Future of ECUSA?

A reader asks, "Recently I've seen that the ECUSA wants to double its membership by the year 2020.  That is an admirable goal, but I don't see it happening.  Fundamentalist and evangelical denominations are growing, it seems, because they say they have all the answers.  People like this kind of certainty and are therefore drawn to it.  Not being biblical literalists, we Anglicans don't pretend to have all the answers, so how are we going to draw new people in?  I find this an especially vexing question now that the entire Anglican Communion faces schism."

A question that is not given to an easy answer.  It seems apparent that there is going to be some sort of schism in the Anglican Communion, although how big it will be is up for grabs.  Of course, it's also helpful to point out that we have not really been in full communion with many provinces of the Anglican Communion for a couple of decades, since full communion requires interchangeability of ministers and our women are not universally welcome.

Archbishop Akinola of Nigeria has told American conservative Episcopalians that they have "one foot in ECUSA and one foot in the Network" and they need to choose. Of course, since the "network" has stated that they are part of ECUSA, it appears they cannot decide who they are.

My guess is, General Convention 2006 will probably maintain the status quo.  It will agree to a moratorium on Episcopal consecrations of people in same-sex unions until after Lambeth 2008, it will restate its position on local-option on same-sex blessings, and it will express regret for the breach in the "bonds of affection" around the consecration of Gene Robinson.  This will fulfill the letter of the Windsor Report - at least until after Lambeth.

The ultra-conservatives will not be satisfied.  They will only accept if we defrock Gene Robinson and agree to a permanent ban on gays in the episcopate and on same-sex blessings.  This simply is not going to happen and they know it.  This is why Akinola is trying to get people to break away now.  The ultra-conservatives have already shown they will not abide by the provisions of the Windsor Report by allowing the primate of the Southern Cone to start mission churches in the US.  Why would they be satisfied by our fulfillment of the Windsor Report if they are refusing to be bound by it themselves?

Rowan Williams has been very passive in the past, but Akinola and his allies have just released a letter that I read as a pretty nasty attack on him, especially after he was very gracious with them.  My own personal opinion is that Williams has not acted because there was no need to - it is easier to sit back , watch the situation develop, and let the insults roll off his back - he seems to have amazingly low ego needs.  I think he will invite everyone to Lambeth 2008 with the exception of Gene Robinson (who might be invited as an observer, but in any case knew he would be in this situation).  Nigeria and several other "network" members will refuse to participate if ECUSA is there.  The ones who show up at Lambeth will be the Anglican Communion, since it is defined as the churches that are in communion with Canterbury.

Now what does this mean for ECUSA and it's membership?  Not much.  I don't want to lose 10% in a schism, and I will mourn the loss of the more conservative voices in ECUSA who help provide us with balance, but we're big kids and we can take it.  If they don't want to be with us, we can't force them to.  As for the Anglican Communion - it means a lot to me and I want to see as much preserved as possible, but we do need to remember that our identity as Episcopalians is not based on our identity in the Anglican Communion.  Remember that we got our first bishops from the nonjuring Scottish Episcopal Church (thumbing our noses at the English parliament who wouldn't let the Church of England do it) and that our Book of Common Prayer comes from the Scottish tradition, not the English one.  We  existed before the Anglican Communion, and we can do it again if we need to.  That being said, I hope it does not come to that - Communion is what is intended by God and it would be tragic to have the Body of Christ fracture yet again.

What I can say for sure is that whatever happens will generate a lot of publicity.  PT Barnum said, "Any publicity is good publicity."  While somewhat embarrassing to those of us in the Episcopal Church who don't like public scrutiny, I have to say that the recent events have meant MORE people in my church that before.  The publicity sends two messages:

1. The Episcopal Church addresses matters of modern interest rather than just ignoring them.
2. The Episcopal Church strives to maintain diversity of opinion, despite the difficulty.

I think that is attractive to people who are becoming more and more disillusioned with the black and white portrayal of reality that so much of our society seems caught in.  I like the fact that in the Episcopal Church I can sit down between a Doctrinaire Feminist liberal and a Evangelical Conservative and have dinner.  Unfortunately, there are those that are uncomfortable with diversity and messiness and are not patient enough to let the work of the Holy Spirit decide matters.

Ultimately, we are not in it for the numbers.  If at the end time there are millions of Southern Baptists standing before Christ and only thousands of Episcopalians, does that really mean anything?  What it means is that we have evangelized a population that the Southern Baptists could never touch.  What it means is that we have understood the metaphor of the parts of the body in the Body of Christ.  We need to accept our function in the Body and be unashamed of it.  Our function is to draw those to Christ who can be nurtured in the Classical Via Media of Anglicanism and would otherwise be lost.

David+

Comments

[Cathie]

Dear David,

After I posed my question concerning the ECUSA's desire to increase membership by 20% by 2020, I realized that I had omitted a very important factor. Not only are mainline denominations losing out to the fundamentalists/conserviatives/evangelicals, we're losing long-time members to the grim reaper. Well, OK, perhaps I should have said, "to God's heavenly Kingdom," but the earthly result is the same. It seems to me that lots of Episcopal Churches are full of folks over the age of 70. In 15 years, many of these loyal members will be gone.

In my home parish, St. James in Roanoke, Virginia, I find myself often being the youngest person in many church activities. There's even been a joke in this parish and in my former one that when I joined the ECW, the average age of the membership dropped by 25 years.

I hope you're correct about what will transpire at General Convention 2006. I was asked to be a volunteer there, but I declined the offer. I told my rector, Sue Bentley, that there wasn't a muzzle tight enough, a harness constraining enough or a leash short enough to ensure that I wouldn't embarrass both myself and the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia.