There is nothing new about this, it has been happening for years. But, like any background noise that we have been hearing for a long time, we cease to pay it any attention. Such has been the faint gurgling sound at General Synod, as the Anglican Church of Canada flushes itself down the toilet.
Now, however, as the article below says, even the church hierarchy have started to pay attention. Their solution is, as ever, institutional reform rather than a return to the Gospel. As such, it will do little to slow the demise.
Before he joined the RC church Malcolm Muggeridge used to say he had no use for organized religion; I am veering towards agreement, although I would state it as institutional religion. The ACoC is a lost cause but even ACNA is starting to exhibit some cracks in the foundation. Women’s ordination continues to be divisive, Calvin Robinson was treated shabbily by Archbishop Steve Wood, trendy clerics are wobbling on the gay problem.
Here is the article:
(ANALYSIS) In the year of our Lord 1967, the Anglican Church of Canada had 1,218,666 members and 272,400 worshippers on a typical Sunday.
In a recent report, the church found 294,382 members on parish rolls and 58,871 people attending Sunday worship services.
“The religious institution many of us have long known and loved does not look now as it did even 20 years ago, and it will not look the same 20 years from now,” noted the report, “Creating Pathways for the Transformational Change of the General Synod.”
Waves of declining statistics will “evoke grief, fear and longing. … This report does not seek to reverse current trends, but to respond to them to empower a much smaller church to thrive as it proclaims the gospel today and in the future.”
Obviously, the “church is changing,” noted the Rev. Neil Elliot of the province of British Columbia in the report. “But that change is not the same as the end of the church. That change may be uncomfortable, but being uncomfortable is not the same as the end of the church.” Elliot’s X profile says he is the “official stats nurd for the Anglican Church of Canada.”
The “Creating Pathways” text noted that, while pew-level statistics have plunged 75%, the denomination, as of 2023, has 1,474 parishes, compared to 1,849 in 1967. Meanwhile, the number of bishops has increased from 36 to 39.
If churches are less why are there more Bishops on the roll.
The Anglican Church of Canada abandoned the Christian faith several years ago and legally ceased properties from true believers under the leadership of apostate bishops with the support of civil courts which have never had any Christian doctrine and decisions are made without any attachment to Christianity or any other religion. Unless the Anglican Church returns to the true Gospel it cannot and will not survive. As Christians we can pray for them but until the Anglican Church of Canada returns to the true Gospel it cannot survive.
How Christian of you trumpet the demise of Christian brothers and sisters. Think long and hard about that. God is watching you and your crusade against the ACoC. High hypocrisy.
When the Anglican Church of Canada ceases to exist, perhaps we can talk about “the key to living a victorious Christian life”, or “what the Bible says about failure”, or “our disappointments with God”, or “living in peace with others”, or “an objective meaning in a subjective world”. Surely, we can engaged our discussions in many subjects.