The Bishop Waldo Disaster

While this blogger could have reported on almost any bishop in the Episcopal Sect, today I will focus on Bishop Andrew Waldo of Upper South Carolina since I am most familiar with his diocese having been under his authority for more years than I care to mention.

The updated statistics for his diocese are out, and given the fact that South Carolina's population continues to rise, the declining numbers of Episcopalians in Upper South Carolina is stunning.

Here is the reported trend for Upper South Carolina's average Sunday attendance (ASA).

2009: ASA 8,337
2010: ASA 8,124
2011: ASA  8,214
2012: ASA 7,812
2013: ASA 7,601
2014: ASA 7,492
2015: ASA 7,108
2016: ASA 6,959
2017: ASA 6,755

The total loss in average Sunday worshipers has been 18.9% thus far during the Waldo era.

Looking at my neck of the woods (which is in one of the fastest growing parts of South Carolina) the loss in Sunday attendance was a staggering 29% during the same time period.
I am suspicious that this may be a underestimate because I know of over reporting of ASA being done by some of the parishes in Upper South Carolina.

I looked at this a couple of years ago and recalled,

"in the run up to the 2009 election of Andrew Waldo to become the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina, a small band of conservatives looked at the candidates and decided that Waldo would likely pursue a liberal agenda which would lead to a decline in the diocese in the long term (I think some of us used the term 'disaster'). Of the major candidates in that Bishop election, the only ones with a solid record of church growth were solidly conservative, but nobody casting votes seemed to care about that, and the conservatives went down in flames."

The Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolna, under Bishop Waldo, is going down in flames, and this is happening despite the common misconception that Waldo is a "moderate" bishop. Imagine how bad it would have been if people actually knew that he was a flaming progressive.

The commandment to,

"... go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you..." -Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV)

is the Church's mission statement, but it cannot be followed by those who teach the nations to disobey what God has commanded. I have said before that you can try to evangelize a false gospel, but you will fail, and in the present age that failure will result in the loss of disciples and the loss of worshipers of the very God you claim to love.

In the corporate world, a CEO who lost 20-30% of his company's value in nine years would be FIRED!

In the Episcopalians' organization, such results are more likely to win you a promotion.

How to reverse the trend should be the question on the minds of everyone in the Episcopal sect, but you just don't find much useful information being published on the matter. Maybe Episcopalians are crouched in their bunkers waiting for the uber-revisionists in their laboratories to come up with the next secret weapon that will bring back the millions of congregants who have gone missing over the past five decades. A look at the history of the results of previous experiments should be enough to convince even the most die hard Episcopalians that all that those kinds of innovations do is accelerate the decline.

My suggestion is for Bishop Waldo to sit down with someone, I even volunteer myself, and have a "come to Jesus moment" over the simple truths found in the Gospels and in the data of his failing diocese. It is obvious that the Episcopal sect, the Diocese of Upper South Carolina, and its Bishop are on the wrong track. The need is to repent, turn from the paths of pride and wickedness, and get back to the fundamentals. Those who won't should be let go. This must be accepted before any new course can be plotted.

I am here Bishop Waldo. Whenever you are ready.