Towards the Final Spring of the Decade of Evangelism

Towards the Final Sprint of the Decade of Evangelism

by Louie Crew, Rutgers University

"If a way to the better there be, it exacts a full look at the worst." ---Thomas Hardy

According to official parochial reports published by Executive Council in the Episcopal Church Annual, communicants in ECUSA increased by 114,194 (6.7%) over the Decade of Evangelism (1990-1999).

Note: I do not have attendance data for 1990.

Ten dioceses have grown by at least twenty percent more communicants:

Ten diocese have shrunk by at least fourteen percent in number of communicants:

Provinces 4, 7, and 8 (including the Sun Belt gained. Provinces 2, 5, and 1 lost. Province 6 remained almost the same.

See a map of the provinces.

**Communicant Shifts by Province, 1990-1997**
	1990	1997	Difference
Prv 1	166,973	163,228	(3,745)	-2.2%
Prv 2	226,185	201,747	(24,438)	-10.8%
Prv 3	270,242	267,144	(3,098)	-1.1%
Prv 4	359,152	395,338	36,186	10.1%
Prv 5	182,496	172,558	(9,938)	-5.4%
Prv 6	82,835	82,840	5	0.0%
Prv 7	195,987	209,745	13,758	7.0%
Prv 8	214,370	224,407	10,037	4.7%

**Average Sunday Attendance by Province**
	# of Congr	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	% Change
Province 1	553	99,114	100,263	100,334	103,636	110,513	111,280	113,449	14.5%
Province 2	743	116,219	117,512	118,187	119,899	118,458	118,341	121,392	4.5%
Province 3	1,298	157,569	162,864	159,337	160,456	163,798	163,228	172,354	9.4%
Province 4	1,718	199,997	197,692	193,711	193,243	193,680	194,044	194,147	-2.9%
Province 5	939	95,158	91,399	89,806	91,149	93,908	91,219	92,181	-3.1%
Province 6	476	43,781	44,494	42,331	43,912	43,154	42,563	42,799	-2.2%
Province 7	698	53,968	54,793	53,311	52,972	53,513	52,085	52,392	-2.9%
Province 8	941	61,403	56,769	55,625	54,802	51,290	50,298	49,334	-19.7%
All domestic Dioceses	7,366	827,209	825,786	812,642	820,069	828,314	823,058	838,048	1.3%

As I have noted Quean Lutibelle's Book of Numbers, http:://newark.rutgers.edu/~lcrew/grow_die.html#caveat and in Diocesan Size, http://newark.rutgers.edu/~lcrew/dio_size.html: what seems to be growth often actually is decline when one factors in population movements to the sunbelt.

60 dioceses out of 100 experienced growth of communicants:

Communicants 1990-1998

Diocese	1990	1998	Difference	Percent diff.	Rank of %
Alabama	21,515	27,238	5,723	26.6%	5
Alaska	4,244	4,896	652	15.4%	24
Albany	16,844	14,781	(2,063)	-12.2%	91
Arizona	19,650	22,866	3,216	16.4%	21
Arkansas	10,339	11,407	1,068	10.3%	35
Atlanta	33,877	41,104	7,227	21.3%	9
Bethlehem	13,193	11,791	(1,402)	-10.6%	86
California	21,523	21,521	(2)	-0.0%	64
Central Florida	27,519	31,264	3,745	13.6%	27
Central Gulf Coast	15,155	17,975	2,820	18.6%	13
Central New York	16,213	16,150	(63)	-0.4%	65
Central Pennsylvania	13,875	12,281	(1,594)	-11.5%	89
Chicago	33,710	33,725	15	0.0%	63
Colorado	23,355	26,366	3,011	12.9%	29
Connecticut	48,042	50,203	2,161	4.5%	51
Dallas	26,832	30,893	4,061	15.1%	26
Delaware	9,239	9,252	13	0.1%	62
East Carolina	12,564	14,988	2,424	19.3%	12
East Tennessee	12,821	12,897	76	0.6%	61
Eastern Michigan		7,973	7,973	n/a	Created by split
Eastern Oregon	3,067	2,500	(567)	-18.5%	96
Easton	6,995	8,056	1,061	15.2%	25
Eau Claire	2,050	2,010	(40)	-2.0%	71
El Camino Real	12,586	12,742	156	1.2%	59
Florida	19,354	26,503	7,149	36.9%	2
Fond du Lac	6,634	4,314	(2,320)	-35.0%	98
Fort Worth	14,106	14,317	211	1.5%	58
Georgia	12,529	14,632	2,103	16.8%	19
Hawaii	6,990	7,455	465	6.7%	45
Idaho	3,367	4,688	1,321	39.2%	1
Indianapolis	8,334	9,393	1,059	12.7%	30
Iowa	9,890	9,237	(653)	-6.6%	81
Kansas	11,804	12,128	324	2.7%	54
Kentucy	7,857	8,816	959	12.2%	31
Lexington	6,792	8,430	1,638	24.1%	8
Long Island	53,550	41,619	(11,931)	-22.3%	97
Los Angeles	51,569	52,629	1,060	2.1%	57
Louisiana	13,949	14,652	703	5.0%	48
Maine	10,069	11,259	1,190	11.8%	32
Maryland	30,843	33,229	2,386	7.7%	41
Massachusetts	57,877	57,213	(664)	-1.1%	67
Michigan	35,265	24,855	(10,410)	n/a	split
Milwaukee	10,771	11,507	736	6.8%	43
Minnesota	21,305	22,120	815	3.8%	52
Mississippi	16,382	17,825	1,443	8.8%	38
Missouri	11,934	12,237	303	2.5%	55
Montana	4,543	4,715	172	3.8%	53
Navajoland	648	816	168	25.9%	6
Nebraska	9,019	7,753	(1,266)	-14.0%	92
Nevada	3,605	4,308	703	19.5%	11
New Hampshire	9,154	11,467	2,313	25.3%	7
New Jersey	41,998	39,303	(2,695)	-6.4%	80
New York	42,726	44,713	1,987	4.7%	50
Newark	28,626	27,300	(1,326)	-4.6%	77
North Carolina	32,909	36,047	3,138	9.5%	36
North Dakota	2,144	1,993	(151)	-7.0%	82
Northern California	12,877	15,193	2,316	18.0%	16
Northern Indiana	6,097	5,744	(353)	-5.8%	79
Northern Michigan	1,920	1,814	(106)	-5.5%	78
Northwest PA (Erie)	4,895	4,836	(59)	-1.2%	68
Northwest Texas	7,317	7,010	(307)	-4.2%	75
Ohio	28,333	25,135	(3,198)	-11.3%	88
Oklahoma	14,655	15,895	1,240	8.5%	40
Olympia	22,677	24,642	1,965	8.7%	39
Oregon	15,517	16,992	1,475	9.5%	37
Pennsylvania	50,331	41,727	(8,604)	-17.1%	94
Pittsburgh	14,909	16,577	1,668	11.2%	33
Quincy	2,566	2,503	(63)	-2.5%	73
Rhode Island	21,476	18,192	(3,284)	-15.3%	93
Rio Grand/NM & SW TX	9,964	12,789	2,825	28.4%	4
Rochester	10,754	10,601	(153)	-1.4%	69
San Diego	15,836	15,719	(117)	-0.7%	66
San Joaquin	7,733	8,251	518	6.7%	44
South Carolina	18,418	20,918	2,500	13.6%	28
South Dakota	7,262	6,392	(870)	-12.0%	90
Southeast Florida	28,393	27,960	(433)	-1.5%	70
Southern Ohio	18,808	19,819	1,011	5.4%	46
Southern Virginia	26,146	25,293	(853)	-3.3%	74
Southwest Florida	31,649	30,984	(665)	-2.1%	72
Soutwestern Virginia	9,955	10,718	763	7.7%	42
Spokane	8,279	7,437	(842)	-10.2%	84
Springfield	5,330	5,453	123	2.3%	56
Tennessee	9,436	10,926	1,490	15.8%	23
Texas	55,244	64,797	9,553	17.3%	17
Upper South Carolina	19,098	22,651	3,553	18.6%	14
Utah	4,202	4,892	690	16.4%	20
Vermont	6,027	7,062	1,035	17.2%	18
Virginia	52,926	58,494	5,568	10.5%	34
Washington	26,878	31,231	4,353	16.2%	22
West Missouri	10,429	10,552	123	1.2%	60
West Tennessee	8,817	10,600	1,783	20.2%	10
West Texas	21,461	22,506	1,045	4.9%	49
West Virginia	10,057	8,204	(1,853)	-18.4%	95
Western Kansas	2,351	2,106	(245)	-10.4%	85
Western Louisiana	11,485	10,954	(531)	-4.6%	76
Western Massachusett	14,328	12,968	(1,360)	-9.5%	83
Western Michigan	10,744	11,297	553	5.1%	47
Western New York	15,474	13,762	(1,712)	-11.1%	87
Western North Caroli	10,118	13,400	3,282	32.4%	3
Wyoming	5,317	6,302	985	18.5%	15
Totals:	1,698,240	1,763,650	65,410	3.9%

Average Sunday Attendance

Many argue that `average Sunday attendance' is a much more accurate measure of church vitality and growth. For several years now parishes have been required tp indicate attendance on several specified key Sundays. That data is generally made known to the dioceses, but so far The Episcopal Church Annual has not included it with other data. Ray Duncan oversees the data from parochial reports sent to the Episcopal Church Center, and he has kindly made available the tallies below. I am responsible for the table itself, its order, and the computations for change and rank. I also added the difference for numbers of communicants over the same 1991-1997 range to compare how much the two ways of reckoning do or do not correlate for any one diocese.

The dioceses are listed in order from the most attendance growth to the least attendance growth over the six-year period.

Note: I do not have attendance data for 1990, so this table does not exactly correlate with the 7-year communicant period above, but I the communicant data in this table is exact for the same six-year period.

Diocese	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	% diff 97-91 attend	rank 97-91 attend	% diff 97-91 commun.	Rank 97-91 commun
Rio Grande	5,595	5,568	5,595	5,809	5,527	5,501	8,116	45.1%	1	21.7%	9
Kansas	4,395	5,246	5,621	5,728	5,275	5,435	5,736	30.5%	2	-0.1%	73
Southern Ohio	9,199	9,221	8,997	9,023	9,040	9,138	11,616	26.3%	3	1.9%	66
Connecticut	18,514	24,040	22,647	22,703	23,009	22,929	23,343	26.1%	4	13.3%	27
Easton	3,360	3,440	3,452	3,307	3,288	3,348	4,219	25.6%	5	6.4%	45
Texas	24,182	24,685	25,705	26,651	27,723	28,267	29,910	23.7%	6	14.6%	22
South Carolina	9,571	10,041	10,803	11,191	11,011	11,003	11,688	22.1%	7	4.0%	57
Idaho	1,794	1,848	1,828	2,825	1,942	1,999	2,129	18.7%	8	15.6%	17
Western North Carolina	5,987	5,932	5,436	6,026	6,326	6,546	6,904	15.3%	9	33.9%	2
Florida	10,333	11,556	11,450	11,362	11,589	12,131	11,898	15.1%	10	38.3%	1
Central Gulf Coast	7,287	8,076	7,712	7,889	8,568	8,095	8,370	14.9%	11	14.2%	24
Southwestern Virginia	4,556	4,666	4,918	5,249	4,962	5,050	5,229	14.8%	12	7.9%	40
East Carolina	6,267	6,281	6,775	6,899	7,246	7,410	7,185	14.6%	13	29.7%	6
Colorado	12,183	12,530	12,896	12,789	13,469	13,200	13,954	14.5%	14	10.7%	33
Alabama	10,184	10,524	9,796	10,778	11,219	11,605	11,614	14.0%	15	21.4%	10
Central Florida	14,956	15,379	15,444	16,131	16,695	16,947	16,925	13.2%	16	16.5%	13
North Carolina	13,991	14,036	14,614	15,084	15,770	15,199	15,713	12.3%	17	6.8%	42
Tennessee	4,097	4,989	4,829	4,897	4,587	4,587	4,587	12.0%	18	16.7%	12
Utah	1,723	1,625	1,658	1,819	1,863	1,907	1,918	11.3%	19	30.4%	4
Olympia	11,489	12,080	11,806	12,010	12,339	12,119	12,588	9.6%	20	5.3%	51
Atlanta	15,903	15,730	15,532	16,596	16,433	17,234	17,405	9.4%	21	14.3%	23
Arizona	10,048	10,307	10,139	10,443	10,607	10,406	10,983	9.3%	22	19.9%	11
Western Michigan	4,878	4,986	4,922	5,042	4,896	5,234	5,326	9.2%	23	8.1%	39
El Camino Real	5,686	5,803	5,669	5,606	5,477	5,681	6,189	8.8%	24	4.2%	56
Southeast Florida	13,862	14,789	14,750	14,853	15,251	15,175	15,034	8.5%	25	15.5%	18
Northern Indiana	2,966	3,336	3,163	3,311	3,279	3,178	3,215	8.4%	26	8.7%	38
Los Angeles	21,451	22,273	22,689	22,366	22,755	23,009	23,215	8.2%	27	5.7%	48
Upper South Carolina	8,610	8,589	8,452	10,615	10,002	8,852	9,278	7.8%	28	14.9%	20
Northern California	7,297	7,196	7,303	7,221	7,220	7,293	7,829	7.3%	29	16.1%	16
West Texas	10,340	10,264	10,371	10,713	10,705	10,993	10,939	5.8%	30	4.2%	55
New York	20,945	21,194	21,042	21,551	21,119	22,829	21,991	5.0%	31	5.6%	49
Lexington	3,651	3,644	3,551	3,649	3,773	3,769	3,818	4.6%	32	15.0%	19
Kentucky	3,799	3,891	3,750	3,959	3,895	3,981	3,955	4.1%	33	12.4%	31
Nevada	2,237	2,145	1,877	2,044	2,149	2,348	2,312	3.4%	34	28.2%	7
Indianapolis	4,956	5,262	5,177	5,295	5,349	5,208	5,112	3.1%	35	12.7%	30
Rhode Island	7,907	8,254	8,021	8,142	8,161	7,983	8,151	3.1%	36	-7.6%	96
Minnesota	9,211	10,075	9,162	9,369	9,653	9,749	9,470	2.8%	37	6.7%	43
Dallas	12,309	12,281	12,368	12,362	12,223	12,642	12,578	2.2%	38	9.4%	36
Delaware	4,180	4,184	4,162	4,047	3,617	3,604	4,270	2.2%	39	-2.1%	82
Georgia	7,057	6,900	6,999	6,938	7,348	7,463	7,208	2.1%	40	16.5%	14
East Tennessee	6,056	6,085	6,253	6,249	6,334	6,349	6,174	1.9%	41	10.7%	34
Virginia	29,118	28,864	29,178	28,476	29,133	28,732	29,553	1.5%	42	0.7%	70
Long Island	19,949	20,454	19,817	19,270	19,151	20,019	20,217	1.3%	43	-7.4%	93
Oklahoma	7,212	6,929	6,901	7,153	7,001	7,182	7,277	0.9%	44	11.6%	32
Arkansas	5,294	5,421	5,433	5,531	5,391	5,357	5,321	0.5%	45	2.5%	61
West Missouri	5,284	5,177	4,970	5,212	5,232	5,280	5,246	-0.7%	46	2.0%	65
Quincy	1,367	1,368	1,582	1,302	1,327	1,366	1,357	-0.7%	47	4.5%	53
Springfield	2,994	3,055	2,970	2,951	2,928	2,978	2,972	-0.7%	48	-0.2%	74
Albany	7,934	8,144	7,915	8,083	8,119	8,377	7,867	-0.8%	49	-7.8%	97
West Virginia	4,387	4,468	4,506	4,509	4,474	4,278	4,343	-1.0%	50	1.9%	67
Maryland	14,691	14,993	14,255	14,273	14,456	14,487	14,528	-1.1%	51	5.8%	47
Massachusetts	23,786	24,547	23,305	23,040	22,940	22,820	23,463	-1.4%	52	-1.6%	80
Western Louisiana	4,832	4,903	4,617	5,307	5,945	4,644	4,764	-1.4%	53	-5.6%	90
Southwest Florida	17,902	17,399	16,535	17,043	18,286	17,050	17,632	-1.5%	54	2.4%	62
Fort Worth	7,274	7,100	6,997	6,994	7,104	7,144	7,152	-1.7%	55	7.8%	41
Oregon	7,736	7,908	7,337	7,667	8,078	7,534	7,593	-1.8%	56	14.0%	26
West Tennessee	4,256	4,505	4,410	4,360	4,554	4,710	4,177	-1.9%	57	16.1%	15
Newark	11,918	12,332	11,388	11,909	11,958	11,717	11,696	-1.9%	58	-3.1%	84
Vermont	3,393	3,557	3,879	3,148	3,500	3,151	3,310	-2.4%	59	4.4%	54
Maine	5,533	5,496	5,678	5,544	5,743	5,363	5,382	-2.7%	60	1.5%	69
Wyoming	2,847	2,746	2,888	2,880	3,110	2,915	2,762	-3.0%	61	22.8%	8
San Joaquin	4,565	4,576	4,427	4,373	4,541	4,288	4,426	-3.0%	62	3.1%	60
Iowa	4,462	4,624	4,399	4,166	4,180	4,203	4,316	-3.3%	63	5.9%	46
Southern Virginia	13,479	13,386	13,442	12,934	12,612	12,823	12,987	-3.7%	64	-3.5%	86
Central Pennsylvania	6,668	6,634	5,969	6,144	6,253	6,163	6,419	-3.7%	65	-0.5%	75
Nebraska	4,090	4,228	4,026	4,202	4,204	4,230	3,937	-3.7%	66	2.2%	63
Eau Claire	1,159	1,160	1,113	1,135	1,182	1,148	1,115	-3.8%	67	-1.6%	81
New Hampshire	5,218	5,229	5,018	4,928	4,979	4,807	5,016	-3.9%	68	31.6%	3
Pennsylvania	20,220	20,939	19,876	19,455	19,273	19,516	19,390	-4.1%	69	-3.9%	88
Central New York	8,188	8,252	8,089	7,629	8,144	7,586	7,805	-4.7%	70	-1.2%	79
Rochester	5,235	5,566	5,199	5,148	4,981	4,855	4,976	-4.9%	71	4.9%	52
New Jersey	19,403	19,364	18,739	18,494	19,055	18,711	18,198	-6.2%	72	9.2%	37
Northwestern Pennsylvania	2,563	2,688	2,582	2,614	2,644	2,414	2,394	-6.6%	73	-6.7%	91
Alaska	1,902	1,783	1,941	1,827	2,220	1,816	1,774	-6.7%	74	-2.8%	83
Spokane	3,436	3,330	3,288	3,172	3,203	3,288	3,203	-6.8%	75	-7.5%	95
Northern Michigan	1,024	1,034	964	935	967	893	951	-7.1%	76	-0.8%	78
Ohio	12,495	11,819	11,921	11,695	12,120	11,887	11,551	-7.6%	77	-7.4%	94
Western New York	7,071	7,180	6,785	6,721	7,539	6,631	6,535	-7.6%	78	-3.1%	85
Fond Du Lac	2,843	2,963	2,598	2,507	2,620	2,617	2,614	-8.1%	79	-0.6%	76
Washington	18,371	18,132	17,935	17,939	15,892	16,744	16,811	-8.5%	80	14.1%	25
San Diego	8,717	7,750	7,541	7,507	7,469	7,464	7,966	-8.6%	81	5.6%	50
Northwest Texas	3,567	3,351	3,396	3,454	3,369	3,026	3,225	-9.6%	82	3.7%	58
Bethlehem	5,480	5,456	5,054	5,189	5,196	4,819	4,948	-9.7%	83	1.8%	68
Chicago	17,284	16,927	16,454	15,830	16,506	15,422	15,551	-10.0%	84	-3.8%	87
Pittsburgh	8,580	8,375	8,808	8,171	8,318	7,982	7,696	-10.3%	85	14.7%	21
Milwaukee	6,207	6,145	6,119	5,956	5,721	5,692	5,544	-10.7%	86	13.1%	29
Montana	2,501	2,357	2,334	2,232	2,294	2,262	2,229	-10.9%	87	-5.2%	89
Western Massachusetts	8,534	7,969	7,510	7,520	7,719	7,243	7,522	-11.9%	88	-0.6%	77
Missouri	5,870	5,813	5,232	5,609	5,378	5,255	5,151	-12.2%	89	3.7%	59
North Dakota	902	909	943	919	898	954	786	-12.9%	90	-30.6%	100
Eastern Oregon	1,216	1,182	1,107	1,079	1,093	1,075	1,051	-13.6%	91	10.1%	35
Western Kansas	1,202	1,165	1,188	1,108	1,092	1,134	1,038	-13.6%	92	-11.8%	99
Hawaii	4,121	4,050	3,960	3,947	3,920	3,726	3,555	-13.7%	93	2.0%	64
California	13,650	9,900	10,230	10,206	10,955	10,573	10,997	-19.4%	94	6.6%	44
South Dakota	3,491	3,331	3,132	3,210	3,011	2,840	2,716	-22.2%	95	-9.5%	98
Navajo Missions	363	313	339	279	225	173	271	-25.3%	96	29.8%	5
Michigan*	19,993	15,269	14,666	14,322	10,250	10,220	10,427	-28.0%	97	-0.1%	71
Eastern Michigan*					3,902	3,965	3,965	-28.0%	98	-0.1%	72
Mississippi	11,532	7,884	8,135	7,940	7,773	7,865	8,105	-29.7%	99	13.1%	28
Louisiana	10,888	6,436	6,288	6,380	6,492	6,248	6,181	-43.2%	100	-6.9%	92
Totals:	827,209	825,786	812,642	820,069	828,314	823,058	838,048	0.5%	XXX	6.3%	XXX

*Michigan divided into Michigan and Eastern Michigan. The two are treated as one in ranking gain/loss, both for communicants and for average attendance.

Surely we can do better than this!

These numbers tell a story but they have no more efficacy to prompt evangelism than did Miss Havisham when she commanded the children Pip and Estalla in Dickens' Great Expectations: "Play!" One cannot tell Good News who has not experienced news genuinely good. By definition, not everyone is eligible to respond to the prompt, "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so."
Come, Holy Spirit, come.

Reflections on this report and related material regarding ECUSA's growth/decline
If you wish to add your own reflection to this collection, please send it to lcrew@newark.rutgers.edu for me to consider. Please use a subject line exactly as you want it to appear in the index to the reflections. Please identify yourself with your full name, your parish and location, and any other details that will help put your comments in perspective for those who read it.
Charting the Episcopal Church, 1850-1999, to view these statistics in a larger context.
ECUSA Halfway Thru the Decade of Evangelism 1990-95, an earlier, bleaker version of this report.
Mainline Churches: The Real Reason for Decline by Benton Johnson, Dean R. Hoge & Donald A. Luidens, First Things 31 (March 1993): 13-18. This conservative source uses hard evidence to naysay many of the standard explanations.

Episcopal Evangelism: An Oxymoron?
Louie Crew's Anglican pages: http://newark.rutgers.edu/~lcrew/rel.html
Louie Crew's home page: http://newark.rutgers.edu/~lcrew
Send mail to: lcrew@newark.rutgers.edu

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