"WHY IS THE CHURCH DYING?"

 “WHY IS THE CHURCH DYING?”

Since I retired almost 10 years ago (wow!), Caroline and I have been attending and preaching in many different churches – mostly Presbyterian but with some Missionary Baptist and some AME churches sprinkled in there.  We have been in some dynamic ones, including our current church North Decatur Presbyterian.  But, for the most part, we have been in ones who are on life support, usually with large buildings and low membership.  The members who are attending those churches are dedicated and committed, but the mainstream churches in the USA are dying.

I am not an expert on the state of the church, but from my 79 years of experience in the mainline church (including 51 of those as an ordained minister), I believe that I have some informed opinions.  Let me start by saying that both the churches that were so important to me and Caroline in our childhood and youth are now closed – First Presbyterian in Helena, Arkansas where I grew up, and Central Presbyterian in Chattanooga, where Caroline grew up.  In both of those churches, the reason for their closure is clear – a lack of inclusivity in who they welcomed and even permitted as members.  Both churches refused to allow Black people in their worship for the longest time, and by the time they did, it was too late.  First Presbyterian was in a small, dying Delta town, so that makes it obvious – most of the young white people (whom they preferred) have left town.  Central is a different case – it was in a vital urban area.  Still, the word went forth – only certain kinds of people were welcome there.  There was a struggle to get women officers; there was a struggle to even allow Black people on the grounds, much less in worship; and don’t even get started on the LGBTQ+ issue.

For Southern churches especially, we cannot discount race as an issue in the decline of churches. The church where Caroline and I served for over 30 years, Oakhurst Presbyterian, lost 90% of its white membership after its Session voted in 1963 to allow Black people to attend worship.  That story was repeated around the South in mainline white denominations, and most churches never recovered.  Fortunately, Oakhurst did recover and is now led by a dynamic Black pastor OJ Flowers, while its membership remains stable and multicultural.

Mainline white churches have had many fights over the last few decades about who is welcome and who can lead.  We’ve fought over Black people attending.  We’ve fought over whether women can be leaders and even pastors in the church.  We’ve fought over whether people of differing sexual orientations can be members.  We’ve fought over whether Christianity is America’s national religion. We have often resisted those whom God is sending to our doors, and that resistance has been costly.  We have gotten a reputation for being closed-minded, for being mean, for being exclusive.  

Because of our resistance and our reputation, fewer people are showing up at our doors; fewer people are saying “I was glad when they said to me: let us go to the house of the Lord.”  And we are steadily losing members – the PCUSA is shrinking fast.  Our recent national General Assembly celebrated this summer because we did not lose as many members as we had been losing.  Still losing members, but at least we are still over a million members (down from over 3 million in the 1960’s).  When Caroline and came to Oakhurst in 1983, Atlanta Presbytery had over 55,000 members.  Now, we are down to just over 29,000 members.  That story is repeated around the country in all denominations.

Will the church survive?  I don’t know the answer to that question, but I do know the answer to the larger question.  God is calling forth those who will worship and serve Her, and while those communities may not be structured like our current ones, there will be communities who have God at the center.  Next week I’ll suggest some possible steps to take to seek revitalization, but for now here are the two main principles that Jesus gave us: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your strength, and all your soul.”  And “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”  And, he reminded us in that powerful parable of The Good Samaritan that our neighbor is not the one we choose, but the one whom God is sending us.  Let us open our hearts and our doors to them.