Report Stresses Optimistic Interpretation of Church Statistics
03/09/2006

The Rev. Reynolds Cheney was his humorous self March 8 while delivering to Executive Council a report that details continued losses in the Episcopal Church’s count of baptized members and in average Sunday attendance (ASA).

Fr. Cheney, chairman of the House of Deputies’ Committee on the State of the Church, distributed a page of “Episcopal Fast Facts: 2002-2004” that showed the church’s membership at 2,247,819 as of 2004. That figure represents a 2 percent decrease from 2,284,233 members in 2003, a 4 percent drop over five years and a 7 percent drop in 10 years.

Decreases in ASA are similar. In 2004 ASA was 795,765, a decrease of 3 percent from 823,017 in 2003. It has decreased 5 percent in five years and 4 percent in ten years. The rest