A Volley from the Canon, Number 91 Growth and Decline 1

A VOLLEY FROM THE CANON, NUMBER 91

EPISCOPAL CHURCH GROWTH AND DECLINE, PART I

Kirk Hadaway, the man who crunches your Annual Parish Report numbers for Church Center, has also tallied a survey that went out to all Episcopal congregations, netting a high response rate. Comparing the responses of those congregations to his own data on whether the parish is growing or declining, he has produced some interesting, though not terribly surprising, findings. I’ll cluster these and dole them out in several doses over the next few weeks.

First of all, in case you missed it, we suffered a serious hit in membership relative to population in the early 2000’s to the present (it isn’t over yet), as severe as the one we experienced in the first half of the 1970’s. We rebounded from that earlier one, as well as from two much smaller dips in the late 1980’s and the late 1990’s. It remains to be seen whether and when we will bounce back from this present one.

EPISCOPAL CHURCH AND AGE

We are an “old” church, and getting older. Only our median-age adults, 35-49, mirror the society (19% vs. 22% U. S. population at large.) At either end of the spectrum, there is a big skewer. While 28% of the U. S. are children and youth, only 15% of Episcopalians are. While 13% of Americans are seniors, 30% of Episcopalians are. Some 20% of Americans are young adults, but 10% of Episcopalians are (our missing age group!). While 18% in the U. S. are in middle age, 26% of Episcopalians are.

The “bad news” is: congregations of elderly are less likely to grow. In congregations with 30% or less elderly members, 63% reported membership growth. However, in congregations with 75% or more elderly, only 30% reported membership growth. (But hey! SOME churches of elderly ARE growing!)

EPISCOPAL CHURCH AND RACE

We remain a strongly white, non-Hispanic church (87%). African-Americans comprise 6.3%; Hispanics 3.3%; Asians/Pacific 1.4%; Multi-racial 1.1%, and Native American .8%. However, looking at growth: growth among whites has been only 3 % in the first decade of this millennium ; for blacks, 13%; Asians 33%; Hispanics 34%; other races 31%. So we are becoming more diverse racially over-all.

Among those groups, but predominance in congregations, the Hispanic congregations (53% are growing) and Asian congregations (50%) are experiencing the most growth , with multiple race ones close behind (44%). Thirty-five percent of Anglo congregations are growing, and 32% of black ones, but only 27% of Native American congregations.