05650
Dec. 6, 2005

Researcher says membership losses pushing
Canadian churches to brink of ‘extinction’ 

Report says many identify themselves as adherents
of religious groups, but have quit attending services

by Ferdy Baglo
Ecumenical News International 

VANVOUVER — Canada’s churches are suffering such a serious decline in membership that some denominations could disappear, according to a report to the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC), released recently by Can West News Service.

        Keith McKerracher, a retired marketing expert who advises the church, published data showing that, between 1961 and 2001, Anglican membership plunged from 1.36 million to 642,000 — a decline of 53 per cent. McKerracher said the ACC is losing 13,000 members a year and “is facing extinction by the middle of this century.” 

        McKerracher also reported that membership in the United Church of Canada (UCC) fell from 1.04 million to 638,000 over the same period, a loss of 39 per cent. And membership in the Presbyterian Church of Canada declined by 35 per cent, the Baptist church 7 per cent, and the Lutheran church, 4 per cent. Roman Catholic membership figures were not available, he said. 

        The Rev. Harry Oussoren, executive minister of the UCC Support to Local Ministries, told Ecumenical News International: “Generally, not only across Canada but the entire Western world, we’re aware of a trend that says that institutionalized religion is not central to peoples’ lives, as is individualized religion.” 

        A group that calls itself Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance says on its Web site — www.religioustolerance.org/ — that “small non-Christian faith groups are increasing in number and popularity.” It says percentages of self-professed atheists, agnostics, humanists, secularists and people of no religious adherence are increasing rapidly, and many Canadians “identify themselves as adherents of a specific religion, religious group or denomination, but no longer attend services.” 

        Others have pointed to a decline in birth rates among the Anglicans’ traditional constituency — white Anglo-Americans and Anglo-Canadians — as a root cause of the membership drop.

        According to Oussoren, the drop in support of institutions is also marked among the more traditional, conservative religious groups: “For example, in the 2001 census the Jehovah’s Witnesses are showing a loss of 8.1 percent, the Mennonites 7.9 percent, Pentecostals 15.3 percent,” he said.