SAWDUST TRAIL
It’s no secret that mainline churches have been in free-fall for decades now and the Presbyterian Church (USA) is no exception. A PC(USA) pastor named Carol Howard Merritt admits what just about everyone else figured out a long time ago:
In my denomination (PCUSA), 90% of our members are white and most of them are over the age of 60. Many of our churches are rural and many of the buildings were constructed in the 1950s. After 60 years of dutiful service, the structures are too large, too inefficient, and require too much maintenance for smaller, aging members to keep up with. We’re ministering in a country where younger generations are much more diverse and many of them move into urban areas. Many congregations plan to cut staff (including the pastor) and hold on to the building until there’s only one person left standing. In fact, right now, half of our churches cannot afford pastors, so it’s not difficult to imagine that we might be closing them in the next 20 years.
What should PC(USA) do to reverse this alarming trend? Here’s a thought. How about planting new Presbyterian churches in places where people actually live?
Using money from a large congregation and denominational funding, a church is planted. That seems to be what happens the most in our denomination, and it seems to be our trustiest default. The problem? It’s usually conservative, evangelical big-steeples who are in the planting business. If a church-planter does not fit that theological mold, she’s out of luck.
I think you see the problem here. “Conservative, evangelical big-steeples” seem to have the most seed money in PC(USA) and are the ones “in the planting business.” How is a progressive Christian congregation supposed to make a go of it?
Want to take a guess why those “conservative, evangelical big-steeples” have all that money, Carol? Or why leftist parishes aren’t considered good spiritual investments? Anything occur to you? Take your time.
Ms. Merritt goes on to brainstorm nine more ideas, one of which has potential(#10) and all of which strenuously avoid dealing with what’s actually destroying the mainline.
Since it’s just not a challenge when they tee them up for me like this and since I want to be constructive for a change, I have a few suggestions of my own for revitalizing the Presbyterian Church(USA).
(1) Regular John Calvin bobblehead giveaway days.
(2) “Institutes of the Christian Religion – The Musical!”
(3) Every Halloween evening, set off fire crackers that look like Servetus.
(4) Angry Genevan Birds downloadable app. Shoot Calvinist birds out of a slingshot to destroy day-glo green Unitarian pigs.
(5) Publish humorous Great Presbyterian Pick-up Lines book. Examples:
(A) “Baby, you and I were predestined.
(B) “TULIP is impossible without U.”
(C) “Want to come back to my place and see my Larger Catechism?”
You’re welcome.
In my denomination (PCUSA), 90% of our members are white and most of them are over the age of 60. Many of our churches are rural and many of the buildings were constructed in the 1950s. After 60 years of dutiful service, the structures are too large, too inefficient, and require too much maintenance for smaller, aging members to keep up with. We’re ministering in a country where younger generations are much more diverse and many of them move into urban areas. Many congregations plan to cut staff (including the pastor) and hold on to the building until there’s only one person left standing. In fact, right now, half of our churches cannot afford pastors, so it’s not difficult to imagine that we might be closing them in the next 20 years.
What should PC(USA) do to reverse this alarming trend? Here’s a thought. How about planting new Presbyterian churches in places where people actually live?
Using money from a large congregation and denominational funding, a church is planted. That seems to be what happens the most in our denomination, and it seems to be our trustiest default. The problem? It’s usually conservative, evangelical big-steeples who are in the planting business. If a church-planter does not fit that theological mold, she’s out of luck.
I think you see the problem here. “Conservative, evangelical big-steeples” seem to have the most seed money in PC(USA) and are the ones “in the planting business.” How is a progressive Christian congregation supposed to make a go of it?
Want to take a guess why those “conservative, evangelical big-steeples” have all that money, Carol? Or why leftist parishes aren’t considered good spiritual investments? Anything occur to you? Take your time.
Ms. Merritt goes on to brainstorm nine more ideas, one of which has potential(#10) and all of which strenuously avoid dealing with what’s actually destroying the mainline.
Since it’s just not a challenge when they tee them up for me like this and since I want to be constructive for a change, I have a few suggestions of my own for revitalizing the Presbyterian Church(USA).
(1) Regular John Calvin bobblehead giveaway days.
(2) “Institutes of the Christian Religion – The Musical!”
(3) Every Halloween evening, set off fire crackers that look like Servetus.
(4) Angry Genevan Birds downloadable app. Shoot Calvinist birds out of a slingshot to destroy day-glo green Unitarian pigs.
(5) Publish humorous Great Presbyterian Pick-up Lines book. Examples:
(A) “Baby, you and I were predestined.
(B) “TULIP is impossible without U.”
(C) “Want to come back to my place and see my Larger Catechism?”
You’re welcome.
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