Churches and the denomination have watched their investments wash away.
Congregations may not be able to turn to big givers in the pews for help — some have lost their jobs and are struggling themselves.
Tenants who rent space in church buildings — preschools and nonprofit groups and more– want to stay, but can’t afford to pay the rent.
In Hudson River Presbytery, an executive with Brooks Brothers used to give 400 new shirts for the church rummage sale — worth $90 apiece. Now, in-kind contributions such as those are drying up.
And “there’s no question we’re in a post-denominational age,” said Eileen
Lindner, who is a Presbyterian minister, a sociologist of religion, and connectional presbyter for the Presbytery of the Palisades. In other words: the PC(USA) is getting battered, and fewer and fewer people even care.
But “the perfect storm in these hard times offers us challenge of course and opportunity,” Lindner told a workshop on June 13 during the Stewardship and Investment Conference — one of 10 Presbyterian meetings happening simultaneously at the Big Tent celebration in Georgia.
All of the mainline denominations are having to “reinvent what it means to be a denomination,” Lindner said, including the PC(USA). “This is the chance to retire some things that haven’t worked for us for a very long time, but which we didn’t have the political will to get rid of.”
For sure, right now it’s the pain lots of folks are feeling, in the denomination’s national staff, which has endured a series of layoffs; in the middle governing bodies, facing questions of continued viability; and in congregations. “They can’t quite worry about whether the presbytery has enough money,” Lindner said. “They’re not worried about the synod school, because their folks can’t afford the gas to go to synod school . . . They’re worried about if they have to put the church secretary on a half-time basis or a no-time basis … We are in the eye of what could be called the perfect storm of institutional life.”
That’s some of the bad stuff.
But Lindner also sees reasons for hope.
The storm will force changes – some of which she thinks will be good for the PC(USA).
The tumult provides “a rare opportunity to identify new leadership,” she said. For example, at the Big Tent, “we’ve got all kinds of folks here who would not be at a General Assembly” – people not tied so closely to the institutional structure of the church. And Big Tent is being held “because we don’t have enough money for a General Assembly” every year – so the growth may be sprouting out of loss.
“Challenge offers opportunity,” Lindner said. And if the PC(USA) is willing to reinvent what it means to be a denomination, “we’ll tap into new leadership, new energy, new capacity, and we’ll have the opportunity to get rid of moribund programs and structures” it would be difficult to scuttle otherwise.
Also, “there is an opportunity for spiritual deepening,” she said. In hard times, “the gift of a grateful heart is within reach for us. … There’s not so much entitlement. We’re grateful we still have a job. Yeah, Dad’s hours have changed and mom didn’t get a raise. But they still have jobs.”
She also thinks the landscape will change even when the financial markets start to pick up.
As Presbyterians begin to reinvent themselves as a denomination, “the question of property is going to be dead center of our sense of who we are as people,” Lindner said. “If you think the worship wars were fun these last 20 years, wait until we get to the property wars, between those who think we need to hold property and those who think we need to travel light.”
When property values begin to rise again, she predicted, “the fight is on.”
