In an effort to move beyond its 20-year preoccupation with sexuality, the 73rd General Convention adopted an exceedingly optimistic resolution. "Resolved," we said, "that the church sets a goal to double its membership by the year 2020." It is called "Clear Vision," and I think it is great! The future envisioned by this resolution is positive, hopeful and filled with growth and renewal.

It is a big vision worth pursuing, but it will require big changes in our church culture. If a serious effort is undertaken to double the membership of the Episcopal Church, serious changes must be made. If we dare to double, we must dare to change. And therein lies our hope. If we can put aside our substantial differences for a few decades, turbo-charge the membership of the church, and focus on the goal, we may actually thrive.

First, let's look at where we are as a church. It is sobering. The membership of our church stands at a 30-year low: about 2.4 million. That number is less than 1 percent of the U.S. population. Based on a 30-40 percent attendance rate (which is probably a high estimate), there are likely to be fewer than 1 million people in Episcopal churches on any given Sunday.

Our communicant strength is about 1.6 million. There are approximately 620,000 pledging units. In round numbers, we baptize about 55,000 individuals a year, bury about 42,000, and confirm about 35,000 adults and children. We have about 7,000 parishes and missions. The 10,000 active clergy in the church are graying, and there are fewer than 300 clergy in the U.S. under the age of 35. The average age, I am told, is about 58.

I like the goal of doubling the membership. Just think of the challenge. What are the obstacles that must be overcome in order to move our church from this decline to growth? We must do the following:

Learn to count. The record keeping and interest in numbers we keep in the Episcopal Church are simply awful. I compiled the above numbers from the General Convention Journal during the sleepy debates in the House of Deputies. However, I still wonder if they are accurate. The reporting from diocese and province is inconsistent and sometimes non-existent. Church records are sloppy, haphazard, incomplete, and listed in the back of the book.

We must make an accurate and frequent count of attendance, small-group participation, adult baptisms and confirmations. These are more accurate signs of a church's health than mere membership numbers. We must count the number of churches that are growing, find out what they are doing, and learn from them. We must count the number of new churches that are being planted, find out how they are faring, and learn from them. This research is critical, and accurate recording will show that we care about people more than causes. And let's put the numbers in the front of the book.

Plant new churches. The most effective form of evangelism is the planting of new churches. The reasons are many, but they all center on common laws of physics: Bodies at rest tend to stay at rest ... bodies in motion tend to stay in motion. In other words, the efforts required for a church of 200 in attendance to move to 400 within a decade or two are almost Herculean. The whole structure of the church must change: Vestry priorities must be reset, existing committees must welcome new people, sometimes additional services need to be added, staff costs increase, more parking is needed, marketing costs and promotional materials increase, nurseries require renovation, people may find that the pew they have retained for years is now occupied by someone else.

A new church can change service times, welcome new people into new structures, and go through various kinds of gymnastic stretches that are needed to accommodate the newest members. Traditions and local customs are not as important.

It is foolish to think that a doubling of the membership of the Episcopal Church could occur within our 7,000 existing churches alone. It would be a miracle if the existing churches could grow by 20 or 30 percent, adding an additional 300,000 people on a Sunday. A conservative estimate then would require the planting of an additional 2,000 churches over the next 20 years. If 2,000 more churches could average 300 on a Sunday by the end of 2020, it would account for a newly counted 600,000 people in church on Sunday.

Wake up our seminaries. Just by these numbers alone, we need an influx of new leaders for these churches. Can you imagine the letter to the deans of all nine seminaries from our Presiding Bishop?

"Dear Dean, I am happy for the fewer than 150 new graduates all nine seminaries produce each year. They are a great bunch, and I might be able to fill the vacancies of most of the existing churches with this wave of new clergy. However, I would like to place an order with all the schools. In order to meet the demand of the new churches that we must start in the Episcopal Church, kindly recruit, educate, and train an additional 300 men and women each year. I need them proficient in Bible application, preaching, youth ministry, prayer ministry, worship leadership, Christian education, and the postmodern culture. They should speak Spanish, and I need half of them to have Latin surnames. I need you to have them ready for action the moment they leave your school. Sincerely, Frank."

If we believe that the "customer" is the existing parish church of 200 or less, with a bent toward European music and stylish liturgy, we may not need to do much. But if we are seeking to reach a nation where the boats no longer come from Europe, and that is driven by fast-paced change and the use of technology, our seminaries need to make some major adjustments.

Demystify the priesthood. The news that we have fewer than 300 members of the priesthood under the age of 35 is the most sobering of all. We are going to run out of clergy in a few decades. Young persons are simply not making the decision to enter the ordained ministry like they used to. There are many reasons why, but chief among them must be that they are not being asked.

What is wrong with recruiting people for the ordained ministry? Most commissions on ministry are set up to screen out undesirable candidates. I suppose there is a need for that, but where is the arm of the church in charge of leadership development? Where is the commission on recruitment that will comb the colleges and universities for talented young leaders? We need to see youth groups and college ministries as a "fishing pool" for future leaders. Churches struggle to build effective youth ministries but fail to set youth ministry as a priority in their budgets. University campus ministries are typically small, understaffed and under-funded.

Reach new populations. In a major city I know of, a cathedral church sits in a neighborhood on a 12-acre plot of ground. The church has had wonderful glory days in the past. The surrounding neighborhood has changed dramatically in the last 30 years. People have moved to the suburbs. The area has become a beehive of activity for people of different ethnicities and cultures. The signs on shops around the church are written in Spanish or Vietnamese. In fact, there are more than a dozen ethnic groups that live within a two-mile radius of the church. On Sunday, the church is opened from 8 a.m. to 12 noon and would seat 300. The combined attendance of both the 8:00 service and the 10:00 service is less than 150. The church has given its worship space for the Hispanic congregation to meet. They are relegated to the 2:00 hour on Sunday afternoon.

Perhaps the greatest challenge for the Episcopal Church lies in its attempt to reach non-Anglo populations. Our style, music, governance and wardrobe are essentially European. Many of the new immigrants in the U.S. are from Latin American and Asian countries. How can the Episcopal Church reach these groups and still retain its style and emphasis on word and sacraments? That is a question some churches know how to address. If the church is going to double, it will be through the development of ministries targeted toward other cultures and people.

There are other major changes that must be made. It is exhausting to even contemplate. However, the resolution to double the membership by 2020 is a vision worth thinking about, and praying, planning and working for. It will require that we set aside our serious disagreements and become focused on a missionary call that is outward ... and upward. It is impossible to achieve missionary success without God's intervention. Mission can be achieved only with the power and intervention of the Holy Spirit. And that is one more reason to take this one: The call to double the membership of the church is so huge that we must have God's help to accomplish it. I say, let's go for it! o

The Rev. David H. Roseberry is the rector of Christ Church, Plano, Texas.