US Episcopal Church tumbles to new low, shedding 35,000 members last year alone

Membership and attendance of The Episcopal Church in the US continues to tumble rapidly, shedding almost 35,000 members in the last year alone, the latest figures suggest.

The American Anglican church has lost nearly a fifth of its members in the last five years and continues to decline by around two per cent year on year.

Officials were quick to point out that although average Sunday attendance – a key measure of a church's health – was declining, the rate of decline was slowing.

The number of people coming to a TEC building on a Sunday fell by 9,327 in the last year but that compares to a drop of more than 20,000 the year before, the figures released on Thursday reveal.

Canon Dr Michael Barlowe, executive officer of TEC's general convention, said: 'The 2016 data reflects a continuation of recent trends, although rates of decline in such key figures as Average Sunday Attendance have decreased.'

But over the last 10 years average Sunday attendance has fallen by a quarter, forcing 37 parishes to close in the last year and leaving TEC with 6,473 congregations across the US.

Canon Barlowe said that although membership and attendance continues to spiral, those remaining have increased their giving meaning 'congregational income through pledges and other offerings has remained constant'.

Bishop Maryann Budde, from the Diocese of Washington, admitted that most parishes on her watch 'are in precipitous decline' or remain stagnant at a time of rapid population growth.

In a sermon in March she told fellow bishops: 'I live in a perpetual state of holy urgency about the spiritual health and ministry capacity of the congregations I serve and those I hope to establish on my watch.'

Offering a bleak analysis of TEC's position, she said other expressions of Christianity were thriving in the area.

'I can't bring myself to count the number of congregations I cannot, in good conscience, recommend to those who are seeking a vibrant expression of Christian community,' she said.

'There's no doubt in my mind that the Jesus Movement is alive and well in the Diocese of Washington. I cannot say the same about the Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement in all of its expressions.'

The figures published on Thursday will be leapt upon by counterparts in the more theologically conservative splinter group, the Anglican Church of North America, who have set themselves up as a rival Anglican church in the US.