Church shopping has been rightfully attacked as a consumerist, individualistic approach to faith—as a shopper, I do what “works for me” on a Sunday morning, and I can change churches as fast as my preferences change. All the same, we’ve nearly all done it to some degree or another, writes Amy Frykholm on Theolog, the blog of The Christian Century.
It’s becoming increasingly common of late to hear of Episcopal clergy going out of their parishes to local pubs and bars as a way of
What direction, though, is the causation? Growth surely increases self esteem, sense of purpose and joy of the congregation. No doubt joy is attractive and causes growth. But can you choose joy? Can a congregation choose to be open to change, or is that a characteristic that’s in its DNA? All organizations face such questions. A course of action for growth may be clear to the leadership but it’s another thing to change the culture of the organization.
Evangelism isn’t about beating opponents into submission—intellectual or otherwise. At its heart, it’s about sharing love, communicating who God is and how God is about the work of redemption and reconciliation. It’s less about what we know than who we know—and how he has made himself known through the power of the resurrection at work in our lives. That having been said, there are some fundamentals that have to be covered.
Maybe we should think about our Episcopal DNA . We inherited it from the British Isles. What were the British to do with Picts, Angles, Celts, Normans, Saxons of every stripe, some Vikings mixed in just for flavor. One size church did not fit all. And as the state church they had to figure out how to accommodate wide differences.
Older congregations in new suburbs are less likely to grow than new congregations in new suburbs. This may reflect behavioral differences between new and old congregations, or it could reflect the fact that dioceses choose to plant churches in those new suburbs whose residents are most likely to be open to the Episcopal Church. The clear suggestion however is that existing churches in growing neighborhoods should ask if they appear insular to outsiders.
There is a new and important stage in life in American culture, and it is not entirely clear that the Christian church understands or particularly knows what to do with it. I am talking about what scholars call “emerging adulthood.” This is the time of life between ages 18 and 30, roughly, a phase which in recent decades has morphed into quite a new experience for many.
Claudia Mair Burney, writes of her search for a spiritual home and how an Episcopal Church, and the artwork it had on the side of
In Hadaway’s analysis the reasons for the decline have to do with demography, not theology or church growth strategy. Or, rather, where he would place emphasis in a church growth strategy is in broadening our constituency. The membership of the Episcopal Church has been predominantly white. And the birthrate among whites has declined substantially since the fifties.
Latino and Asian populations are among the fastest-growing in North America, and should become greater priorities for Episcopal Church evangelism, members of Executive Council said October 27 while reviewing church membership and attendance statistics for the year 2006.