It appears likely that the Episcopal Church will experience its third straight year of declining average Sunday attendance (ASA), according to the Rev. Charles Fulton, director of congregational development and president of the Episcopal Church Building Fund.

Speaking in his capacity as director of congregational development, Fr. Fulton told members of the national Executive Council that even though the Episcopal Church Center had parochial report data for only 73 percent of parishes prior to the start of the June 13-16 meeting in Louisville, it was important to release the information as soon as possible, because “time is the enemy of institutions in systemic decline.”

The estimated ASA loss for 2004 is 3.2 percent, or 19,268 fewer people attending each week among the 5,222 churches reporting to date. This is compared to a loss of 2.8 percent among all churches in 2003 and a decline of 1.4 percent in 2002. ASA had been on the rise until 2002. All domestic provinces declined in membership and attendance in 2003. In all but one province the 2003 change represented a worsening of the 2002 loss. Only two dioceses—South Carolina and Tennessee—experienced ASA increases in both 2002 and 2003.

The decline, according to Fr. Fulton, does not appear to be primarily linked to fallout from the 2003 General Convention, but rather a society that is increasingly distancing itself from institutional religion. Many other denominations are experiencing similar declines in membership and attendance, he said.

“The irony is that we began to decline just as we began to talk about doubling,” Fr. Fulton said. “We are experiencing systemic, rather than traumatic, decline. I don’t think anyone would deny that General Convention had an effect on numbers, but to tell the truth I wish the decline was related to a specific event. Systemic decline is much more complicated to reverse.”

No program is going to turn this decline around, said Lallie Lloyd, a parishioner at St. Anne’s Church, Lincoln, Mass., and a member of the Standing Commission on Domestic Mission and Evangelism. In a follow-up presentation on the 20/20 church growth movement, Ms. Lloyd said growth will happen as the Episcopal Church increasingly makes mission its top priority.

“Mission means translating the gospel into the people’s vernacular,” she said. “We need to take our message into the culture and language our young people speak. This happened before when the Bible was translated into English and it happened again when it was brought by missionaries to native cultures.”

Ms. Lloyd asked of council three things: to accelerate and increase the release of funding for 20/20, to reach across whatever boundaries each council member currently inhabits, and to choose as the next Presiding Bishop someone who lives boldly into God’s mission.

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