In one year the Niagara Anglican’s (the Diocese of Niagara’s paper) circulation has declined by 6.4%. This is due to the “[i]ncapacity or death” of former recipients.
It’s not unreasonable to infer that the decline in circulation is at least matched if not exceeded by an equivalent 6.4% decline in membership.
Interestingly, the circulation numbers include parishes that have left the diocese – there are 4; I and others in the departed congregations continue to receive the paper – so basing membership on the circulation numbers probably yields an inflated figure.
You will be please to know that $426,573 of your tax dollars have contributed to distributing Anglican Church of Canada newspapers.
From here (Page 4):
In her 2013 report to the recent Anglican Editors Association conference, Senior Manager Beverley Murphy provided the following information:
• Total circulation [of the Anglican Journal] was down 4.49% since last year;
• Incapacity or death is the reason given in most instances for cancellation;
• Electronic updates average 72 per week;
• Majority of updates are sent by parishes via regular mail;
• Half of all circulation emails come from individuals, then parishes (36.7%) and dioceses (13.3%);
• The Canada Periodical Fund provided a grant ($426,573 from April 2012 to April
2013) which basically covers half of all mailing costs for the Anglican Journal and the 23 diocesan newspapers;
• The Canada Post’s Address Accuracy Program compares subscribers’ addresses with valid addresses on Canada Post’s database. All diocesan papers have sustained the required rate of 95% accuracy.
In 2012, the Niagara Anglican had an accuracy rate of 98.5%.
In June 2012, the Niagara Anglican had a circulation of 10,406, which stood at 9,740 in September this year. It is the fifth largest among the diocesan papers.
Toronto Anglican is the largest, followed by Anglican Life (Newfoundland and Labrador), Huron Church News and the Diocesan Times (Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island). The total Anglican Journal circulation for June 2012 was 155,383 subscribers compared with 143,510 in September 2013.
A couple of months back I looked at the membership numbers of the ACoC, obtained from their own website. I could not help but notice an average annual rate of decline of about 4% over 40 years, resulting in the ACoC having its membership reduced by more than 50%! This from 1961 to 2001. I have not been able to find any information for any year since 2001. I can only presume that the numbers have become so bad and embarrassing that the ACoC cannot summon the courage to make the numbers public.
The decline in newspaper distributions quoted in this report indicate that the ACoC membership is continuing to decline, but now at possibly an even faster rate than before.
Can someone remind me what Jesus Christ said about good trees and bad trees?
Unfortunately, the ACoC has moved so far from the teachings of JC that it is no longer a Christian church…
The decline is indeed accelerating and although 2001 is the last published stats there are many clues to the current situation that slip by the censor.
The ACoC is finished. Twenty or thirty years, what’s the difference. The ANiC will not inherit the crown either. Anglicanism, thank God, is finished…
In the past, some parishes reported the total number of baptized Anglicans in the Parish, while others only reported those who used the weekly envelopes. Perhaps a better way of reporting is the total annual weekly attendance. Regardless, the Anglican Church of Canada has been on the decline since 1965. The cost of following Jesus Christ remains the same; there is no short-cut in following our Lord and Saviour.