Ten years ago, editors Coalter, Mulder and Weeks gave us The Presbyterian Presence, a series of essays about the state of the Presbyterian church toward the close of the 20th century. In the series foreword, the authors wrote: “By analyzing American Presbyterianism as a case study, we hope not only to chronicle its fate in the 20th century but also to illumine larger patterns of religious change in mainstream Protestantism and in American religious and cultural life.” That they did with considerable scope and skill as they examined worship, education, evangelism, the growing “internationalization” of the American church, stewardship, polity, spiritual formation and social witness.
Ten years later, Coalter, Mulder and Weeks’ work continues to frame critical conversations in these areas that need to happen in congregations, in presbyteries and synods, and at the national level. Ten years later, though, these editors sound stuck in an earlier paradigm of the American mainstream church. After acknowledging the cultural and religious displacement of the mainstream church in the 20th century, the severe membership losses and the growing theological balkanization of the church, they still conclude: “And yet they [mainstream churches] remain influential voices in the spectrum of American religion and retain an enduring vitality in the face of a massive reconfiguration of American religious life.”
Such optimism may have limited merit in isolated and rural areas of the land, but largely over the past 10 years, the mainstream church has found itself increasingly marginalized by an apathetic and sometimes antagonistic society. Political rhetoric rings with religious fervor, especially following 9/11, but as sociologists Wade Clark Roof and Robert Wuthnow have argued, while people may be feeling more spiritual, they are not necessarily coming to church to scratch their spiritual itch. While the formerly mainstream churches argue about biblical authority and wage worship wars, the vast majority of society is oblivious to these internal battles and not solicitous of their learned opinions (p. 380).
Does this marginalization of the church by society make The Presbyterian Presence obsolete on its 10th anniversary? Hardly! What it does is require that Presbyterians stop pretending to live in a world that no longer exists. The more we can recognize that we have been pushed to the margins, the more we can walk with a Lord who kept a close eye on those on the margins and calls us to do no less. The less we can assume that our voices carry extra cargo in the halls of power, the more we can speak the truth of the gospel to the powers that be. Society has displaced the former mainstream church; we can lament our loss or celebrate our independence from a lesser power than God.
Drawing on the outstanding work of The Presbyterian Presence — as well as my own research funded by the Louisville Institute — I recently wrote a book about the future of the former mainstream church. I conclude this essay in the same way I conclude The Bold Alternative: Staying in Church in the 21st Century:
Fully confident in a God who is doing new things in our midst, the church can welcome all who walk through its doors and resist being timid about following Christ today when so many people choose not to. For when you look closely at the stories surrounding the crucifixion, to follow Jesus has always been, and most likely, will always be, the bold alternative.
Posted Nov. 18, 2002 
Gary W. Charles, pastor of the Old Presbyterian Meeting House, Alexandria, Va., is also co-author, with Brian Blount, of Preaching Mark in Two Voices (WJKP, 2002).
Send your comment on this report to The Outlook. Please give your hometown.
