A Thread on Church Decline (Sort Of)
I'm a little late to the party, but in the last week, there has been a robust discussion of the numbers published by the Episcopal Church regarding membership, church attendance, etc. Like many valuable conversations, it was kicked off by Ben Crosby, who pointed out that these numbers are, um, not good. This lead to many conversations regarding the causes of, and solutions to, the reality of numeric decline. I cannot begin to summarize all of these conversations, and there is no single answer or solution. Instead, I'd like to take a small thread of the bigger tapestry and hopefully provide a contribution. And I would like to start here: If we don’t act like the theological, ethical, and contemplative claims of Christianity are of *utmost* importance and ought to shape every part of people’s lives, we won’t retain kids and we won’t inspire their families. How much do we do or not do out of fear of being Baptists? — K.D. Joyce (@MtrKDJoyce) September 2, 2019 I agree