Episcopal Dioceses Face Downsizing, Closing Parishes, More Departures

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
November 4, 2009

A number of congregations in the Episcopal Diocese of Maine are on the brink of bankruptcy with over 50% of its parishes receiving grants-in-aid. This has lead to the curtailing of funding for mission programming at the diocesan level and no money left to support the buildings or their budgets.

The Rt. Rev. Stephen T. Lane, in an address to his diocese, said that several of his congregations face "literal bankruptcy" and that tweaking the system and the budget will no longer work. He argued that what is needed is something he called "Adaptive Change."

"What we're always trying to do is tweak the system, tweak the budget, so it works a little better, a little more efficiently. We're always trying to build a better mouse trap or give ourselves a little more breathing room. We're trying to make the old system work as well as it possibly can work. But what if things have changed so much that the system itself no longer will serve? What if we've squeezed every penny out of every dollar? What if, instead of tweaking the system, we have to adapt to the change? What if we have to build a new system? What if we have to learn a new way to be church? That work is called Adaptive Change."

Lane said that every congregation he visited was engaged, to some degree, in Technical Change. He admitted, "I think we've about run out the string. We can't continue for long with over 50% of our congregations receiving grants-in-aid."

Lane said that the diocesan budget would be smaller this year than in over in a decade. "Many of our congregations are struggling with buildings that need a great deal of work and cost far too much to heat. The average age in many congregations continues to rise and the average attendance continues to decline. And people ask me every week, why don't my children come to church? How can we get young families back to church? How can we bring teenagers into our church? How can we find a new generation to take the load off our backs?

"How can we get our old church back so we can retire in peace with a good conscience? I think the answer to our questions is beyond a technical fix. I think we need to be a new church."

Lane admitted that an effort to bring together clergy and lay leaders to a conference to address a plan to rescue the diocese failed. The "wise heads" gathered for the conference weren't fully satisfied with the plan and didn't know if they wanted to volunteer for the work. A number of them decided not to volunteer, he wrote. The bishop said that as a result of the failure to deal with the failing diocese, "it may mean some congregations seeing themselves as ministry sites rather than worship sites. It may mean new ways of calling and paying clergy. It may mean deeper ecumenical and community partnerships - shared facilities and shared clergy. It may mean a return to circuit riders and house churches. It may mean - probably does mean - solutions I can't imagine."

Lane described the situation as "urgent" saying that he was in conversation with several congregations who can no longer afford their budgets or their buildings, and who are facing literal bankruptcy.

DIOCESE OF WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS

From the Diocese of Western Massachusetts comes word that church building closures are a common theme this year. Bishop Gordon Scruton observed that closing churches is an expensive business, and there is no ready market for such churches.

The bishop admitted that the diocese could no longer afford to keep and maintain the diocesan church camp called Bement. "We have also had to face the reality that we are not able to maintain all our church buildings. The Church has far too many buildings that have ceased to serve a useful purpose. In the last century, before the days of the automobile, many churches were built too close to one another, and today they are struggling for survival. Often one would suffice where two or three now exist because they are only a few minutes apart by automobile. We must begin to think in terms of combining such churches, having team ministries, or, in cases where budgets are small, having them staffed by clergy who during much of the week are engaged in secular employment. All of this is going to involve some bold and farsighted re-thinking in the near future.

"I would urge all of our people to get over the idea that the Church is a building. It is not a building at all. Instead, a Church is people, and it exists whether they meet in an ecclesiastical structure or in a storefront or in somebody's home. The place of meeting is not all-important and the sooner we accept this the freer we shall be to plan constructively for the future. Small struggling churches located not far from other Episcopal churches, will have to be combined....It is very important that we face this realistically and prepare now for an orderly change instead of drifting planlessly into a future that we are afraid to confront." Scruton admitted that over this past year, the diocese has began to talk more openly about the reality that there are more church buildings than can be supported. The bishop cited the 125-year old St. John's church in Worcester, which closed because the people came to recognize and accept their lack of energy, money and people to carry on the ministry of the congregation. The organ of St. John's will provide music for St. Michael's in Worcester. The Iglesia Cristiana Natanael will continue worshipping at St John's with the bishop tacitly acknowledging that another congregation will soon rent St. John's building with the possibility of purchase.

Scruton said that closing a congregation requires an enormous amount of time, energy and money on the part of a congregation and diocesan staff. "It is expensive and time consuming to maintain empty church buildings when there is no congregation there to oversee those responsibilities. The architecture and real estate market make it difficult to sell church buildings. In the future, closing a congregation will impact all the parishes of the diocese through shared expenses in our diocesan budget."

The bishop hinted broadly that the closing of Bement and St. John's impacted the diocese financially and "raised strategic questions about the future of our ministry in the Diocese of Western Massachusetts."

The bishop said he sent a Pastoral Mission Letter to the whole diocese inviting it to reflect on the "sobering challenges we are facing" and "to explore the creative new opportunities for ministry that God's Spirit is opening for us in our new situation." The letter, he said, generated much discussion across the diocese. "Berkshire County wardens and clergy have gathered for three Summits to explore moving from isolated ministry to cooperative ministries. Churches in the South Berkshires are experimenting with new creative ways of working together. The Adams and North Adams congregations have entered into a covenant to discern how God is calling them to walk together. They worship as one congregation twice a month. In North Worcester, clergy and wardens have also held three Summits to explore possibilities of sharing ministry in that region. Other congregations across the diocese are beginning to initiate conversations about ways of sharing ministry. These conversations are a grass roots movement of the Holy Spirit. We will need to keep nurturing these regional conversations and creative partnerships as the context out of which God will guide us to new configurations of ministry in this new mission situation."

DIOCESE OF WESTERN NEW YORK

In the Diocese of Western New York, outgoing Bishop Michael Garrison discovered, much to his surprise, that he could not afford to support a church plant meeting in the vacated St. Bartholomew's property. Last year St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church ceased to exist. The congregation, the largest in the diocese and thoroughly orthodox, bought an old synagogue and became St. Bartholomew's Anglican Church. Of course Garrison could have cut a deal with the departing parish but chose not to. They left the property and now he has to sell it. The community of St. Peter's in Forestville announced that they have left The Episcopal Church denuding the diocese of much needed income. The bishop then admitted that many parishes are in financial difficulty and that the diocese will need to reduce the number of church buildings in the next few years. His retirement will be a blessing in this case. His successor will have the "joy" of closing more parishes. "In the last few months I have met with vestries and leaders of a number of our parishes who are experiencing financial difficulties. The financial crisis we experience in our nation and world exacerbates and highlights this difficulty. In many parishes the trouble has been brought on by an over dependence on endowments. The leadership of our congregations needs to be wise and prudent in these matters. All of us are called upon to live within our means. "We also need to ask ourselves over the next few years, if we can any longer support the number of church buildings in which our community worships."

Is juncturing with another diocese in their future?

DIOCESE OF NEW JERSEY

The Rt. Rev. George Councell, Bishop of the Diocese of New Jersey has carried a particular piece of advice with him throughout his career delivering Masses in New Jersey: Say each as if it were your first, say it as if it were your last, say it as if it were your only Mass.

That outlook gave Councell something of an emotional advantage over the rank-and-file parishioners of Fair Haven's Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion recently. That was the day Councell came to preside over the congregation's last-ever Mass.

After 125 years of service, the towering River Road landmark was closed for good following the afternoon service. The church and two buildings on the property are owned by the diocese, and will likely be put on the market, according to Councell. http://www.newjersey.anglican.org/

A blogger cynically wrote: "I am very disappointed with the lack of support for one of my Churches. This trend had better stop or I will make life on earth not as enjoyable as it has been for most of you. Go to one of the other local churches this weekend and double your donations so we can collect the funds necessary to reopen this most Holy of Houses. Remember I am watching all of you, so don't disappoint."

DIOCESE OF WESTERN LOUISIANA

At the Diocese of Western Louisiana's Thirtieth Annual Diocesan Convention, the Rt. Rev. D. Bruce MacPherson publicly admitted that the diocese could lose parishes following GC2009's Resolution actions. In his address to the diocese, the orthodox bishop hinted broadly that the diocese could not serve two masters. "We could well be faced with making a choice of being either provincially oriented or Communion oriented - for it is clear we cannot be both."

Describing the situation as "uncertain," he said, "We cannot claim to be part of a catholic body and then seek to exercise 'local option' over crucial issues."

He further acknowledged that there were some in the diocese who are taking a more formal step by looking towards separation.

New Jersey bishop George Councell, summed it up by saying that there are some things worse than death. "One of them is denial. Resurrection follows death, not denial," he said.

The Episcopal Church denial about the direction of the church and its advocacy and passage of a series of pansexual resolutions by general convention has only heightened rebellion amongst the church's rank and file. The rejection of personal faith by Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori and the go-it-alone mentality by TEC among the Communion's archbishops has resulted in the birth of a new orthodox North American Anglican province.

END