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.
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 said during a workshop at the Big Tent celebration – a mash-pit of 10 Presbyterian groups meeting simultaneously June 11-13 at a hotel in downtown Atlanta.
All of the mainline denominations are having “to reinvent what it means to be a denomination,” Lindner said. “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.”
Some compared the Big Tent to being like General Assembly — but a lot more fun. No punch-drunk committees debated amendments at midnight. No frustrated commissioners huddled in corners writing minority reports.
About 1,500 people registered for the first-ever Big Tent, including staff members, to talk about evangelism and stewardship, how to work with immigrants and build great Web sites and energize elders.
They found time for ice-cream socials and ended it all with a procession led by bag-pipers and a John Calvin look-alike to a nearby park. (Don’t call it a parade. There was no parade permit – and Presbyterians of course would not break the rules).
Despite the feel-good mood, however, realities did creep in. The PC(USA) is a mostly-white, aging denomination that’s having trouble keeping members, getting enough money, finding its place in the changing landscape of American religion.
What would the PC(USA) be like if the church described at Pentecost in the Bible – the fiery, multi-racial, multi-ethnic, all-ages, full-of-excitement church described in Acts – jumped out of the pages of the Bible and into real Presbyterian life, asked Graham Baird, the organizing pastor of Highlands Church in Paso Robles, Calif., preaching during closing worship.
Highlands knows about excitement: established just three years ago, meeting in a movie theatre, it has grown to 2,000 members, an example of dynamism in a denomination hungry for such stories.
But for the PC(USA) to become a Pentecost church, “I think we’d have to get a lot messier,” Baird said. “I can just read your hearts right now. You’re thinking, ‘We don’t need any more mess in the Presbyterian church.’ ”
But what he sees is that “we’re way too messy on the inside. But we’re not even close to messy enough on the outside,” in interacting with the rest of the world.
In Big Tent workshops, those questions played out time after time — as people discussed how to make connections with those who have no regular (or no positive) connection with organized religion; with immigrants; with changing communities surrounding congregations that themselves may be stagnant.
Think about what it means to walk as an immigrant into a church, not as a member of the tribe, said Rodger Nishioka, an associate professor of Christian education at Columbia Theological Seminary.
“Peace be with you,” he said to the evangelism workshop participants.
“And also with you,” they automatically responded.
But for the newcomer, who doesn’t know the way to the bathrooms in the church or doesn’t know the words to a “familiar” hymn, that kind of connection can’t be taken for granted.
Lindner sketched out the pain many Presbyterians already feel on 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’re not worried about the synod school, because their folks can’t afford the gas to go to synod school,” she said. “They’re worried about if they have to put the church secretary on a half-time basis or a no-time basis.”
Lindner also sees reasons for hope.
“Challenge offers opportunity,” she said. And if the PC(USA) is willing, “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.
She also thinks the landscape will change even when the financial markets start to pick up.
Then, “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 … 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.”
