Bishop John Shelby Spong wrote a book in 1999 entitled Why Christianity Must Change or Die. The Episcopal Church has, largely, followed Bishop Spong’s lead. It has changed and it is dying. If you altered one word of the title, making it Why Christianity Must Change and Die, Spong’s book was indeed prophetic.
Predictions are circulating that the Episcopal Church will be dead by 2050. This article examines how likely this is and how its deep decline might be slowed and even reversed.
What the Episcopal Church Will Look Like in 2050
There is increasing recognition that the Episcopal Church has suffered serious decline. But estimating future trends, especially more than a few years ahead, is a risky business. TEC’s decline is due to multiple factors such as demographic change, an aging pool of worshippers, secularization, and schism. These factors interact in complex and not entirely understood ways. So, any predictions should be treated with caution.
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Yet there are long-standing runs of data which make estimates of TEC’s future trajectory possible, as long as they are recognized as estimates. Without very substantial change, it is reasonable to assume these well-established trends will continue. Moreover, the estimates below are based on the pre-COVID-19 data. The signs are that COVID-19 is speeding up TEC’s decline, so these estimates could well be understating the shrinkage to come.
The most dramatic metric is the number of marriages solemnized in TEC churches.
Marriages (future estimates in italics)
1980 38,913
1990 31,815
2000 22,441
2010 11,613
2019 6,148
2030 3,000
2040 1,500
2050 750
The number of TEC marriages has been in decline for many decades, but that decline increased in velocity around 2000. TEC marriages halved between 2000 and 2010 and halved again between 2010 and 2019. On its current trajectory, the number of TEC marriages will be negligible well before 2050.
What of baptisms of children? The figures below show that TEC’s baptisms of children have been dropping since around 1990. The rate of decline deepened markedly after 2000 and is ongoing. Reversing such decline will be extremely difficult and the cummulative effect is tremendous. By 2050, TEC could be baptising as few as 5% of the number of children it baptised in 2000. The huge drop in baptisms of children is powerfully expressive of the aging of the denomination. It poses an existential threat to TEC’s long-term future.
Baptisms of Children (future estimates in italics)
1980 56,167
1990 56,862
2000 46,603
2010 28,990
2019 17,713
2030 10,000
2040 5,000
2050 2,500
A crucial measure is Sunday attendance. Long term estimates of attendance are particularly difficult to do. The further ahead one looks, the more imponderables there are. But concrete things can be said.
Episcopal Church Average Sunday Attendance (future estimates in italics)
2000 856,579
2010 657,831
2019 518,411
2030 350,000
2040 250,000
2050 150,000
Sunday attendance began to drop markedly at the start of the century. The worst years of decline were 2005-2010, but serious decline is ongoing. TEC has shrunk, on average, by around 15,000 per annum since 2010. That is a drop of over 20% between 2010 and 2019.
The burden of proof falls on those who would be more optimistic to demonstrate why we should expect these trends to go into reverse. Arresting so well established a trajectory will be extremely difficult and take time. It owes not a little to entrenched factors, notably the aging demographics of TEC members, forces of secularization, prolonged conflict within the denomination, and a limited readiness to plant new congregations. It is more reasonable to assume TEC’s slide in attendance will continue than change.
And were TEC to continue to decline at roughly the same rate, there would be around 150,000 people in its Sunday congregations by 2050 — compared to 857,000 at Sunday worship in 2000. There is a distinct possibility that the Anglican Church in North America’s attendance will overtake the Episcopal Church by 2050, or sooner.
What These Numbers Mean
One definition of madness is the belief that if you do the same things, you might nonetheless get a different result. Anyone in TEC tempted to argue that “things aren’t too bad” is delusional.
Someone might argue that “numbers are not important.” Besides, 150,000 Sunday worshippers is not “dead,” just “smaller.” This is whistling into the wind. The figures outlined above would require the closure of swathes of TEC’s churches and not a few dioceses. I need to reiterate that the above forecasts do not factor in decline due to COVID-19. If, as is likely, TEC decline is hastened by COVID-19, the above figures underestimate future decline.
Some TEC dioceses in the South and Southwest, such as Dallas or Tennessee, are showing greater resilience in their existing congregations and are managing to plant new ones (although attendance even these dioceses shrank by about 10% in the last decade). They demonstrate how important the South and Southwest are to the future of TEC. It may be no accident that these are Communion Partner dioceses, suggesting the Communion Partners are key to TEC’s future.
But too much comfort should not be taken from the fact that parts of TEC will survive. Just as it is possible to find remnants of once vigorous non-conformist denominations, such as the Christadelphians, this can hardly be cause for consolation. Overall, such denominations are islands of belief, of no substantial impact on contemporary America. The same prospect is opening up for TEC by 2050. It may technically not be defunct by then, but, without fundamental change, it will be absent from the bulk of America.
It’s the Theology, Stupid
If Episcopalians wish their church to live, there has to be change. And change has to start with a change of theology. The Spong Project was a theological project and that theology has been a disaster for Episcopal congregations. By its lack of fruit shall you know it.
And a good place to begin theological renewal is how we view “the end,” what theologians call “eschatology.” Focus on eschatology is highly appropriate given that large parts of TEC are in the end times, in the non-metaphorical sense of that term.
Spong’s TEC has seen the world in this-worldly terms. The aim is to be relevant to the present, “the here and now.” But what was relevant in the 1990s is often relevant no longer. An alternative — and thoroughly Anglican — approach is to be vigorously other-worldly. Focus on the world to come and all the rest will be added unto you. That means a readiness to talk about heaven, hell, death, and judgment. It means a yearning for resurrection and making communities of resurrection, things that seem particularly appropriate for the post-pandemic world.
There is abundant evidence worldwide that churches which are a pale imitation of the surrounding culture do not thrive. Why join the Episcopal Church when you might as well join the Sierra Club? Around the globe many branches of Anglicanism are growing, but not those that espouse low-fat faith. Part of the reason is that a focus on the life to come relaxes us as we face the present. TEC may, or may not, have a big part to play in the next century. I hope it does. But even if it doesn’t, the kingdom of God is not synonymous with TEC. We need God, he does not need us. And actually, that is a relief. It relaxes us to work and wait for the world to come. It doesn’t all depend on us.
Focus on eschatology does not mean ignoring what is going on around us. Indeed, it fits with a passionate engagement with the present. The great Anglican layman William Wilberforce combined a deeply other-worldly faith with abolition of the slave trade
Focus on the end will help us recover a theology that values congregations far more highly. All too often TEC has viewed congregations as merely recruiting centers for activism. But the theological justification for downplaying congregations is shockingly thin. Those who pit “kingdom” against “church” do so despite what the New Testament says and often posit a version of “kingdom” which is a pale imitation of the woke. A glance at the New Testament and the Christian tradition shows a movement that hugely valued local communities of people who follow Jesus as Lord — churches. The work of planting and nurturing congregations is never merely parochial. Congregations are not an adjunct to activism, but central to being church.
Life-Giving Practices
Beyond changing theology, there has to be a change in church practice. Here are some simple steps which lead to greater congregational dynamism.
- Prioritize 0 to 25s. Most people come to faith by the age of 25. I don’t say that to write off the over-25s, but the first quarter century of life is massive in mission.
- Make a profound commitment to church planting. New congregations generally grow much faster than existing ones (and by “church planting” I mean something far more robust than the decaf Christianity of “emerging church”).
- Work with the huge demographic changes happening in the USA (since many, like the USA’s burgeoning ethnic diversification, are a big friend to church growth).
- Copy the parts of Anglicanism that are growing (which is most of global Anglicanism). Instead of telling the rest of the Communion what to think (often TEC’s default setting), TEC needs to be humble enough to learn from the rest of the Communion (most especially those parts not in the West).
The diocese of London in England and many parts of Anglicanism around the world show that decline is not inevitable. Decline is, in part, a choice. TEC does not have to choose to die, even though that is what many of its leaders have chosen for many years.
Choose Life
So said Moses to Israel in Deuteronomy 30:19, though he had previously commented that the Israelites had before them life or death. Something similar could be said to TEC. There is no need to argue about whether TEC is in profound decline. The last twenty years show it is.
So, will TEC be dead by 2050? The answer is technically “no,” but operatively “yes.”
Unless there is big change the above estimates (or worse) map what is on the way. If TEC sticks to its current approach, it will be a fraction of what it is now by 2050. By 2050 there will be some TEC churches and a few will be vigorous. There will be a handful of viable dioceses, but TEC will by then be a sideshow within American Christianity — the latter-day Christadelphians. Huge swathes of the USA will be devoid of any Episcopal presence. Only a small proportion of its congregations will be below pensionable age. TEC will be “alive” only in the sense that a person on a ventilator is alive. TEC will by then have moved from being a church in deep decline (what it is now) to being a church in palliative care.
It does not have to end that way. The Christian faith knows a great deal about dying and knows that there is life beyond death. There is a theology and there are practices that offer a way forward. The question is whether TEC has the will to adopt them.
The Rev. Dr. David Goodhew is a visiting fellow of St. John’s College, Durham University; vicar, St. Barnabas Church, Middlesbrough; and co-director of the Centre for Church Growth Research, which can be followed on twitter @CCGR_Durham.
[…] Bishop John Shelby Spong wrote a book in 1999 entitled Why Christianity Must Change or Die. The Epis… […]
It is probably true that, barring significant changes in theological approach and praxis, the TEC may well be functionally obsolete by the end of the next 30 years. That does not mean that Anglicanism will be gone from the American scene. The ACNA may grow or at least hold its own over that period, although it needs to widen its focus beyond trying to establish itself as the “true” Episcopal church. But ACNA is not the only alternative game in town. If we broaden the definition of Anglican beyond formal ties to Canterbury and evaluate on things like theology and liturgy, there are a number of “Anglican” groups thriving in the U.S. One significant area of Anglican growth is in the convergence movement which seeks to bring together the liturgical, evangelical, and charismatic streams of American Christianity. Just one example would be the Evangelical Episcopal Communion and the related Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches. These groups have a global presence and are emphasizing and teaching the value of Orthodox theology and Episcopal oversight, with an emphasis on Apostolic succession being one component. Significant inroads are being made into the black community in the U.S., as various provinces and dioceses plant new churches and bring into their Anglican fold other existing churches and groups as they spread the word. If these things continue, Global Anglicanism is likely to be well represented in the USA of 2050, even if the TEC has continued down the “woke” path to relative irrelevance.
The Continuing Evangelical Episcopal Communion, and the related the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches are indeed excellent examples of Anglican groups that are growing rapidly in the United States ( and beyond) and I believe both groups have signed GAFCON’s Jerusalem Declaration. Likewise, the Church of Nigeria North American Mission, (CONNAM- formerly known as the Convocation of Anglicans in North America or CANA), which consist of the Anglican Diocese of the West and the Anglican Diocese of the Trinity, is another GAFCON aligned jurisdiction based in the USA and Canada that has been growing rapidly. Interestingly, CONNAM’s growth is not confined to the the Nigerian diaspora, but is embracing Americans and Canadians of a variety of different heritages. Additionally, the GAFCON aligned Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) continues to demonstrate growth and the main “Continuing” Anglican groups that stemmed from the Congress of Saint Louis in the late 1970s, whilst not growing like the GAFCON aligned groups, are not fading away either. It would appear that even if much of The Episcopal Church is not around in a few decades time, that Anglicanism will still be alive and well in North America, although it will be represented by a variety of different entities. It will be messy, but better the mess of the nursey than the tidiness of the cemetery. Maybe The Living Church might consider an investigatory piece about Anglican groups in North America that are outside the canonical structures of TEC and the Anglican Church of Canada such as ACNA, CONNAM, the Convergence churches and the Continuing churches etc please?
Oh dear, I apologize. You did clearly say “Continuing,” and I came across a different CEEC, which is the “Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches.” The Continuing group is the much larger of the two. I believe it has also affiliated with the ACNA, although I can’t find a link to a statement or report on that.
What is the status of Mike Warnke? How can the CEEC have him as a bishop, after his multiple marriages and divorces, not to mention his fraudulent claims in the past? Big red flag here. I’m not saying he couldn’t be a lay member in good standing, but he shouldn’t be in a position of leadership.
I’ll start by saying I want to see fresh energy, vision on all levels of participation in the Episcopal Church. I am a mostly-retired boomer priest. I see the millennial generation of clergy with great hope rather than the larger disparaging comments aimed at that generation. I strongly suspect that the divide between progressive and the self-labeled Orthodox (by which I understand is short hand for no LGBT, women’s ordination suspect) will be surmounted by the Spirit and the reality of the Incarnate Jesus brought to bear on the issues of here and now. As with my own prayer life–at an earlier age I’d usually pray about a matter, presenting God with the 2 options I saw before me, only to have God respond with ‘Nope, it’s this third thing, way forward’ so too with the national church, perhaps with Christianity in general at least in the northern hemisphere. I say all this to lead to my next firmly held insight: all those on these pages/this website who echo something of the same point do so when only focusing on the Anglican Communion, the Episcopal Church and Canadian versions. Look. It’s happening across the board. United Methodists, S. Baptists…Rotary…RC attendance at Mass. We are in a larger cultural moment that sees disinvestment in all the previous community efforts. Our decline is not happening in a vacuum, and it seems most appropriate to observe again the correlation is not causation. Until a poll or group of polls emerge, or some other measure, that states that people are uninterested in participation because of _______ fill in the blank of all the conservative bugaboos. We need something life giving, which is also counter-cultural, grounded in Jesus. So that’s Jesus, not as much Paul (when a writer leans on Paul’s culture wars and make short mention of the Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount you know the sort of privileging of authority being exercised…the rules, paradoxically for Paul, the law of right and wrong.)
Notice you write nothing about getting back to the Bible and preaching the Good News. THAT is the problem
Yes, that’s been the episcopal “church”‘s problem for decades.
As I said on an article here 6 months ago, that quote from Carlson remains the best single line I’ve ever seen describing the church’s decline.
“Once renowned for its liturgy, now a stop on architectural and garden tours. Only tourists go there anymore.”
Feel-goodism is no replacement for scripture.
I wonder if the estimate for 2030 Baptism is too high, given the Marriages correlate?
Marriages
2010 11,613
2019 6,148
2030 3,000
Children Baptized
2010 28,990
2019 17,713
2030 10,000
Thank you for this, Christopher. These are, I stress, estimates. Precision isn’t possible. But the rate of decline of marriages since 2000 has been steeper (roughly halving every 10 years) than that for child baptisms since 2000, so the estimates follow that trend.
David
Thank you. I was thinking less of independent rates of decline and how they track, as against how marriage obviously relates to birth rates and possible baptisms at all. Fewer marriages has a direct impact on possible baptisms.
The precipitous decline in TEC marriages, it should be noted, takes place against the backdrop of churchwide (albeit disputed) and SCOTUS acceptance of same-sex civil marriage (aka. marriage equality). It shouldn’t be lost on us that this was thought by many advocates to assure a greater number of TEC marriages. Quite the opposite has happened. Fewer couples of all sorts are marrying with benefit of clergy in all but Roman Catholic churches where the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony remains between a man and a woman. Perhaps the law of Gamieliel is relevant here?
As long as two or three gather together
WOW – *two* mentions of the Christadelphians!
More seriously, is there any quantitative evidence that the theological recommendations given above produce growth? It was a bit awkward in narrative to switch between description and prescription, but if there is more going on with the latter, I would love to hear about the data.
Thanks for your comments. Briefly, there is a rough correlation between more orthodox eschatology and greater propensity to growth, as seen in the trajectories of Pentecostalism versus many mainline denominations in North America. The trajectories of TEC and ACNA would also fit that picture. Of course, much more research is needed. What certainly can be said is that the idea that having a ‘this-worldly’ eschatology ensures connection with western culture has been systematically disproved in recent decades.
Given the heresy that is preached each week from the Episcopal Church it is a good thing it is dying. God will not be mocked.
[…] about the future of the denomination. In an article for The Living Church, David Goodhew presented some numbers about weddings and baptisms occurring in the Episcopal Church that will be disheartening for […]
[…] concerned about the future of the denomination. In an article for The Living Church, David Goodhew presented some numbers about weddings and baptisms occurring in the Episcopal Church that will be disheartening for […]
[…] gloomy forecast relied partly on a stark, candid piece from the blog of the Living Church magazine. It reasoned that annual marriages and baptisms foretell how the denomination will fare. […]
[…] gloomy forecast relied partly on a stark, candid piece from the blog of the Living Church magazine. It reasoned that annual marriages and baptisms foretell how the denomination will fare. If […]
The reason TEC is dying is they stopped preaching and believing the Bible and went extreme leftists. Well, God is taking care of that. I worked in an EC for almost 4 years and couldn’t believe what was going on. Good riddance.
The head of the Episcopal Church, Bishop Curry, is misleading people on the narrow path to God’s Kingdom. You know his stance on same sex marriage. He may be a smooth speaker on love but never mentions the things God hates. Will this man enter the Kingdom of God when he passes? If you know scripture, you will know the answer. Our Episcopal Church is dwindling. Attendance at an all time low, and so are the finances. There are people out there starving for Christ and want to hear nothing, but Christ preached, instead all they get is feel good carnal stories. And to think my tithing trickles on up to an administration that is in direct opposition to God’s will is sickening.
I take issue with the opening claims. As someone who has read Spong’s books many times over, especially the cited text, I see almost no resemblance between the bland progressivism of Spong’s puritanical vision for a church with little ritual and even less belief, and the Episcopal Church. My parish and Episcopal community is full of vibrant worship, historic prayer book practice, deep discipleship and theology, and a commitment to the historic faith. And we’re in the Diocese of California! Are there external influences on the Episcopal Church which are problematic? Of course. But we are hardly moving in Spong’s direction. For that one would need to look at Union Theological Seminary or the Unitarians, and we bear little resemblance to them.
[…] with it. As David Goodhew has observed, if current trends continue, the Episcopal Church will have effectively disappeared by 2050. (Briefly, as an aside, even if one accepts the claim that “believing without belonging” is […]
[…] Rev. Dr. David Goodhew, writing for The Living Church, a publication of traditional Episcopalians, lays out the numbers tracking the church’s steep decline. He writes that the Episcopal Church will be functionally dead by 2050 absent some sort of […]
[…] Rev. Dr. David Goodhew, writing for The Living Church, a publication of traditional Episcopalians, lays out the numbers tracking the church’s steep decline. He writes that the Episcopal Church will be functionally dead by 2050 absent some sort of […]
[…] Resulting losses hit hardest at the seven major “Mainline” denominations, known for openness to liberal religious, moral and social thinking. They have suffered unprecedented membership losses since the 1960s. See, for instance, Ryan Burge’s Substack column last week about Mainline Presbyterians’ huge shrinkage and this analysis claiming that the Episcopal Church is “dying.” […]
[…] Resulting losses hit hardest at the seven major “Mainline” denominations, known for openness to liberal religious, moral and social thinking. They have suffered unprecedented membership losses since the 1960s. See, for instance, Ryan Burge’s Substack column last week about Mainline Presbyterians’ huge shrinkage and this analysis claiming that the Episcopal Church is “dying.” […]
[…] Resulting losses hit hardest at the seven major “Mainline” denominations, known for openness to liberal religious, moral and social thinking. They have suffered unprecedented membership losses since the 1960s. See, for instance, Ryan Burge’s Substack column last week about Mainline Presbyterians’ huge shrinkage and this analysis claiming that the Episcopal Church is “dying.” […]
[…] Resulting losses hit hardest at the seven major “Mainline” denominations, known for openness to liberal religious, moral and social thinking. They have suffered unprecedented membership losses since the 1960s. See, for instance, Ryan Burge’s Substack column last week about Mainline Presbyterians’ huge shrinkage and this analysis claiming that the Episcopal Church is “dying.” […]
[…] Resulting losses hit hardest at the seven major “Mainline” denominations, known for openness to liberal religious, moral and social thinking. They have suffered unprecedented membership losses since the 1960s. See, for instance, Ryan Burge’s Substack column last week about Mainline Presbyterians’ huge shrinkage and this analysis claiming that the Episcopal Church is “dying.” […]
[…] Resulting losses hit hardest at the seven major “Mainline” denominations, known for openness to liberal religious, moral and social thinking. They have suffered unprecedented membership losses since the 1960s. See, for instance, Ryan Burge’s Substack column last week about Mainline Presbyterians’ huge shrinkage and this analysis claiming that the Episcopal Church is “dying.” […]
[…] Resulting losses hit hardest at the seven major “Mainline” denominations, known for openness to liberal religious, moral and social thinking. They have suffered unprecedented membership losses since the 1960s. See, for instance, Ryan Burge’s Substack column last week about Mainline Presbyterians’ huge shrinkage and this analysis claiming that the Episcopal Church is “dying.” […]
[…] Resulting losses hit hardest at the seven major “Mainline” denominations, known for openness to liberal religious, moral and social thinking. They have suffered unprecedented membership losses since the 1960s. See, for instance, Ryan Burge’s Substack column last week about Mainline Presbyterians’ huge shrinkage and this analysis claiming that the Episcopal Church is “dying.” […]
[…] Resulting losses hit hardest at the seven major “Mainline” denominations, known for openness to liberal religious, moral and social thinking. They have suffered unprecedented membership losses since the 1960s. See, for instance, Ryan Burge’s Substack column last week about Mainline Presbyterians’ huge shrinkage and this analysis claiming that the Episcopal Church is “dying.” […]
[…] Resulting losses hit hardest at the seven major “Mainline” denominations, known for openness to liberal religious, moral and social thinking. They have suffered unprecedented membership losses since the 1960s. See, for instance, Ryan Burge’s Substack column last week about Mainline Presbyterians’ huge shrinkage and this analysis claiming that the Episcopal Church is “dying.” […]
[…] Resulting losses hit hardest at the seven major “Mainline” denominations, known for openness to liberal religious, moral and social thinking. They have suffered unprecedented membership losses since the 1960s. See, for instance, Ryan Burge’s Substack column last week about Mainline Presbyterians’ huge shrinkage and this analysis claiming that the Episcopal Church is “dying.” […]
[…] Resulting losses hit hardest at the seven major mainline denominations, known for openness to liberal religious, moral and social thinking. They have suffered unprecedented membership losses since the 1960s. See, for instance, Ryan Burge’s recent Substack column about mainline Presbyterians’ huge shrinkage and this analysis claiming that the Episcopal Church is “dying.” […]