I remember being told, twenty years ago, that the remedy for the ills of the CofE was the ordination of women to the priesthood. We would, we were assured, see an influx of people into the worshipping community; this innovation would bring new life and new people into the church. The church would be renewed and invigorated. In fact, the reverse was true; Sunday attendances declined, marriages in church decreased, baptisms became fewer. The brave new world forecast never happened.
Now we are being told that the panacea needed is that women should be admitted to the Episcopate as a matter of justice and equality. This will herald the brave new world for the CofE. We only need to look at the declining numbers in the Episcopal Church of the USA (ECUSA),where women have been bishops for several years, to realise that this is not true. Membership has decreased year on year; for example in 2009 it was 682,963 and in 2010 it had decreased to 657,831. It has been forecast that by the year 2030 on this basis, if the trend continues, the Episcopal Church will cease to exist.
One of the interesting facts is that churches which are growing teach and preach the Gospel as delivered to the apostles and maintained through 2,000 years and have nothing to do with the liberal agenda of women priests and bishops.
"The church would be renewed and invigorated. In fact, the reverse was true; Sunday attendances declined, marriages in church decreased, baptisms became fewer. The brave new world forecast never happened."
ReplyDeleteExactly the same was said in Sweden in the 1950's, and the result here after 50 years is not only the same, but even worse!