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The Episcopal Network for Evangelism (ENE) was formed at the Presiding Bishop's "Congregations in Ministry" conference on October 22, 1998. Its objective is to support:

^{Newest!  - 10/21/04}  New data very helpful to parish planning has been added to the national ECUSA website.  11-year graphs (1992 thru 2002) of three items -- baptized membership, average Sunday attendance (ASA) and the total of plate + pledge (current giving) are given.  These allow users to see the trends in these items for a ten-year interval.  You should be concerned if attendance or giving is trending down, and/or if giving is not adequate to cover operating costs.  Also available are demographic trends for the church's zip code, recent past and near future from the Percept service.  See:
<http://12.0.101.88/?menu=menu4249> for the graphs and the Percept data. Each parish may also request the Percept data for up to five additional zip codes from the Episcopal Church Center in NYC.  (Don't pick zip codes which contain other Episcopal congregations -- you can download theirs for free.)  Send the request with the specific zip codes to: <mchristodoulou@episcopalchurch.org>.

^{New! - 11/8/01}  Results of a very large scale survey reveal surprising trends in ECUSA -- to the 65-and-older age group, we are growing in attractiveness much faster than the population, and also growing in attractiveness to women faster than women are growing in the population, but we are losing significant ground in attractiveness to men in the population, and we are losing very badly among adults aged 18-30. Click here for more info.

 ^10/5/01 The Strategic Plan of the 2020 Task Force for making the Episcopal Church more mission-driven and doubling its size has been added to the 2020 Task Force website as .pdf files or MS Word files which may be downloaded and also as a webpage that may be read just as you are reading this one. To go to that site, click here . The 2020 report in some forms is also on the Episcopal Church website.

^8/1/01  A downloadable 5-week, 2-hours-once-a-week course on How to Share Your Faith Without Losing Your Friends has been added.  For downloading instructions, click here .

^7/13/01 A numerical projection model for reaching the 2020 goal has been added to the website. The effort is very, very affordable financially, but will require a special effort to identify, recruit, and train many more church planters.  Click here .

^6/29/01 An example of a strategic plan for a diocese has just been added to the ENE website.  To view, click here .

^3/6/01 The 2020 Task Force just conducted an interview with the Rev. David Roseberry, Rector of one of ECUSA's largest churches, Christ Church, Plano, Texas. The church was founded 15 years ago by David, using techniques that he learned at the Fuller Institute.  To read a summary of the interview, and learn something about what's different about large churches, and how they can play a special role in helping ECUSA toward the 2020 Goal, click here .

^11/27/00  The Episcopal Diocese of Texas, together with the Dioceses of Maryland, Tennessee, and Virginia just completed another spectacular "A Clear Vision of One Church" conference, the third annual conference in this critically important series. For newcomers the story was again told of the revolutionary way that Bp. Claude Payne has used sound leadership/management principles to reinvigorate the Diocese of Texas and move it toward its goal of having grown from 80,000 members in 1996 to 200,000 in 2005.  For both new and old attendees, reports from other dioceses showed how the approach of vision-based leadership is being adopted by other dioceses.  For more info, click here .

^11/10/00 For info on the newest Reconciliation Institute Seminars, to be held in February and March 2001, click here .

^10/27/00 The members have been announced of the 2020 Task Force which was established by last summer's General Convention to develop a strategic plan for doubling the size of the Episcopal Church by 2020.  Your ENE Convener is among them!  Click here for list.

Also, time is getting short to get in your applications for the Clear Vision III Conference sponsored by the Dioceses of Texas, Virginia, Maryland, and Tennessee.  Highly recommended! You no longer need to go as part of your Bishop's team. Click here for more info.

7/20/00 Last  week, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church set evangelism and the 20/20 Vision as its highest priority!   For details, click here .

^6/26/00 The ENE announces the results of its efforts to develop and collect more mission-oriented forms of the Prayers of the People for publication and distribution by ECUSA.    The Prayers that were submitted can be found by clicking here . Also several people wrote that the Prayers of the People from A New Zealand Prayer Book should be considered.  These Prayers seem very suitable, but there are technical complications re getting their general use approved.  The ENE is trying to get these issues resolved -- for info, click here.

^4/17/00

• The ENE announces an effort to develop additional, more mission-oriented forms for the Rite II Prayers of the People.  Many Episcopalians do not realize that the BCP rubrics permit use of prayers other than the ones printed in the BCP, because in most parts of ECUSA, little use is made of forms other than those in the BCP.  The existing Forms give very, very little emphasis to evangelism and/or to mission actions. Authors may submit their own more mission-oriented and/or evangelism-oriented prayers for posting on this website.  To be posted, all prayers must conform to the requirements of the rubrics (see links to the relevant BCP pages when you jump to the Prayer page).  A poll of ENE listmembers will then be taken in June, and the prayers most liked will be submitted at this summer's General Convention to the Prayer Book, Liturgy, and Church Music Committee for consideration for publication by the Church.  For details, click here .
• We also have (finally!) added a page on evangelizing youth -- a critical priority.  It's only sketchy right now, and your help is requested on building a better description of what we can be doing, and how we can do it.  Click here for the new page.
• Also see the Press Release of the new Episcopal Gen X ministry network which has been formed by the former Episcopal Gen X clergy networking group's reformulating itself.
• The Eighth bi-monthly progress report of the ENE to Bishop Griswold has been posted.  To see it, click here .

• Characteristics of the Generations.  Data has been added which summarizes the typical characteristics of the different generations from the GI generation (born before 1926) to the Bridger (or Gen Y) generation (born 1976-94).  This info should be useful when a congregation is trying to attract and/or minister to a particular age group.  Click here for the data.
• Maslow meets Jesus.  The Maslow needs hierarchy has been adapted to the needs of congregation members, and how to deal with those needs. Click here for the model.

• New Mission/Evangelism Model.  An intriguing new model for congregational mission and evangelism is for a congregation to become a center for Reconciliation.  In this model, the congregation itself joins in Reconciliation efforts with other parts of its community, such as congregations of other ethnicities, races, or faiths. The congregation can also facilitate reconciliation between other parts of the community who are estranged from each other, and/or become a teaching center for Reconciliation processes.  The efforts teach the reconciling principles of Jesus of Nazareth, and thus have a distinct evangelistic component.


^{11/10/00 Update} Seminars will now also be held at St. James Episcopal Church, Newport Beach, CA, February 21-24, 2001, (call Cindy Drennan at (949-675-0210) and at the College of Preachers, Washington, DC, March 5-9, 2001 (call Ms. Shelagh Casey Brown at (202)-537-6380).  To request a brochure giving particulars, click here , and give your snailmail address.  Click here to get general (but non-updated) info on the concept of Reconciliation as a parish mission endeavor.



• For Census Bureau projections of the US population and its racial-ethnic make up, click  here . The fastest growing component of the population is the Hispanic, expected to grow from 12 percent in 1999 to 24 percent in 2050.  The Asian and Pacific Islander component will grow from 4 percent to 9 percent. The non-Hispanic white component will drop from 72 percent to 53 percent of the overall population, although its numbers will increase slightly (from 196 million to 213 million). Click here for more info.

• The dioceses of Texas, Virginia, Tennessee, and Maryland have just  sput onpectacular follow-up to last year's Texas training and sharing event for Diocesan leadership. Anyone who wasn't there can order audiotapes ofof the sessions by clicking here .  (You may want to look at the order form just to see the topics of the lectures and workshops.)  There were many more subjects covered than last year, and attendance was significantly larger. Additional material will be added to this site later.  Any diocese that isn't participating in these annual conferences should reconsider its position!  An e-mail posting by Canon Kevin Martin of the Diocese of Texas gives some of his thoughts on the events at the 1999 conference -- to access, click here .
•  Our first posted info on how Episcopalians can engage in one-on-one evangelism in a style that fits Episcopalians may be found by clicking here .

•  A calendar has been added of evangelism-related events in the next year.  To view the events, or to add your event, click here.   The page also has a link to the national church's calendar of all kinds of events, not just evangelism-related events. [Postscript:  this effort was later discontinued because it is duplicative of the info given on the Episcopal Church Center's Calendar page.]
• Attendance is considered by many people to be a better measure of the Church's health than reported membership, because attendance is a more concrete number, and indicates involvement, not just affiliation.  Recent data on growth or shrinkage in average Sunday attendance by diocese can be found here . How is your diocese doing, and what can it learn from others?
• Also see a statement of the national Episcopal Church's evangelism strategy by its Evangelism Officer, the Rev. Hugh Magers.  To view, click here .
• As an experiment, the ENE has taken out an ad for our website in  ChuThe Livingrch magazine.  If you found our website because of this ad, please, please tell us so by clicking here .

^(10/7/99) There are now three items about what the future church needs to look like in order to meet our 2020 goal.  For the Episcopal News Service story on a conference on the future of the Church, click here .  Speakers included the Presiding Bishop, pollster George Gallup, and others.  Also, for a strategic analysis piece on what the Episcopal Church needs to do to meet the 2020 goal, written by Episcopal futurist and author, the Rev. Richard Kew, click here .  For notes on a talk about strengthening the church given by Episcopalian seminary professor the Rev. Eddie Gibbs, to the Standing Commission on Domestic Mission and Evangelism, click here .  These people are saying that the Church will need to change, and they are all looking in about the same direction.

^(9/14/99) The ENE Convener and an experienced Episcopal Priest interested in methods of ministry attended Solo Flight IX at Kanuga, an Episcopal Singles' Ministry conference, and have prepared a report.  They were quite favorably impressed. Click here for the report.  On another topic, see new material on planning church growth (click here ).

^(8/13/99) Data on average Sunday attendance per diocese, and average Sunday attendance per congregation for each diocese have been added.  Southwest Florida has an average attendance per congregation of 223, whereas 49% of the dioceses have an average congregational attendance of 101 or less, indicating a significant financial stress level. Click here for data.

^(8/1/99)A phenomenal 44% of all US adults are single!  And 57% of the critical 18 through 34 (Gen X & older Gen Y) age group are single! More detailed demographic information on singles has been added, including a graph of the population percentage that is single vs. age.  Downloadable statistics and applicable Census Bureau links are also given. Also: the Presiding Bishop responds to ENE's progress reports.

^(5/12/99) Information pages have been started on four areas of evangelism:

• singles
• church planting ,which should be the source of a significant part -- perhaps even a majority part -- of our growth as we seek to double our membership by 2020 .  Approximately speaking, having twice as many members will mean roughly twice as many churches.  (It would be more efficient and reduce economic stress if the average size of a congregation were to increase.  Since this is not always possible, new models of congregational ministry are needed.)  ^6/7/99 T he church-planting section now contains a page on raising money for church-planting.
• post-boomer adults , also known as GenX
• congregational growth - things that (most) congregations can do to grow.

^(4/5/99)  Graphs of diocesan membership vs. time since 1955 are now shown for all dioceses (except the newest one).  To view, click here .

^(2/15/99)The ENE is conducting a survey of the evangelism activity in the various dioceses. For more info, including the diocese-by-diocese results so far, click here .  A  perusing of this material will give you the best available picture of what's going on in evangelism throughout the domestic Episcopal Church.

To add your name to our e-mail distribution list, click here .

The strategy of the ENE is:

• form the organization, publicize it, and recruit participants
• develop a list of e-mail addresses of interested people in order to support a continuing dialog among Episcopalians interested in evangelism.
• develop this web site of basic information, which includes lists of additional resources and links, including comments by users of the resources, so new potential users will have the benefit of prior users' experience and/or modifications.  For the current listing of general resources, click here .  Resources for particular areas, such as singles, church planting, church growth, etc. are placed with the basic information on that subject.  (Suggestions for additions are very welcome!)  Put differently, this website is intended:
• to be a primer on evangelism, with pointers to other resources (websites, books, videos, etc.)
• to provide a way for persons with common interests to find each other by use of the e-mail list, and/or website postings of extracts from their messages
• coordinate with national Episcopal Church Center ("815") staff, who can provide statistical information and can help people make connections with others who have similar interests and problems
• promote the use of methods appropriate to our Anglican theological heritage, but in forms attractive in today's and tomorrow's world. Provide alternatives for reaching people with different needs and/or preferences. (Evangelism is not a one-size-fits-all operation!)
• work to get the next General Convention (July 5-14,2000) to adopt the 20/20 goal and to pass appropriate implementing resolutions.

Past progress reports of the activities of the ENE may be found by clicking here .  Also, see Presiding Bishop Griswold's response to the third report.

The ENE is open to all Episcopalians -- indeed, all Christians -- interested in Evangelism.

When the ENE was formed, it was agreed that evangelism and church growth don't just happen, and won't happen if  the only thing we do is exhort people to evangelize.  We've been that route, and it was a frustrating experience.  Specific action plans are needed, at all levels and in all parts of the Episcopal Church, from headquarters down to each individual member.  (You can tell a plan from a wish by the fact that a plan has accountability -- it specifies who do what by when, and it sets up a mechanism for monitoring progress.)  Developing such plans will be assisted by the ENE (when requested, of course) but the detailed planning and action must be carried out by and in all parts of the Church.   Action plans and accountability are needed at all levels of the church: national, diocesan, regional (deanery), congregational, and individual.  The membership and attendance data on this website are a way of the whole Church holding individual dioceses accountable -- dioceses can use the same type of data to hold individual congregations accountable .

And our dioceses and congregations must be trained and led to cause, welcome, adapt to, and build upon the changes that growth brings.

The ENE works in coordination with the General Convention Standing Commission on Domestic Mission and Evangelism (SCDME), which originated the 20/20 goal, and with whom the ENE shares some members.  However, the ENE is not an agency of the Standing Commission.

Other outcomes of the Presiding Bishop's Congregations in Ministry conference (besides the formation of the ENE) are reported in an  Episcopal News Service press release.

Of course the real goal isn't just to get more members-- it's to increase the number of disciples.  And naturally, there will also be some important obstacles to deal with. Click here for more info on the 20/20 goal, initial strategies, anticipated obstacles, etc.

Click here for one person's 1998 Report and Critique on evangelism in the fast-growing Episcopal Diocese of Texas.  This diocese is clearly leading the way in evangelism, and other dioceses are beginning to use this diocese's many lessons learned.  The  Report and Critique has a link to an ordering form for the 1998 Texas Conference's videotapes and audiotapes. Through use of these, other dioceses and congregations can gain from the many lessons learned.  Texas also held a second (1999) diocesan leadership conference Nov. 21 - 23, 1999 at the diocese's Camp Allen, near Houston.  Tapes from this conference are also available -- see the links at the bottom of this page for the ordering forms (which also list the topics covered).  Canon Kevin Martin of the Diocese of Texas described the 1999 conference as "not specifically an Evangelism conference. It is a diocesan leadership conference on ministry and mission for the 21st century.  It includes a good segment on evangelism."

The 2002 Conference is scheduled for November 24-26, 2002.   Diocesan bishops, applicable diocesan staff, and diocesan evangelism committee members should not miss it!

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E-mail for the ENE, including requests for addition to our email list, may be sent to: ENE2020@aol.com .  (This is not an automated responder.)  The same address may be used if you desire to leave the list.  If you send us a change of address, please tell us both the old and the new address.

 E-mail announcements are sent to the ENE list about once to three or four times a month, and contain (1) news about evangelism in the Episcopal Church, and/or (2) announcements of new features' being added to this website and/or (3) forwarding of e-mail inputs which are of potential wide interest. Rectors are encouraged to forward these announcements to the members of their parish evangelism committee members, and diocesan staff members are encouraged to do the same for their diocesan evangelism committees.

This past last updated:  10/22/98 10/26/98 11/4/98 11/12/98 11/30/98 12/1/98 1/1/99 2/14/99 2/19/99 4/4/99 4/14/99 5/1/99 5/14/99 6/7/99 6/29/99 8/1/99 8/24/99 9/14/99 10/7/99 10/13/99 10/26/99 11/24/99 11/29/99 12/8/99 1/13/00 3/6/00 4/10/00 4/17/00 6/26/00 7/20/00 10/27/00 11/10/00 11/27/00 3/13/01 6/29/01 9/28/01 11/8/01  11/8/01  6/17/02 10/17/03