A recent study done by the Anglican organization Virtue Online claims that more than one-third of Episcopal churches in the U.S. have only 40 or less members and that attendance numbers are still dropping.

“What this foreshadows is that within the next 3 to 5 years more than 2,000 churches across the country will be forced to close, merge or be sold regardless of cash reserves or endowment because there will simply not be enough people in them to keep the doors open,” read the Aug. 23 survey.

Not only will hundreds of Episcopal clergy will be “forced into early retirement,” said the organization, but many will have to take secondary employment “in an attempt to keep the doors open to a handful of aging congregants.”

Researchers argue that the Episcopal Church has given an inaccurate depiction of the amount of followers by repeatedly claiming that 2.3 million U.S. Episcopalians regularly attend services. “More than two-thirds of this figure have either died, left the church, or attend twice a year, along with tens of thousands still on church rolls who have never been – and should be – removed.”

The survey showed future prospects of sharp decline in attendance for the Episcopal Church in the U.S., with 2,219 churches having congregations of aging parishioners in their mid-60s or older.

“There are virtually no young people coming forward to fill the gap,” they said.

Virtue Online also noted that parishes with congregations between 201 and 500 “must generate and pull in a new generation of Episcopalians if they are to be sustainable for the long haul.”

However, “many of these will face stiff competition from a new generation of Evangelical converts and those leaving the Episcopal Church.”