Chart shows state of The Episcopal Church

click chart to enlarge

This is from TEC's own data, and presented by the "Elves" at TitusOneNine.

From their analysis:

Median Average Sunday Worship Attendance: 69

Net Change in ASA from Previous Year -37,504

Divide 37,504 by 69

So that’s the equivalent of losing 543 “median-sized” congregations in 2007.

That’s just about 1.5 congregations (median ASA) departing PER DAY.

Meanwhile, TEC continues to sue congregations for property. While losing people left and right, the leadership seeks to hold onto empty buildings.

As The Anglican Curmudgeon points out:

In the 15th and 16th centuries, the temporal power of the Catholic Church reached its zenith, and the result in part was the Reformation. Pope Julius II even marched at the head of an army to retake lands which he claimed for the Church from the princes who had seized it. The Church was obsessed with its temporalities, at the expense of its spirituality.

So I would say of TEC today. With its battles for buildings and physical property, it is acting no better than Pope Julius did, and its heritage is destined to be just as disgraceful. An army of lawyers is no more a suitable spiritual instrument than was an army of soldiers. The legal battles will be won and lost, while souls will only be lost, and not won.