I still get weepy thinking of my granddaughter's baptism almost 2 years ago. Such a joyful day. She is a baptized member of my ELCA Lutheran church and now I take her to Sunday school and church most weeks. Similar crowd at her baptism: Lutherans of course, ex-Catholic turned Lutheran (DH), still Catholic (great-grandpa), Southern Baptists (son-in-law's side), Presbyterians (my brother & family) and a couple non-churchgoers. All welcome at the altar to celebrate a little girl joining our church family.

and is mostly a very open and welcoming and liberal church.

However, like most mainline denominations, it is losing total membership, and may be half it's current size in a generation.

partly through lack of trying.

When I was in graduate school, the Lutheran chaplaincy was fully funded, but we at the Episcopal chaplaincy had to call alumni and fund raise. Sunday School and confirmation class were rather perfunctory.

The church as a whole is realizing their mistake and placing greater emphasis on children's and youth programs, as well as young adults.

It does seem to me that the Episcopal Church gets converts from other denominations to a greater degree than any other mainline church that I know of (hence the term "cradle Episcopalian&quot and that its friendliness to GLBT people and straight single people means that it enjoys less "natural increase" (in the form of children of members) than the denominations that place a lot of emphasis on families with children.

It's been my observation that churches where things are happening grow and those that are just going through the motions fail.

The reason is a complete change of management, with a new choir director who was great with children's choirs. The result is about 80 kids in different children's choirs, including my daughter. It is pulling in the key demographic of families with young children, and has grown some 30 % in the past five years.

Nothing has changed about the service. The newish rector is also dynamic and welcoming, and as he came from the world of business he knows how to make things run right.

and we left a church that has a deeply spiritual rector who couldn't run things and didn't understand the need to create community or have the skills to do it. That church has lost 40-50% of it's membership in the past 7 years, from the point that he took it over.

I crossed the international enough line in early 2012 and started going to the Episcopal Church. I was received in November of that year to the Episcopal Church.

Sometimes the low number of members worries me a little, but whenever I feel down about the number of people in the church, at services, etc I remind myself of Matthew 18:20, "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them."