Christian Liberals & Progressive People of Faith

I hadn't attended a Lutheran church since the 1980s when I went to my nephew's Lutheran confirmation about four years ago. They had a little rock combo in the corner, and the confirmation ceremony was real loose, almost like, "OK, guys, you're confirmed now." Well, not quite that bad, compared with my confirmation, when we had to memorize the Small Catechism, wear white robes, and kneel before the altar to receive a blessing and our own personal Bible verse, it was just too casual.

Evangelicals like to talk about how the Episcopalians are losing members, but having been around them on and off since 1973 and full time since 1991, I see it more as a result of their gay-friendly and single-friendly attitude. They're just going to have a lower birth rate than denominations that are all "family this" and "family that" and have only a youth group, a couples' club, and a seniors' group. But they receive converts like no one else does, people who are fed up with either the happy-clappy attitude of most mainstream Protestant churches or the rigidity and intolerance of the Catholic hierarchy or the megachurches.

Your church is probably typical in that the converts outnumber the "cradle Episcopalians." I don't know of any other denomination that has a special term for people who have actually been members all their lives as opposed to converting in adulthood. It's sort of like being a "native Oregonian."