The profile of The Episcopal Church does not match the diversity of the US population or its growth. Parishes are stressed financially by overhead, services are less than half full.
Discuss in light of the facts below.
From FACT 2010:
87% of Episcopalians are white.
30% of us are age 65 and above; for the country as a whole, 13% are seniors.
15% of us are below the age of 20; for the country as a whole, 28% are.
60% of Episcopalians are female. Take out the non-adults, who are likely closer to 50-50, and you see the figure for adults is higher.
“Relatively few Episcopal churches reported that their members were heavily involved in recruiting new members. Only 20% say their members are involved “quite a bit” or “a lot.” The more typical involvement is “a little” (36%) or “some” (40%).”
“A majority (53%) of Episcopal parishes and missions were founded before 1901. The post-war
baby boom years (1946-1965) saw a huge rise in new church development as many parishes (18% of all congregations) were organized during those twenty years. Only 3% of Episcopal congregations were founded from 1993 to 2009.”
“In 2010 86% of Episcopal parishes and missions said their congregation used a website, up from 81% in 2008 and 76% in 2005. The use of social media has exploded in recent years and 41% of Episcopal congregations indicated that they used Facebook or other social media in 2010.”