ACNA FIGURES REVEAL DISTURBING TREND
- Charles Perez
- Jul 24
- 3 min read
COMMENTARY
By David W. Virtue, DD
July 24, 2025
A deep dive into the latest Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) statistics reveals a disturbing trend that, if not addressed, could see a downturn in the foreseeable future.
Latest figures reveal the major source of growth was in the South, specifically the Bible belt; while the North got few pickins. It is much harder to make new converts and plant a church in the North. For example, there is no Anglican presence in Philadelphia, the sixth largest city in America. A church plant in Germantown closed, and while there has been much talk of planting a church in downtown Philadelphia, none has transpired.
You can stand on a street corner in Dallas and scream “Jaysus saves” and probably start a church. Try doing that in New York City and a van filled with men in white coats will gently lead you away.
The six dioceses that make up the North saw the closure of 10 parishes. The South had small net gains.
While overall the ACNA trend is upwards, the number of new parishes rose by 14 (or 1.4%) from 1,013 to 1,027. However, there were zero church plants in 2024.
But what about people? This is the real issue.
There were 119 Decisions, between 2023 and 2024; (from 6315 to 6434). There were 565 more Baptisms; 207 more Confirmations; and 104 Marriages in 2024 than in 2023. An increase across the board. But none of these groups, except for “decisions” will guarantee long-term growth. Baptisms are notoriously one-off church attendance events. Marriages come and go, mostly go.
By eliminating baptisms, confirmations and marriages as in-house additions, the 119 decisions (for Christ) is not a healthy trend.
To survive, ACNA will need thousands of new converts or “decisions” if the denomination hopes to survive beyond the deaths of the Boomer Generation who are the major financial support of the churches with their dollars. They will all be gone in a decade.
Church communicator Carey Nieuwhof, says only one percent of pastors say their churches are very effective at doing a good job of evangelism, that is reaching the unchurched. This means that 99 percent of pastors admit they are not very effective and have either given up, or don’t believe in doing it. Evangelism is on life support. The demise of evangelism is an existential problem.
This applies to the ACNA as recent numbers indicate. Are rectors actively engaging their congregations to do evangelism? The American Anglican Council is trying to turn this around. Churches are encouraged to take the time this Summer to pause and do a checkup on their local church body’s vital signs based on the principle that healthy churches are the ones that grow. They formed something called Anglican Revitalization Ministries (ARM), which defines those vital signs, but the jury is out as to how effective they are.
An ACNA American missionary priest who lives and works in the Middle East and Africa, and has worked and is familiar with the situation in the US said this; “Look for adult baptisms. 95% of church “growth” in the US is transfer. The only metric that matters to us is multiplication. I don’t care how big your church is or how many churches you’ve planted. The only question is how many generations of disciples and churches do you have? How many generations of churches do you have? This is the only measure of true, sustained growth. When the Baby Boomers go to Jesus in 10 - 15 years; the ACNA collapses. They give 80% of the $.”
This is a damning indictment if true. Of course we see the Episcopal Church imploding; their efforts at evangelism have all miserably failed, especially the 20/20 campaign to double the church. The Anglican Church of Canada is on life support and is not expected to be around beyond 2040 at the very latest.
There is little doubt that some serious soul-searching is needed by Archbishop Steve Wood with his bishops and clergy as he engages the future of the ACNA. Time will tell.
END
Dear Dr Virtue, Once again, I thank you for your careful, caring, and insightful coverage of all Anglicans. This article on the Anglican Church of North America is a clarion call.
The answer for the members of the Anglican Church of North America is so very obvious that no one can see it. The members have the Faith, but one thing is lacking : CHILDREN. Anglicans have been having parsimonious families for too many generations. Anglicans need to convert and have generous families again, and they need to hand on the Faith intact to their children. This is the traditional and main evangelism throughout Christian history. It is no more complicated than that.
Witness : The Old Order Amish numbered…
I read this, this morning John 4:39 "Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony"
I think we at times make evangelism seem too hard, right before verse 39, verse 35 says that the "fields are white for harvest" that means there are people ready to hear someone's testimony.
Help the Saints be able to articulate their testimony, pray for divine appointments, keep those divine appointments and remember the work is the Holy Spirits, trust God for the growth.
Then the next step is to love and help grow those whom God brings
Equipping the Saints for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ
Dr. Virtue is absolutely right to ring the bell—if not the death knell—about the state of evangelism within the Anglican Church in North America. The numbers don’t lie, and they confirm what many clergy already sense anecdotally: much of our growth is transfer-based, not Kingdom-expanding. We’re playing musical pews, not storming the gates of Hell.
The ACNA is indeed growing—but just barely—and that growth is largely constrained to regions still culturally sympathetic to Christianity. The South has carried the weight, but even there, the fuel is running low. Church planting in urban centers, particularly in the Northeast and West Coast, is not just difficult—it’s nearly nonexistent. And the chilling fact that there were zero new church plants in 2024 should…
The culture is racing downhill, and so maybe when it hits bottom we can expect a renewal of faith.
"When the Baby Boomers go to Jesus in 10 - 15 years; the ACNA collapses."
- The reverend gentleman who worked in the Levant as a missionary
We, as a communion, have STILL not dealt with the real fact that we don't know how to advertise our Lord and Savior. We failed during the hip fifties with the Jazz Mass. The sixties we gave way for the Aquariuscenes. Jesus Freaks were the rule for the 70s and 80s. And on and on. Now we have an apostate TEC; and STILL we have not come to grips with the message with which we are bound by oath to spread.
Why are we depending on the son of Billy Graham to…