Rev. Percy Coffin has been elected metropolitan for the ecclesiastical province of Canada. The province has seven dioceses, most of which are ‘shrinking drastically’.
The aptly named Coffin is to preside over a province which is dying because its members are dying; they are not being replaced by ‘younger generations of Anglicans.’ As a parenthetical note, I can’t help observing the customary emphasis placed on ‘Anglican’ rather than ‘Christian’, as if they were distinct and separate categories; perhaps they are in North America.
Evangelism could be the Answer, although I seem to recall that during the Decade of Evangelism, the Diocese of Niagara, of which I was a part at the time, took the entire ten years attempting, without success, to define what the word ‘Evangelism’ means. The ecclesiastical province of Canada is unlikely to have a less solipsistic view so I expect the decline to continue, apace.
From here:
It is a challenging time for the seven dioceses in the province, in large part because the church is shrinking drastically in most areas, he said. Anglophone Anglicans have migrated away from Quebec and many rural communities are losing population to urban areas. While the Anglican population in the diocese of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, which includes St. John and the economic activity produced by offshore oil, is holding steady or growing, in the diocese of Western Newfoundland it has shrunk by two-thirds, Coffin says, from 37,000 Anglicans in 1977 when the diocese split into three, to under 13,000 now. That drop, he said, is consistent with figures from the last three Statistics Canada census reports, which have shown drops of 12 to 20 per cent in the population of rural communities.
[…..]
Aside from outmigration, Coffin noted that the church is also challenged by the fact that faithful Anglicans are aging and dying, and in an increasingly secular society, they are not being replaced by younger generations of Anglicans.
Note that the decline in the number of Anglicans is 64%, far higher than the population decrease of 12 to 20%.
David
A few comments and questions on your post:
1. You seem to be muddling the “levels” in your post. The title of the blog suggests that you are speaking of the ACoC as a whole but the article you cite is about an ecclesiastical province within the ACOC (also called Canada)… and then you criticize it by referring to the actions of a diocese. For those of us trying to follow the logic of your argument, it would be helpful if you didn’t try to switch in between levels like this.
2. Calling the installation of a new Archbishop as an “implosion” of the ACoC seems a bit of a stretch.
3. Likewise, you try to suggest some subtle differences between the article’s use of terms Anglican and Christian. Keep in mind that the article is about Anglican governance, written in an Anglican magazine and read by Anglican members. I’d think that Baptists, Presbyterians, Alliance or any other denomination would use the same level of distinguishing. You seem to be creating a straw man here.
4. On a different note, I like the idea that they proposed of combining dioceses as a cost cutting measure. People (including many Christians) no longer go to church on Sundays. society is changing and the idea of small groups/adult education throughout the week is probably a better structure. I predict pews (in all churches) will continue to see fewer numbers. It’s not solely because of declining believers but because our culture is changing. (As someone with kids, I am amazed at how MANY sports/birthday parties/events are now planned on Sunday mornings). Given this cultural change, it makes sense for churches like the ACoC to restructure their operations.
Hello EdAnglican,
I have to point out that there are some Christian Denominations that continue to experience impressive growth. These would include the Alliance Church, the Church of the Nazarene, and also the Orthodox Church.
From what I have noticed (which admittedly is no where near any type of scientific study) it appears that those Denominations that have drifted away from the Holy Bible (i.e. Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian, United) are all suffering significant decline. Meanwhile those that are remaining with God’s Holy Word are growing.
Hi AMP
I do not disagree with you that some churches have experienced growth but the overall trend is a decline… including ones that are considered more conservative. For example, the Southern Baptists are seeing a sharp drop. Even ANIC is seeing a decline. (I looked at the Oct 2011 stats and compared them to the April 2014 numbers listed on the ANIC website. About 1/3 of the churches listed on both have seen a decline in attendance).
Yet I attribute much of general church decline to cultural shifts, not necessarily due to drifting from the Gospel (but it could be this as well). I see Sunday morning attendance as fitting less well with Western society. More informal options, like small groups, are better suited.
As far as the ACoC, I can only comment on my experience but other than the liturgical practices, I find little difference between my current Anglican church and the churches that I used to attend from more evangelical denominations.
EdAnglican,
Your experience is very different from my own. We have moved to an area that has three Anglican Churches but unfortunately no ANiC churches, the closest being an hour and a half away. After “church shopping” we have found a non-Anglican church in which to worship. We definitely miss the beautiful buildings, organ music, and liturgy of our roots, but have flourished in an evangelical congregation where there is strong Biblical teaching and sincere worship. That is not to say those things are not found in any ACoC churches, but it is safe to say those things are not the focus of most.
As for the statistics, you refer to regarding falling ASA in ANiC churches, though I couldn’t find the 2011 numbers to verify what I am about to say, my sense is that the overall numbers are increasing. I also know of cases of people leaving their old church to support plants. But I don’t intend to get into an argument of statistics with you, because the Lord will bless what the Lord will bless and all we can do is try to do his will.
Hi Lois
Thanks for your note. Your comments suggest that the best thing is to not make sweeping comments about a denomination. I am still relatively new to the ACoC so I don’t have the breadth of knowledge… but can confirm that my own church is very Biblical.
As for the ANIC stats, the Oct 2011 numbers can be found at the link below. The denomination is growing in number of churches but many individual churches are losing numbers. But as you stated, God blesses in ways that he wants. Perhaps he does so with increased numbers. Perhaps he does it in other ways. I agree with you that the key thing is to try to do his will.
http://www.anglicannetwork.ca/pdf/anic_parishes.pdf
It was kind of you to supply that link. It verified to me that not only are the number of churches up but the total ASA is also up as I suspected. But I said I wasn’t going to argue about statistics……
If you re-read both of my comments above, I said that many individual ANIC churches are declining in numbers. (After a second look, it’s closer to 50% of the churches listed in 2011 show a decrease in numbers by 2014).
……and you keep ignoring my point that some of those people who have left congregation A are the planters of Church plant B. Otherwise this decline in 50% of the parishes would not result in a 12.5% increase in average Sunday attendance in ANiC churches over 3 years.
(I was optimistic about my ability to let your spin of stats go. Sorry)
Lois
I never ignored your comment but I highly doubt that you can attribute the majority of church declines to new church plants (especially outside of major cities).
Even Bishop Harvey agrees with me. In David’s latest post, he has a link to an article where Bishop Harvey says “For the most part, however, the growth of ANIC from discontented Anglicans from the Anglican Church of Canada…”
To be fair with the stats, ONLY look at the churches that existed in 2011 and compare THEIR NUMBERS ONLY to what is listed in 2014. Even if you add in actual church plants (as opposed to churches switching from the ACoC), you cannot deny that many ANIC churches are also declining in membership.
Regardless of whether you admit this or not, I attribute much of this to cultural shifts, not necessarily because of the church’s decreasing focus on the Gospel.
And I gotta love Canada – only in this country would someone apologize for disagreeing on interpretation of statistics. All the best 🙂
Indeed the Bishop finds himself between a rock and a hard place.
The rock: A declining membership that if not reversed will result in the ultimate demise of his organization.
The hard place: Being a church that preaches that other “faiths” are legitimate and that you don’t have to be a Christian to get into heaven, and that actually telling people that the only True Faith is Christianity is not tolerated (i.e. the Third Collect for Good Friday is not banned from use and is no longer to even be printed in the Book of Common Prayer) he has no integrity in any attempt to convert anyone to his religion.
Increase of membership or attendance alone should not be the only factor to determine one’s orthodoxy. My sister-in-law’s church in Indiana is a Bible-believing congregation and its membership is only less than fifty families in a city with 300,000 people. I am more concerned with what are our Christian core convictions. In his Enemies with Smiling Faces (2004), Donald C. Posterski listed his short list of Christian core convictions (p. 50): 1. God created and desires what is good. 2. Christ redeemed us and the Holy Spirit energizes us. 3. The Scriptures are trustworthy. 4. Miracles are possible. 5. God partners with people in pursuit of righteousness, love and justice. 6. Involvement in communities of faith is critical. 7. Accountability is certain. 8. God is trustworthy and has the last word.
EdAnglican,
We ran out of space in the previous comment area and since, as my husband frequently points out, I always have to get the last word, I just want to say you do make some good points. But the need for ANiC as a denomination is very serious and not to be taken lightly. Especially as everyone who is part of ANiC has sacrificed a lot. If you are attending a biblically faithful ACoC church, it is one of a handful. And as you have your doubts about points that I have made, I have some doubts about the fact that your church is Biblically faithful because a good chunk of your very congregation split off to form an ANiC church. I visited that church when we were vacationing in Edmonton last summer and found them to be a lively and joyful group of Christians.
Anyway, your tone was always gracious in this exchange, so having made my last point I wish you all the best as well.