youth. I went through a brief phase, for about half an hour, at some point during high school when I thought Woodstock and its values and blandishments were kind of interesting. Then I got over it.
