Episcopal Press and News
Survey Technique, Results Assailed
Episcopal News Service. June 17, 1982 [82145]
NEW YORK, (DPS, June 17) -- The Episcopal Church has not "lost one-third of its membership in little over a decade," was the reply made by official Church sources to an allegation made by George Gallup to that effect.
Commenting on a recent Washington press conference staged by the (1928) Prayer Book Society, at which the pollster, George Gallup, made the claim, the Rev. John A. Schultz, Director of Management Information Systems at the Episcopal Church Center in New York said, "the charge is ridiculous. George Gallup," he continued, "calls anyone an Episcopalian who so designates himself in responding to his questions. Then, when the number so responding declines, Gallup says the Church has declined. For years, Gallup has projected a much larger membership than the clergy have listed on their annual parochial reports; we count only active Episcopalians - and poll only their opinions." According to official records, Schultz said, the Episcopal Church has indeed participated in the overall membership decline suffered by the larger Churches in recent years. In any ten-year period, however, since membership peaked in 1966, the loss of active members never totaled more than 15% for the entire decade.
But of more concern to Church officials than the exaggeration of the membership loss is the claim by Gallup that the decline seems directly linked to changes in Church liturgy and practice, and an ideological gap between clergy and laity. "Gallup could justify such speculation only if he had interviewed those who have become inactive," Schultz said. "There is no question," he added, "that there is, as there always has been, some tension within the Church. And, as in the past, those who seek security in fixed words will become uncomfortable in Anglicanism. A generation ago, a backlash of economic boycott swept the Church, presumably because of dissatisfaction with changes in attitudes in the Church toward racial justice and other social issues. But today, while healthy controversy still continues, the economic base of church support has become wider and deeper," Schultz said. "Contributions have slightly outpaced inflation and per capita stewardship levels are up. This indicates that at least some of the people lost in recent years were not fully supportive or active."
In conclusion, Schultz called attention to a recent "Profile of Episcopalians," which, he said, "used a prodigiously larger data base than Gallup," and "being limited to active Episcopalians, presents a substantially different pattern of opinions and attitudes within the Church."