Episcopalians: Going the way of the Shakers

First the good news,

Thanks to God, we survived Hurricane Florence with only minimal leaks in our sturdy ark due to a poorly sealed porthole, and we are currently seeing minimal flooding of our shoreline due to rising river levels. Our elderly neighbors had a large tree come down right between two storage buildings, missing their house and car. 

Next the bad news,

From The Living Church comes this report,

 ...the news is bad. The church is a movement, and the Episcopal Church is moving downward. The data from 2016 showed decline, but some optimists hoped the decline was slowing. This is not borne out by the data from 2017, when membership and attendance continued to drop at the same rate as in 2016 or, in some instances, at a sharper rate. 

Year Membership ASA

2000 2,329,045                 856,579
2005 2,205,376                 787,271
2010 1,951,907                 657,831
2015 1,779,335                 579,780
2016 1,745,156                 570,453
2017 1,712,563                 556,744 

There are always individual churches and dioceses that buck the trend, but the trend is clear. Baptized membership dropped in domestic dioceses by 19.1 percent in the decade up to 2017 and this continues, with a drop of 1.9 percent in 2016-17.

They are getting blown away.

At this rate, Episcopalians will go the way of the Shakers by 2050.