By Bishop John Bryson Chane September 06, 2011 ( Volume 80 , No. 5 )

“For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1

 

There is no question that many Christian congregations today are under significant stress. In many churches attendance is either down or not growing, financial giving has failed to keep up with inflation, and investment income is significantly compromised. The current economic crisis, the worst since the Great Depression, has placed many congregations at great risk. To be sure, there are exceptions to this challenging trend, but for the most part congregations face hard decisions about how they will do ministry in the present and future.

 

In the Diocese of Washington, an increasing number of congregations are struggling to hold onto the church’s traditional governance model – a full time priest. But this can be costly: The church must pay the rector’s salary, housing allowance, health insurance and pension. Added to the cost of running a parish – utilities, maintenance, supplies, a least a part-time musician and other expenses involved in keeping the church doors open – it can be prohibitive.

 

Congregations that list on their rolls less than 200 communicants and show an average weekly Sunday attendance of fewer than 100 have been classified as severely challenged. The challenge is how to maintain the traditional parish model while keeping the church and its property operational and solvent while engaging in the mission and outreach directed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  

 

There are those who say that this decline in attendance and giving is caused by “activist” clergy and denominations that have embraced controversial causes and issues. But the information available to church leaders clearly indicates that the demographic composition of many of our congregations in the diocese consists of an aging population with fewer younger persons seeking membership and involvement in congregational life.

 

Statistics show that the church I knew and served when I was ordained in 1972 has not been able to adapt its teaching of the Gospel or maintain its economic stability during these times of change. In our rapidly developing culture, many young people have been detached since birth from institutional Christianity. As bishop, all I have to do is study the parochial reports of our congregations to see the higher number of burials and the much lower number of baptisms, confirmations and receptions as reported by each of our congregations. Another telling statistic is the declining numbers of children and young people involved in Sunday school and youth activities. The numbers are alarming!

 

The hard question is: How can our challenged congregations be centers of exciting, Christ-centered worship, train and equip disciples to become bearers of the Gospel, and at the same time keep the doors open? What is the cost in dollars and human resources in keeping church buildings repaired, open, active and accessible as centers of worship, education and mission outreach while paying the overhead costs of maintenance and clergy compensation? How can a parish with a full time priest, but on the margins of survival, support its own mission work and the larger mission work of the diocese and the Episcopal Church?

 

Diocesan staff, canon to the ordinary Paul Cooney, the Diocesan Council and I are currently engaged in direct conversation with congregations that are struggling to survive. We work with them as they work hard to envision what their future might look like if membership, financial and attendance trends do not reverse themselves. Can they continue to exist with a full time rector, a part time rector, a priest-in-charge or a supply priest? Might it be wiser if a congregation under stress begins to see if the merging of two struggling congregations can create one congregation that is stronger, larger and more financially capable of becoming an emerging church in the 21^st century? Some conversations could lead to the possible yoking of congregations, in which two congregations cover the cost and upkeep of their individual church properties while sharing the duties of one full time priest. Another, more painful conversation engages congregations in discussing the possibility of ending their ministry in its current location, selling the property and establishing with the proceeds a congregation in a new location where demographics are more favorable for membership growth and mission initiatives.

 

The “Emerging Church” is not a monolithic structure. It is not based on the traditional model of how we “do” church. It is in reality a church that must be able to recognize that in the 21^st century all options are on the table for exercising the ministry of Jesus Christ in a rapidly changing world. It is a church that must ask the hard questions and courageously seek new responses to the demands of a changing parish ministry.

 

The Episcopal/Anglican Church has much to offer a new generation of seekers, if we are only willing to see that in order to be a missional church, we must be willing to make hard choices about how we grow beyond the traditional church structures and assumptions that we have inherited from our Church of England forbearers.   

 

The critical work of evaluation and discernment in the churches of our diocese – asking hard questions and receiving empowering answers – must be our mission right now and in the future, when the ninth Bishop of Washington takes office. Time is of the essence if we are to engage with courage and claim our rightful heritage as disciples of Jesus Christ.

 

We define our mission under the banner of inclusive love for all of God’s children. We are communities that must exist to preach the Gospel with the fire of conviction. We are communities that must teach and reach out through strong lay and clergy leadership. We must be communities of deep, spirit-filled prayer and holy expectation.

 

As we move forward with the great challenges that are before us, I cannot think of a diocese that promises a more hopeful future. This future can be ours if we choose to reach out and embrace the passion for the possible.