Episcopal Church membership still declining

Episcopal Church membership still declining

DETROIT — The Episcopal Church logged another massive decline in 2015, losing more than 37,000 members, according to numbers released in mid-September by the Episcopal Church Office of Research.

In 2015 the mainline denomination stood at about 1.77 million members in its domestic dioceses, a nearly 20 percent decline from the 2.2 million it claimed a decade ago. Over the past 10 years, worship attendance dropped by 25.7 percent.

Like other denominations, the Episcopal Church has seen a general decline in recent years, but one factor getting credit for the losses is the Church’s increasingly liberal theology — for instance, its growing support of gay “marriage” and homosexual lifestyles.

The statistics were released as the Church’s House of Bishops wrapped up its recent meeting in Detroit. (TAB)