A congregation of The Episcopal Church located in Florida is showing that while the overall trend of membership for the denomination has been in steep decline, they are the exception, not the rule. In fact, the Church of the Redeemer of Sarasota just reached over 3,000 members.
The church announced on Feb. 16 that with the baptism of two infants, Casey Jane Clegg and Ruby Mae Spears, they were over the 3,000 mark, actually hitting 3,001. The parish decided to celebrate the occasion by throwing a celebration complete with gold balloons featuring the two numbers.
It’s always a beautiful thing to bring new members into a congregation, knowing it will breathe life not only into the church, but as they grow into mature disciples of Jesus they will have an extremely positive impact on the community.
A press release by the parish was sent to The Christian Post via email said that the two babies were met with a standing ovation once the rite was completed.
“The hand of God is clearly at work at Redeemer, and we give thanks to God for this incredible milestone,” Fr. Charleston Wilson, rector of Church of the Redeemer, went on to write in the press release. “Now our focus is on doubling down on making new Christians and making all Christians new.”
“Last year, according to the congregation’s press release, Redeemer had 150 people become members; and this year, 47 have become new members. Regarding an explanation for the growth of his congregation, Wilson stated, ‘Jesus lies at the center of all we do at Redeemer, and that may be our ‘secret sauce,’ so to speak,'” the report said.
“I think Redeemer is growing because people who are connected to this parish feel a very deep, personal and real connection to the compassionate Christ — to the Jesus of the Bible,” he continued.
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Back in 2010, membership within TEC had dropped below 2 million. It took another dive in November with numbers from 2023 indicating they were now down to 1.547 million members.
Although the years-long decline in membership has continued, the latest report also showed that, for the second consecutive year, worship attendance was on the rise, with 2023 seeing around 411,000 average attendance, while 2022 had approximately 373,000 and 2021 had approximately 312,000.
Last year, the Rev. Sean Rowe was installed as the new presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church, succeeding the Rev. Michael Curry, the first African American leader of the denomination.
While he was being installed, Rowe preached a sermon stating that the churches within the denomination cannot “go it alone,” but need to “acknowledge our mutual interdependence, our need to do ministry together, to share what we have and to sustain one another.”
“We’re not a collection of dioceses and institutions, a collection of the ways of doing things. We are one church, one church in Jesus Christ,” Rowe continued in his message. “This work, the work of proclaiming in word and deed that Jesus’ resurrection and life is the work to which God has called The Episcopal Church, now and always, as one church, together.”