CLIFFORD: Depending upon one's age, The Episcopal Church (TEC) today is clearly not your father or grandfather's Church (and in those days, TEC was unmistakably male dominated). Mid-twentieth century caricatures of TEC as the Republican Party at prayer now lack credibility and power, except perhaps among a nostalgic few who yearn to return to what they believe to have been TEC's glory days. TEC, after all, was the Church to which many of the nation's founding fathers belonged. It's members, in subsequent generations, frequently dominated politics and business. An independent survey conducted by VOL revealed that 62% of all churches are made up of women.

VOL: The lay make-up of The Episcopal Church is still broadly conservative (when you get away from the big cities) and most Episcopalians are still Republicans, not Democrats. They basically don't care what goes on in New York or LA or New Hampshire. They hunker down in their own enclaves and say "not in my house" when it comes to the gay issue and liberal political takes on things. They care more if their rector fits in with their world and does his duties. Most Southern Episcopalians are still broadly conservative. This was most noticeable in the recent election of an evangelical as the next Bishop of Dallas and other Texas bishops who voted against changing the canons on marriage. The South will never rise again, but they won't vote for a Gene Robinson, either. At least 20% of the HOB voted against changing the marriage canons of the Church and that included 95% of Central America.

CLIFFORD: TEC now firmly stands for social justice, having prominently advocated for civil rights and against poverty, hunger, and the death penalty. Illustratively, a once exclusively male clergy has become fully integrated; the outgoing Presiding Bishop was the first woman to occupy that position. 1950s opposition to remarriage after divorce has become 2015 support for marriage between two consenting adults, regardless of gender. And a church that remained unbroken across the Union and Confederacy during the Civil War, implicitly tolerating slavery by not explicitly denouncing that evil, has just elected its first African-American Presiding Bishop.

VOL: All true. Taking a public stand on all these issues from a leftist perspective has resulted in nearly 1.5 million Episcopalians leaving the church and every diocese down on ASA and income. If God is doing a "new thing," as many liberal bishops allege, one wonders "if everything new is old again" as 'Phantom' rehaunts the Pantages. Sooner or later, the leaders will wake up with the albatross of liberal causes strung around their necks and nobody is listening, with small irrelevant dioceses and even smaller congregations still pushing a leftist agenda on social issues.

CLIFFORD: Some critics believe that these changes substantially contributed to TEC's significant decline in numbers and influence. That erroneous assessment reflects two mistakes. First, correlation is not causation. TEC's more assertive commitment to social justice did not cause its numerical decline. Concurrent with TEC's increased emphasis on social justice and internal ecclesial changes, society has become more secular. This trend affects most churches, not just TEC. For example, the trend is now evident among evangelical and conservative denominations such as the Southern Baptists. The Roman Catholic Church has avoided declining only because new immigrants have filled its pews at a rate that exceeded the ongoing exodus of longer term US residents.

VOL: A lot of half-truths here. Correlation is causation. TEC's assertive commitment to social justice has often found itself on the wrong side of many conservative Episcopalians who actually do not agree with their church's stand on all social issues. A lot more Episcopalians are pro-Israel and don't like the fact that TEC turns a blind eye to the persecution of Christians while fostering ties with Islamic leaders, many of whom are extremists masquerading as moderates. Couple that with the fact that a lot of bishops don't really believe in or can say the creed without crossing their fingers behind their backs with many more unable to affirm the bodily resurrection of Jesus, and full atonement. A whole host of doctrines has left pulpits dry of spiritual reality and truth.

Society has become more secular, so Clifford's argument is that if TEC follows society that is good for TEC! The Church is supposed to be a counter culture, not follow the culture, hence St. Paul's call to be "transformed by the renewing of your minds."

Clifford is wrong about evangelical and Southern Baptists churches heading over the cliff like TEC. The latest figures show that while the SBC has declined, it is far less than TEC's decline and leaders are addressing the issue head on. According to a PEW research report, evangelicals have stayed strong as Christianity crumbles in America. Scrutinizing the past seven years, Pew finds that, amid the rise of the "nones" and other popular talking points, the fate of evangelicals is proving much brighter than Christianity at large. A report from the US Religious Landscape Study, conducted among more than 35,000 adults in English and Spanish, of how American religion has changed from 2007 to 2014, Evangelicals have remained remarkably stable. Over the past seven years, evangelicals have lost less than 1 percent of their share of the population, holding steady at about 1 in 4 American adults (25.4% in 2014, vs. 26.3% in 2007) and preserving their status as the nation's largest religious group.

CLIFFORD: Second, to the extent that people have left TEC because of TEC's emphasis on social justice, TEC is arguably healthier, stronger, and more Christ-like.

VOL: Bull Manure. TEC is shrinking. It has lost over 200,000 ASA members since 2003 when Robinson was consecrated a bishop. The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) has come into existence and claims 120,000 followers in 31 dioceses. It's the elephant in the narthex that TEC tiptoes around and Clifford can't or won't mention. TEC is not healthier, it is not stronger, and not Christ like. Some 45% of all Episcopal parishes no longer have a full time paid priest or only a part-time non-stipendiary priest officiating. That's almost ONE IN TWO PARISHES with no discernible leadership. The sheep are without shepherds. (Those are TEC figures.) The church is increasingly unhealthier, weaker, less Christ-like, and hounds those of orthodox persuasion who are spiritually healthy and more Christ like. Find me five liberal and or revisionist bishops who will allow graduates from TSM in Ambridge into their dioceses?

CLIFFORD: TEC inherited from the Church of England a Christendom model of the Church that presumes everyone in a community is, by default, a Christian. In today's globalized religious marketplace, that premise is no longer true -- if it ever was. Furthermore, skeptics have long carped that some people attend church to make business contacts, gain social acceptance, etc. I no longer hear that canard; the emphasis on social justice has caused such persons, whose affiliation with TEC was more nominal than genuine, to seek more congenial fellowship elsewhere. In other words, the decades of transformation may have been like a refiner's fire that burns away impurities, leaving behind those who are more committed to incarnating the gospel message of God's all-inclusive mercy, love, and justice. Our central ecclesial model has shifted from the Church as the exclusive ark of salvation to the Church being God's hands and voice at work ministering to broken people, broken structures, and a broken world.

VOL: The Church of England has paid a heavy price believing that everyone is by default Christian. Today less than one percent (about 800,000) out of a population of 60 million Brits even attend a local parish. The vast majority of Brits are not Christians. The social justice canard goes on inside and outside the CofE, one doesn't need to be a member to be an activist. Yes, there is a "refiner's fire" and it has nothing to do with social justice issues; it has everything to do with who and who is not a believing Christian! WHO believes in sin, salvation, repentance for sins, the atonement, the bodily resurrection of Jesus, the return of Christ and the Last Judgement are the issues. Most liberals don't believe most of this, including Katharine Jefferts Schori who has denounced "personal salvation" as a Western heresy, cannot affirm the bodily resurrection of Jesus, and much more. TEC has no gospel of salvation because it doesn't know what SIN is. Sin is viewed as always corporate never personal.

"God's all-inclusive mercy, love and justice" is code for brokering in homosexual sin and expecting God to approve of it. That is from the delusionary mind of TEC's shrinking pansexualists. He hasn't and never will.

"The ark of salvation" issue is being carried on by the Anglican Church in North America with great success. The Church is supposed to be an "ark of salvation." To argue that the Church is about "ministering to broken people, broken structures, and a broken world" can be done by a thousand Christian and secular agencies ranging from World Vision to the Salvation Army who, by the way, also believe in the necessity to be an "ark of salvation". Otherwise, join UNESCO or any UN agency and fly away. They are not the church nor do they have the message of the Church.

CLIFFORD: Like a boxer training for a championship bout, TEC is getting close to its prime fighting weight. Changing metaphors, the crew is nearing the peak of its training and the decks are almost cleared for action. Some work remains to be done. Moves to empower the laity need additional effort and resources, better equipping them for mission through deeper, lifelong programs of spiritual formation. TEC's internal reorganization needs completion, transforming TEC from a slow-moving, unresponsive bureaucracy into a nimble, electronically connected missional force.

VOL: Really! The "prime fighting weight" of the average age of the average Episcopalian is between 62 and 65, and the average size congregation is now under 70. If their fighting weight is 250lbs and they are carrying WWII rifles they might be empowered to hit a bus at 50 feet. "Are you cleared for action dear, did you bring your colostomy bag and pills"...The Episcopal Digital Network can't even turn up Jesus on the Internet we learned at the last General Convention, and if it did what sort of Jesus would they find? And what exactly is the message of this "electronically connected missional force?"

CLIFFORD: General Convention overwhelmingly elected the Rt. Rev. Michael Curry as TEC's next Presiding Bishop. Bishops and deputies deeply resonated with Bishop Curry's vision of taking Jesus to the world rather than expecting that the world will come to the church.

VOL: Your average pew sitting Episcopalian no more knows how to take "Jesus to the world" than Donald Trump knows the names of the illegal Mexicans who clean the windows on one of his many mansions.

Also, which and what Jesus? Jefferts Schori's Jesus? Spong's Jesus? Robinson's Jesus? Or now Michael Curry's Jesus...the Jesus that apparently approves of gay sex, is opposed to "core doctrine" and can't agree on much of anything Global South Anglicans agree upon about who Jesus is and what He has done for us!

CLIFFORD: Bishop Curry's election is a step in the right direction, but the journey ahead is long. And it will be difficult. Nobody, not even a person of God's choosing, can make this journey alone. Pausing for more than a few brief self-congratulatory moments, content to allow our leaders to bear the burden of mission in this crucial time post-General Convention, will result in TEC becoming increasingly irrelevant and soon dying.

VOL: This implies that Jefferts Schori was going in the wrong direction (true) and that Curry will now correct that direction (he can try but don't hold your breath.)

CLIFFORD: The real proof that TEC has experienced a positive transformation is what happens next. Will congregations and dioceses become more entrepreneurial? Will they prioritize people over buildings? Will they streamline structures, reduce overhead costs, and risk spending 10, 20 or an even larger percent of their time and money on local mission? Will they creatively continue to reframe and communicate the good news in ways appropriate to a post-modern, twenty-first century world? Will they see and feed the hungry, see and give drink to the thirsty, see and heal the blind, see and visit those in prison, see and clothe the naked?

VOL: Ah, no. As dioceses and congregations have shrunk, the average age of clergy has risen to 58. 2013 statistics show that 33.2% of congregations have either part time or non-stipendiary clergy, and 12.3% are without clergy. This means that as of 2013, over 45% of TEC's 6,622 Parishes and Missions are unable to deploy a full time minister, and if they are, he or she will be fast approaching their senior years.

According to Mr. Clifford, these will be the people on the front line of doing God's mission to a hurting world. These are the people "nearing the peak of its training and the decks are almost cleared for action."

Not true, they are mostly in or near retirement, living off social security, IRA's and 401Ks and working on building Columbariums, changing the flowers on the altar and lighting candles.

CLIFFORD: Ruth tells her mother-in-law, Naomi, "Where you go, I will go" (Ruth 1:16). The Church is Christ's bride. Let us resolve that where TEC goes, we too will go. Like Ruth, we do not know what the future holds nor that we will always be pleased with that future. But, like Ruth, we do know that God has not brought us this far to abandon us. And like Ruth, who went unbidden to her kinsman Boaz at night, dare to risk much. TEC has become more just, more Christ-like, and more rooted in Jesus. Now, let us dare to proceed onward, to let go of things that helped us journey this far (e.g., some of our buildings and inherited theological formulas) and to grasp those things, perhaps still unknown, needed to continue our journey. We can see in Bishop Curry and hear in his words, as well as in the lives and words of our other visionary leaders, God's calling. I hope that we will boldly follow these leaders, emulating Ruth, who once having committed to journeying with her mother-in-law, bravely followed her advice to risk everything by going to Boaz at night.

VOL: If you go where Curry goes, don't look for much change. You will get charismatic sermons and appeals to do more, but most of it will fall on deaf ears. Episcopalians are near the end of their life cycle, not the beginning, and there are no future generations coming along to carry the diocesan flag. Curry might sound like a real shepherd but his voting record is anything but. Scripture warns us against "false teachers".

The Apostle Paul outlines a number of things about false teachers found in Gal. 5.
First, false teachers distract Christians from obeying the truth of the gospel (v. 7.)
Second, false teachers replace the call of God with their own deceptive persuasiveness (v. 8).
Third, false teachers gain control over the whole church (v. 9).

Does any of this ring a bell? I believe Bishop Curry qualifies on all counts.

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions. 2 Timothy 4:3 ESV

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