Anglican Watch: Unofficial Watchdog of the Episcopal Church - Numbers that matter—on the annual parochial report and missing data

Numbers that matter—on the annual parochial report and missing data

05/27/23 • 6 min

Anglican Watch: Unofficial Watchdog of the Episcopal Church

churches struggle to find footing in what we hope are the waning days of the pandemic, Anglican Watch has been rummaging around the mountains of statistical data from the church. And while there are heaps and piles of data in all directions, we see trends that point to some dangerous omissions in annual report data. Specifically, many parishes are being lured into existential danger by the siren song of incomplete data.

So what data does the annual parochial report include? The answer is a bit unclear, as definitions are a bit blurry. And many parishes wing it regarding data versus following the express guidelines sent with the annual report form.

Next Episode

People like Jesus. They don’t like Christians, according to recent Barna survey

There’s good and bad news for Christians in the most recent Barna survey of attitudes toward religion.

The good news is that people appreciate Jesus, with 71% of Americans saying they like Jesus. Tellingly, 70 percent of millennials express appreciation for Jesus—the highest level among all cohorts. And this number has remained constant over several decades, with only negligible declines during that time. That’s important because as mainline Christianity and the Episcopal church collapse, the message of Jesus remains essential for Americans.