All the mainline Protestant denominations, including the Presbyterian Church USA, American Baptist Churches USA, the United Methodist Church, the Anglican Church, the United Church of Christ, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Episcopal Church were the worst performers. It should be noted, however, that the Anglican Church is the newest, youngest Church on the block and is growing rapidly.

Historically Black churches and Evangelical Protestant churches fared better in all categories than mainline denominations.

Pew's new ranking comes from the second half of its 2014 US Religious Landscape Study, an attempt to address the problem of flawed methods for measuring American faith. The seven-year study was designed to "fill the gap" left by the United States census (no questions on religion), the self-reporting of denominations ("widely differing criteria"), and smaller surveys (too few questions or people).

Although most surveys rely on sample sizes of 1,000 or 2,000 people, Pew interviewed 35,000 adults in English and Spanish in 2007 and again in 2014 for the landscape study.

According to the latest analysis, more than half of Seventh-day Adventists (56%) are highly involved in their congregations, which Pew defines as officially joining the church, attending services at least weekly, and attending a prayer group or Bible study at least monthly.

Overall, 43 percent of Americans who attend evangelical churches are highly involved. Historically black Protestant denominations are right behind them with 41 percent of members highly involved.

The Church of God in Christ boasts the highest percentage of highly involved members (57%), followed by the National Baptist Convention (50%) and the African Methodist Episcopal Church (38%).

That places members of evangelical and historically black Protestant churches squarely between the highest involvement levels of Mormons (67%) and Jehovah's Witnesses (64%) and the lowest levels of mainline Protestants (20%), Orthodox Christians (20%), and Roman Catholics (16%).

Christianity Today reported how Pew's massive survey found that even though America's "nones" keep losing their faith, religious Americans remain stable in devoutness. One example: Evangelicals are just as likely to attend church weekly (58%) in 2014 as they were in 2007, slightly more likely to pray daily (80%, up from 78%), and slightly more likely to participate in a weekly prayer or Bible study group (44%, up from 41%).

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH

What can we conclude from this about Episcopalians and other mainline denominations?

First, liberal/progressive theology has not and is not working to draw Generation Exers and Millennials into these flailing denominations.

Second, not having a message that is distinctly different from the culture is a lost cause. (Rolling out of bed to listen to a John Shelby Spong clone publicly destroy historic Christianity has not worked. He is slowly sinking into anonymity and taking the Episcopal Church's bishops down with him.)

Third, defining "mission" in strictly socio-political and economic terms is a non-starter. Why bother going to a church to hear a sermon on racism, poverty or economic injustice when all that information is available online 7 days a week? Clergy who harp on these issues are not drawing new people into their fold.

Fourth, dumbing down morality to make the church more compatible with the world's values and sexual standards is not working. Every denomination or church that has embraced pansexuality is losing market share. The Episcopal Church has seen a third of its members evaporate and its ASA plummet over the last ten years. Bishop Gene Robinson's consecration will, in time, be seen as the single greatest turning point (and disaster) for The Episcopal Church, forcing it over the cliff to die within two generations.

Fifth, without a distinct coherent message that includes sin (both personal and corporate) and the offer of salvation, a church that is no better than a social club.

Sixth, offering hope without faith to back it up is simply to have hope in hope, and that is an insufficient basis for going to church.

Seventh, churches that have no eschaton to point to have no future. Christian hope is built on future promises and a heavenly kingdom that is more than pie in the sky. A church that offers mere human amelioration as former Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori did over and over again failed to bring in the masses. The Church nose-dived under her leadership.

Eighth, massive litigation resulting in the spending millions of dollars trying to retain churches that broke away has only exhausted monies that might have been used for mission and other church growth possibilities.

The Presbyterian Church USA is facing a similar crises as churches across the country flee over bad theology and moral compromise. Denominations like the Roman Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Convention, The Assemblies of God, and historic Black churches that have held the line on Christian moral teaching have seen some losses, but not nearly to the historic levels of mainline denominations. Full recovery is still a long way off. For the moment Nones rule.

In a desperate gamble, The Episcopal Church recently elected a black "evangelical" bishop to head the Church, having realized that dead white liberal/progressive males (and a female) have failed to make the Church grow. The hope is that Presiding Bishop Michael Curry can perform a miracle of sorts and jump start the Church.

TEC will need more than a new set of ecclesiastical jumper cables. The real problem with TEC is that most of its adherents (two-thirds are women over 60) do not have a story to tell because they have never been fully converted to Christ. You cannot pass on to someone else what you yourself have not received.

They are second and third generation pray, pay and obey Episcopalians who still believe in the institution rather than the person for whom the institution exists. They also believe that baptism will save them apart from the grace of God, which includes repentance, faith and a changed life.

There is no real mission and hence no real missionaries because there is no salvific message being proclaimed. Curry is hoping (and praying) that he can turn the denomination around after nine disastrous years of Jefferts Schori's reign, but Black histrionics and talk of racism, evangelism and the Jesus Movement in one sentence have not proven to be a winning hand. There are too many ecclesiastical poker players with better hands than Curry's. Think Global South.

The raw truth is that unless TEC bishops embrace the Ten Commandments and stop preaching the Nice Commandments, and demonstrate that the Sermon on the Mount is not a menu in a gay bar, then its days are surely numbered. The issue is not if but when.

How involved are Christians with their denominations? See the Pew graph below.