TEC Figures Reveal Continued Decline // ACNA Archbishop Caught in Alleged Sex Scandal and Abuse of Power // TEC Presiding Bishop Blasts Israel //
- Charles Perez
- 4 days ago
- 9 min read
CofE Vicars will Exercise Local Option to Bless SS Marriage
At every step of our Christian development and in every sphere of our Christian discipleship, pride is the greatest enemy and humility our greatest friend. --- John Stott
Why is so much modern discipleship so shallow. It emphasizes “growth” without repentance, “authenticity” without holiness, “belonging” without sacrifice. The call of Jesus — “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23) — has been reduced to a suggestion rather than a summons. Cross-bearing is too costly, so we offer comfort instead. – Rev. Dr. Ronald H. Moore
Wars rage across the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Yet, these violent conflicts, as horrific as they are, only mirror the silent wars raging within many of our own hearts — wars of despair, doubt, and desperation. -- Vijay Jayaraj
And yet, the true Church still stands. Bruised, yes—but not broken. Smaller, perhaps—but purer for the fire. The faithful remain, and the Spirit still moves among them. The Church Militant, long accustomed to cultural privilege, now discovers that she has become the Church Remnant—a scattered host gathered in the strength of her King. – Rev. Dr. Ronald H. Moore
Christianity in the 21st century is more consumerist. We pick and choose our churches and move from church to church based on whether it meets our needs. No one is going to stick around for any potential disapproval, much less any disciplinary process — Mark Tooley
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
October 31, 2025
TO experience rapid growth of the Church and fulfill the Great Commission, Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback fame said there are three options to model. The first is the model of Jesus; the other two models are the first church in Acts and the model of the Apostle Paul.
He then listed five things Christian leaders must do to win the world for Christ.
Jesus' method can work anywhere, Warren said. “I've seen the Jesus model of ministry work in the desert, in very small villages and in giant megacities. It is transcultural.” He summarized the steps in the acronym PEACE: pass on the good news; equip disciples; alleviate suffering — preaching, teaching and healing; continually pray and lastly, establish new churches.
Highlighting 10 ways Christians can emulate the first-century church and its exponential growth to finish the task, Warren noted that the fastest period of growth for Christianity was the first 330 years of the Church. "We went from 120 people in the upper room to, by [the year] 360 A.D., half of the Roman Empire had been saved — 30 million out of 60 million people."
Looking at Acts 1 and 2, Warren listed the 10 action steps churches can implement today: pray for God's power; translate God's Word in every language; celebrate the diversity of believers; train every believer to preach the Good News; teach believers to do the Word of God; model love to the world; return to using homes for worship and Bible study; use worship as a joyful witness to non-believers; share resources and make financial sacrifices.
*****
To nobody's surprise, The Episcopal Church continues its Gadarene decline, unfettered from moral and theological boundaries that have plagued the church for decades.
Episcopalians recite the creeds with their fingers crossed behind their backs as do a host of clergy and most of the bishops. Episcopalians don’t believe much of anything in the Bible, preferring the culture dictate their preferences and beliefs about sexual morality, abortion, divorce, Middle East politics, DEI and much more. Racism and gay marriage consume most of the debate even though the latest figures reveal that TEC is 95% white with most parishes never seeing anybody of color let alone someone with homoerotic tendencies.
Bishop Sean Rowe continues to rail on white churches and communities needing to repent of the sin of racism and work toward reconciliation. The truth is the vast majority of his own church of 6,500 churches has never seen a black person pass through the red doors, and with the average age of an Episcopalian now over 60, whatever racists ever existed are long since dead or departed. The 100,000 who fled TEC after the Robinson consecration were not racists and have given only a tepid nod in the direction of racism in America. Racism like any other sin needs to be repented of.
The same thing for homosexual priests. Most of the churches have never seen nor have sought out a homosexual or lesbian priest. Just a handful of elite churches and their homoerotic bishops get media attention.
The following conversation might well have taken place between two geriatric Episcopalians.
Mildred: Are you gay George?
George: Well, I am happy most of the time Mildred.
Mildred: The priest said we had to be nice to gays or we would get chucked out of the church.
George: He did?
Mildred: He said we had to wear rainbow hats or colorful scarves on Sunday to show we were not homophobic.
George: What the hell is homophobic?
Mildred: I haven’t a clue. We need to google it.
George: What’s a google?
Bishop Rowe would do well to listen to Pastor Rick Warren for clues on how to grow his church, before TEC sinks into the sunset. On the other it is probably too late.
The church revealed its latest figures this week and they are anything but encouraging.
Mary Anne Mueller, VOL’s earnest researcher analyzed the church’s recent findings and concluded The Episcopal Church was being cagey when it comes to the transparency of its 2024 statistics.
“Under the new Presiding Bishop’s watch the number of Episcopal churches dropped from 6,754 to 6,707 a 7% loss of 47 worshipping congregations.
The 2024 Episcopal Church’s Baptismal number is 19,624 down from 20,247 in 2023. Resulting in a -3.1% drop of 623.
“The Episcopal Church has many members. In most years, it can provide a specific count of its baptized members – 1.5 million in 2023 — based on data compiled from its congregations’ parochial reports,” he writes.
“Not for 2024.”
“The slick 26-page document is not detailed enough to actually get a clear look into the spiritual life of the church. Even coupling it with the previous year's Analysis of the 2023 Parochial Report Data, doesn't give a complete picture. As a result, the Episcopal Church has only offered up a superficial glance into the sliding statistical numbers of the church. “
Ironically the Episcopal News Service, the official voice of the church noted the absence of figures with a headline that ran; Episcopal Church omits membership total in annual report; baptisms fell considerably in the past decade.
Anglican Watch ran a headline; Episcopal Church releases preliminary 2024 parochial report data. The results are not pretty.
You can read all the stories here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/episcopal-church-releases-in-house-analysis-of-2024-statistics
Anglican Watch then ripped into the Episcopal Church with this story: https://www.anglicanwatch.com/its-official-the-episcopal-annual-parochial-report-is-broken-heads-should-roll/
Epic fail: The Episcopal Church is now so broken it doesn’t even know how many members it has, ran the headline.
“The Episcopal Annual Parochial Report is broken. Heads should roll. After numerous committee meetings, discussions, surveys, and revisions, we have a new Episcopal parochial report format and the data that results from the report. And while we now have a wealth of narrative data about racial reconciliation and energy efficiency (neither of which the church excels in), we no longer know the exact number of church members! That’s right—the Episcopal Church cannot tell you how many members it has.”
Was that intentional? We don’t know, but it’s hard not to suspect that this is the case.
One thing the church is trying to do is add pew warmers with online watchers. But online watching defies community and any semblance of what it means to be the church. It would not be going out on a limb to say the Episcopal Church is in decline with little prospect of it ever recovering. Poor, near non-existent theology, bad morals, a focus on woke issues, an aging demographic and failing seminaries, the gig is up. It is no longer if but when the church will close. With millions of dollars in its coffers the church can keep going for some time, but at the end of the day with fewer bodies and columbaria filling up weekly, the church cannot hope to survive.
*****
But the news that startled orthodox Anglicans which broke open this week was a lead story in the Washington Post that ran a headline: U.S. ANGLICAN CHURCH ARCHBISHOP ACCUSED OF SEXUAL MISCONDUCT, ABUSE OF POWER. You can read it here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/u-s-anglican-church-archbishop-accused-of-sexual-misconduct-abuse-of-power
It shook up the church both nationally and globally, causing many orthodox to take stock of the church and all it claimed to be; especially after its Archbishop Steve Wood said he would make safeguarding an issue for the church.
The lurid details included a ‘he said/she said’ relationship with a woman that while it did not include sexual intercourse, allegedly involved inappropriate touching and payments made to the woman. There were other charges of plagiarism and abuse of power that were both shocking and revealing.
I have documented it all here: Three crises that have engulfed the ACNA. I outline the three cases, including Archbishop Wood, The Bishop Ruch Trial and the Bishop Derek Jones controversy.
The Wood scandal represents the latest in a series of crises for ACNA. An ecclesiastical trial is currently underway against Bishop Stewart Ruch III with parishioners and clergy accusing Ruch, 58, of allowing individuals with histories of violence or sexual misconduct to worship or hold staff and leadership positions within his diocese. Bishop Derek Jones faces abuse of power charges and was forced to step down as bishop of the Jurisdiction of the Armed Forces. The story is still playing out.
But the most egregious issue are the questions that were not asked about the bishop’s behavior before he was elected. A lot of the charges were known to the House of Bishops and they apparently said and did nothing.
Following disclosure of his alleged misdeeds in the Washington Post, that includes sexual misconduct, plagiarism, abuse of power and more, the staunchly orthodox leader said in a letter to his parish, that “I unequivocally, categorically, and emphatically deny in their entirety the accusations made against me by Ms. Claire Buxton, who was employed at St. Andrew’s,” Wood said in an Oct. 24 letter to St. Andrew’s congregants. He will fight the presentment charges.
*****
Episcopal Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe took a swipe at Israel in remarks to executive council this past week. He urged the US Government to end weapons sales to Israel while making no mention of Hamas.
Rowe sharply criticized Israel describing the situation in Gaza as a "moral travesty" blaming Israeli forces for human rights abuses, violence, and the destruction of Gaza.
Notably absent from his remarks was any mention of Hamas's role in starting the war in the first place. The terrorist organization's continued resistance to peace efforts and appeals from fellow Arab nations to cease hostilities has fallen on deaf ears.
"The situation in Gaza and the West Bank is dire," Rowe told the council. "We hear sometimes that we must issue more frequent and stronger statements about the Israeli war on Gaza and the catastrophic effect it has had on the Palestinian people—that if the church does not issue statements, then we believe that the church does not care about this moral travesty unfolding before us or the people in our own church most affected by it."
You can the full story here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/episcopal-presiding-bishop-blasts-israel-urges-us-government-to-end-weapons-sales-to-democratic-nat
*****
SURPRISE! Church of England clergy have vowed to offer same-sex blessing services despite bishops’ decision. We have seen this before. The Episcopal Church called it exercising ‘local option’ to do exactly the same thing, and revisionists in the Church of England are repeating it.
A number of clergy in the Church of England are resisting a decision by the House of Bishops which put the brakes on moves to allow stand-alone services for same-sex blessings and to allow clergy to be in same-sex marriages.
Canon Simon Butler, an influential vicar in “Inclusive Evangelicals”, says the Canons of the Church of England do, in fact, permit stand-alone services. He has officiated at two in his church, Holy Trinity & St Mary’s, Guildford, and has used Prayers of Love and Faith, saying “They have been simple occasions of quiet joy”.
Writing for the organisation’s website, he says that in granting his licence, the bishop gave him “the liberty to exercise my ministry within the bounds of the doctrine and Canons of the Church of England”, and he quotes Canon B5 saying ministers have discretion to use forms of service for occasions “for which no provision is made”. Separately, the Rev Dr Charlie Bavzyk-Bell and Canon Giles Fraser also said they would perform stand-alone services of blessing.
You can read more here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/cofe-clergy-vow-to-offer-same-sex-blessing-services-despite-bishops-decision
Meantime EFAC issued a press release calling on bishops to restore confidence in their leadership following a House of Bishops' residential meeting the previous week.
“Recent failures to heed warnings as to the consequences of these actions have already generated too much pain, confusion, cost and uncertainty across the Church of England and the whole Anglican Communion, particularly among those who identify as gay, lesbian or same-sex attracted. We call on the bishops to accept that the process has gone on for far too long. In order to restore confidence in their leadership, and to maintain unity, it must come to an end.” You can read more here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/efac-calls-on-bishops-to-restore-confidence-in-their-leadership
*****
Please consider a tax-deductible donation to VOL’s vital ministry.
VOL reaches readers in 55 countries with hundreds visiting our new website daily. I take no salary, but employ staff and maintain our online presence.
Online: A PayPal donation link can be found here: http://www.virtueonline.org/support.html
If you are more inclined with checks, you can send your tax-deductible donation to:
VIRTUEONLINE
P.O. BOX 111
Shohola, PA 18458
Thank you for your support,
Yours in Christ,
David
My Substack on the Middle East continues to grow. It is drawing a lot of interest and attention from across the globe. You can access it here: https://davidvirtue2.substack.com/ I am a strong supporter of the state of Israel’s right to exist and prosper while confronting her enemies both foreign and domestic. My latest report can be seen here: https://davidvirtue2.substack.com/p/ceasefire-what-ceasefire