This comment , now deleted, was too easily able to be interpreted as a personal criticism, alas.

Our good Statmann will correct me, but the way that I would do a population adjusted growth or rather decline for the diocese is to say that the diocese should have grown to 128% of 10,531 or 13,480. But it actually fell to 9,044 which gives a population adjusted decline of 32.9%.

Arizona had a fairly mild experience during 2002 through 2008 with Members down 7.4 percent, ASA down 14.7 percent, and Plate & Pledge (adjusted for inflation) down 1.9 percent. Using these data I ranked the diocese at 27 out of 95 considered. And the diocese appears rather well positioned for the future. For Aging, there were 497 Infant Baptisms and 373 Burials in 2008. For Money, 31 of 59 churches in 2008 had Plate & Pledge of $150K or more which means that each “rich” church had about one “poor” church to help. And for church size, only 16 of 59 churches in 2008 had ASA of 70 or less with only 5 with ASA of 20 or less. At this time the ACNA has 8 churches in Arizona. And since GC 2009 I have read little news of any large sized losses. The future may not be bright with growth but it does not look to be grim.  Statmann

My comment was not of a personal nature but of his agenda which is all too common these days within TEC. I am again in the T19 doghouse alas.
Intercessor

Facebook comment from a friend who moved to AZ:

Just another reason to affirm my decision to LEAVE the ECUSA. No bitterness and love all my brothers and sisters. I just prefer to practive REAL CHRISTIANITY and actually DO what the Bible tells me to do.

Geesh!

In addition to ACNA parishes there’s been a Continuing Anglican presence in Arizona for decades, and as far as I know that effort is ... continuing.

For a longer look, year-by-year, I have plotted population estimates and ASA since 1992. It is posted at Dio. of Arizona. What is most striking about this graph is that the Diocese was growing (albeit slower than the population) from 1992 to 2000, but since then it has been in decline. The 2007 ASA decline was only 10.

To further emphasize Robroy’s point,
The share of the population fell by 34% from 2000 to 2008 (from .21737% to .14342%). In 1992 the share was .27797%. In percent change in percent of population, they fell over 48%, which was the third worst of the domestic diocese. San Joaquin was the worst, but that reflects the departure of most of the diocese. Nevada was the second worst. (The data source is Episcopal statistics and Census bureau.)

For an interesting comparison from another data source, the United Methodist Church fell by 6,000 or so 10.5 between 1990 and 2000. The same data source says the Episcopal Church grew by about 4,000 (16.1%) over the same time period. The data source for this second paragraph is   ARDA. There is some conflict in the data.

Intercessor,

I’m not sure what you originally wrote.  I will say that shedding light on the number of dioceses which are shrinking despite a growing population around them is a sign of danger.  It doesn’t mean ACNA is right, or better than TEC.  It doesn’t mean anybody’s happy about it.  But how can the leadership continue to say that there isn’t a problem? And how can bishops and diocesan leadership the nation over continue to do things the same way when they have been failing for some time now?

That’s a very helpful chart, Brent B in number 8.

I have put up a post on my blog with two looks at percentage changes in ASA from 1992 to 2008, which can be seen here. The second chart in particular shows domestic ASA slipping permanently into decline starting in 2002.