NEW MEMBERSHIP STATISTICS SHOW CONTINUOUS DECLINE OF THE ANGLICAN DIOCESE OF SOUTH CAROLINA

The Anglican Diocese of South Carolina recently released its parochial statistics report for the year 2019. Find it here . This allows us to see how the diocese fared in the seven years after the schism of 2012, and also how it compared last year to the pre-schism diocese.

BAPTIZED MEMBERSHIP.

2013 --- 23,181

2018 --- 20,763

2019 --- 20,195

ADSC has lost baptized members every year since the schism. From 2013 to 2019 it declined by 2,986 baptized members, or -13%.

Before the schism of 2012, the Diocese of South Carolina claimed app. 32,000 baptized members. The ADSC today is about two-thirds the size of the pre-schism diocese in terms of baptized membership.

Most importantly, the trajectory of the ADSC is continuously downward. 

COMMUNICANTS.

Baptized membership counts every person ever associated with the church. It is not a very meaningful measure. The more accurate metric is "communicant." This is a person who attends church at least once a year. 

2013 --- 17,798

2014 --- 16,361

2015 --- 15,556

2016 --- 14,694

2017 --- 13,291

2018 --- 12,126

2019 --- 11,457

Thus, since the schism of 2012, the ADSC has lost 6,341 communicants, or 36%. In other words, the new diocese has lost a third of its yearly attendees since the schism.

Again, most importantly, the trajectory of the ADSC is continuously downward.

Before the schism of 2012, the Diocese of South Carolina reported app. 27,000 communicants. The Anglican diocese as of last year (2019) listed 11,457 communicants, a loss of over half of the communicant number.

AVERAGE SUNDAY ATTENDANCE.

Another metric is the average Sunday attendance, that is, how many people were sitting in the pews for Sunday services. The ASA of the ADSC:

2013 --- 9,292

2014 --- 9,325

2015 --- 9,085

2016 --- 9,014

2017 --- 8,905

2018 --- 8,875

2019 --- 8,980

Here the decline is not so stark. Two years saw up-ticks. Overall, in the seven years since the schism, ASA has declined by 3%.

As for individual churches, most remained about the same from 2018 to 2019. Only a few saw significant declines in membership and attendance, most notably Holy Cross of Sullivans Island (ASA 744 to 623), Trinity of Myrtle Beach (ASA 227 to 175), St. Michael's of Charleston (ASA 452 to 419). For most parishes, communicant numbers held nearly steady for 2018-19.

The raw numbers and the trends might not be so important except that before the schism, the diocesan leaders made a major point that the Episcopal Church was losing members because of its liberal practices and that, conversely, conservatism would bolster membership. This was not true and the statistics show it. The Anglican diocese's decidedly reactionary social policies did not lead to membership growth.

By now it should be clear to everyone that the pillars of the schism of 2012 were of sand and not stone. 

---Before the schism, the leaders led the majority of the people to believe the diocese was an independent unit and could leave the Episcopal Church intact and at will. Not true. The federal court ruled that the secessionist party formed a new organization separate from the Episcopal diocese in October of 2012. The SC supreme court also ruled that the Episcopal Church diocese was the heir of the historic diocese.

---The leaders led the people to believe the local parishes could hold their property outside of the Episcopal Church in spite of the Dennis Canon. Not true according to the SC supreme court which ruled that 29 of the 36 parishes in question remain property of the Episcopal Church. The circuit court's attempt to overturn the SCSC decision almost certainly will not hold up on appeal.

---The leaders led the people to believe they would remain in the Anglican Communion. The "Anglican Diocese of South Carolina" is not in the Anglican Communion. Its parent, the Anglican Church in North America, is not now and almost certainly never will be in the Anglican Communion.

---The leaders led the people to believe that leaving the Episcopal Church was the popular thing to do and would lead to growth. The statistics above reveal the truth about this. The post-schism new diocese has declined relentlessly.

Meanwhile, as they lose on every front, the schismatic leaders are still waging an expensive legal war, tapping their people for money to pay two sets of lawyers, for diocese and for parish. God only knows how much money has been drained away from the long-suffering followers of the schism. My best guess is at least $7m. At some point, the people  must be wondering about the wisdom of all of this. Just to keep women and open gays from equality and inclusion in the church? Really? 

Yet, one has to bear in mind that the original goal of the anti-Episcopal Church movement that began in earnest in the 1990's was to destroy or seriously diminish the Episcopal Church in order to remove it as a significant liberal influence in American cultural life. As the social conservatives in the Episcopal Church lost the fight within the house, they resolved to burn down the house. The smashing of one of the original nine dioceses of the Episcopal Church was a major accomplishment in this. On that note, we have to recognize a certain success on the reactionary side. Their destructive work in South Carolina is readily apparent. The grand old diocese now lies split into three (unfriendly) parts, 1-the Anglican Diocese of the Carolinas that includes All Saints of Pawleys Island and St. Andrew's of Mt. Pleasant; 2-the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina; and 3-the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina. This is the dark legacy of the thirty-year anti-Episcopal Church movement in lower South Carolina.