Scarcely a week goes by without the media (especially but not entirely the Murdoch press) spreading ill tidings about the CofE. OK, we have our problems and differences, but we do not seek to suppress them. The numbers of people going to church is declining, but so are those in other Churches. And the numbers of people attending Cathedral services has increased sequentially since the War and continues to do so. But we are portrayed sometimes as being in a state of terminal decline. These allegations of course nearly all come from people who never go to a CofE service. Meanwhile the "usually rather sleepy" CofE Press Office does little to dispel such myths. When I alerted them to demonstrably partisan coverage by the BBC (in favour of the RC Church) they said, "it's up to the BBC" and made it clear they had no intention of rectifying this. But we should not complain about the RC Church but try to raise our standard of public relations and influence to a similar level to theirs.
it's interesting. I am still officially an episcopalian, albeit a disgruntled one. Our church has been bleeding members for years, but we seem to have hit a main artery since we entered the gene robinson/bishop schori era. And very little if any news gets covered pn the whole sorry state by either the ENS or major news outlets. i recently heard a poll was taken and found that over 60% of millennials, those in their twenties, have no religious affiliation at all. The fields are ripe for the picking but the harvesters are few. Prayer for a harvest my friends.
Yes, I'm aware of the problems of the Episcopal Church, though I have to say that the (only) two services I've attended were well attended and joyous. Here in England the CofE is so widespread that if you don't like a local church you can always find another to your taste. It seems that the evangelicals are at least holding their own in a time of decline in numbers, but perhaps the catholic wing is unfortunately not doing that well.
what really scares me is the lack of young people and children attending. I'm in my mid-thirties and the experience walking into an episcopal church and being the youngest person in the room by more than a decade has happened more times than it hasn't. The only time my kid's were able to attend sunday school or play with other children was when we attended an APA parish. I mourn for the slow demise of the church I loved and sincerely pray for a revival. we barely have a million members left in the US. American amglicanism deserves more than to be relegated to the historical foot notes.
Same here. And though I can't speak to the U.K. news situation, I agree with seagull about the harm caused by these myths. People with agendas like to spread them, hoping that spreading them will make them come true. Anglicanism here in the States is probably in worse shape than it is in the U.K. (I don't know about Canada), but all of us in each of these countries should commit to prayer. We all need help on many fronts. We really do need new evangelists to arise. Not the anti-intellectual street preachers, but people who can proclaim the power of God as found in His Church. As an American in the Episcopal Church, I get very discouraged when I look at the more orthodox blogs and see the endless parade of bad news. I cringe when I hear the mainstream news services cover our Church, because so many of our leaders make us look foolish. But they don't define the Truth, nor did they found the Church. Our Lord did that, and we know that he still hears us when we call.