English churches opposing women bishops grow while mainline congregations gray and shrink

Evidence

In a survey of 185 English churches that opposed women bishops, two-thirds of those churches had grown in the past decade, with a third growing by over 33 percent every year, as reported in the UK weekly magazine the Spectator. Approximately one in three congregants at those churches was younger than thirty. “For the rest of the church, the picture is miserable,” according to the article. “The average age of a congregation is 62 and nearly half of English congregations have fewer than five members under 16.” The situation bears similarity to that in the U.S., where mainline denominations are graying and thinning, while conservative evangelical plants thrive. — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers, 1003

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Mainline denominations liberalized on sexuality and gender only after long time lags — Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 446; The women’s moral crusade expressed anxiety over the church’s declining urban authority — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 951

Broader Connections

• Mainline denominations liberalized on sexuality and gender only after long time lags #expands (0.82) — Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 446