From here:

The head of The Episcopal Church has stated that the declining numbers of her denomination could be the work of the Holy Spirit to create “greater fruitfulness.”

TEC Presiding Bishop the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori made this statement last Thursday in remarks delivered at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s (ELCA) Churchwide Assembly in Pittsburgh. “Some have judged our smaller numbers as faithlessness but it may actually be the Spirit’s way of pruning for greater fruitfulness,” said Jefferts Schori.

“If we see ourselves standing at the foot of the cross, any such judgment will be far less important than our response.”

Between 2010 and 2011, ELCA membership went from about 4.2 million to just over 4 million, representing a loss of more than 212,000 members. During the same time period, The Episcopal Church had a decrease of over 28,000 members, causing the number of members in its domestic dioceses to dip below the 2 million mark.

Jefferts Schori is clearly confused about which part God is throwing out in all this pruning.

Pruning entails targeted removal of “diseased, damaged, dead, non-productive, structurally unsound, or otherwise unwanted tissue”, a fitting description of what’s left of TEC, the ACoC, the ECLA and the ELCIC. These liberal denominations are all in rapid decline; they appear to be hell-bent on holding their current course until they finally vanish in a puff of sulphur scented incense.

Those who have fled these institutions are committed Christians now attending growing, healthy, orthodox churches.