COLORADO: Diocese faces mounting closures. Canon Missioner calls it "holy dying"

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
8/21/2006

The canon Missioner for the Diocese of Colorado who is in charge of congregational development for the diocese, says that as many as 12 parishes will close with three already having made the decision to shut down. He calls it "holy dying." She also blames it on "National Church issues".

Lou Blanchard, known unaffectionately as the "Grim Reaper of Church Growth" by an orthodox priest in the diocese, announced this week that St. Francis, Colorado Springs has made the decision to close after declining over several years for many reasons including National Church Issues. Their final service will be on the feast of St. Francis.

"After almost two years of prayer and discernment, Holy Spirit, Colorado Springs will [also] be closing. Their last service was held September 13th. Please pray for the members of Holy Spirit as they grieve and find new church homes," she said.

St. Michael's, Paonia will also be closing this fall as well. The congregation has been in discernment for almost a year and the members are ready to do ministry in another way there, said Blanchard.

"Holy Spirit, Highlands Ranch has been on a month to month basis with their lease for some time and has been looking for a new place to worship. They also have experienced some decline following General Convention which has precipitated a move sooner rather than later. They will be moving to St. George's in Cherry Hills Village the first week in September. The move has the potential to be a win/win for both congregations, but there are a lot of details to be worked through with God's grace. Holy Spirit still plans to eventually buy land and move to Highlands Ranch."

The San Luis Valley Mission, after six months of intentional discernment and prayer, has dissolved and formed three special congregations: St. Thomas, Alamosa, St. Stephen's, Monte Vista, and St. Francis, South Fork. The next step for these congregations is to rebirth around a new vision and start again.

Blanchard noted that many other parishes are "in prayerful discernment, looking honestly at their life and ministries for the first time in years."

"I ask your prayers for St. Thomas, Denver; St. Mark's, Craig; Good Samaritan, Gunnison; Nativity, Grand Junction; All Saints', Denver; Trinity, Trinidad; Resurrection, Limon; and St. Timothy's, Rangely...

A document on dying congregations obtained by VOL showed that at least a dozen congregations in the diocese were dying and have been slowly going out of business since last March "victims" of General Convention decisions and the Robinson consecration.

"Some have been able to face this and enter into an intentional discernment process grounded in a commitment to daily prayer for God's will to be revealed for their futures. This process is a holy time for congregations to do a deep assessment of their life and ministry, the context in which they are called to do ministry, and a courageous and honest look at what they are able to do," wrote Blanchard.

"For All Saints', Pueblo West, it was a process of recognizing that they were not able to gain "critical mass" because of significant members being moved from the area, facility difficulties, and programmatic offerings which would attract new members. They prayerfully spent nine months discerning their future and decided to close. Their final service was July 26th," wrote Blanchard.

"Holy Spirit in Colorado Springs has been discerning for almost two years what God is calling them to do. They have studied, prayed, tried to partner with other ministries, and looked deep into their own past to discover ways in which they have contributed to their decline. They, too, have discerned that it is time to close. They held their final service on September 13th."

St. Michael's in Paonia has been praying about their presence and ministry there for several months. They have been meeting with a consultant to help them discern what is best for them and will be closing this fall, said Blanchard.

Not all of these congregations in discernment are ending in closing, said Blanchard. "Some are dying to the way they've always done it before and finding the ONE thing they do well and are discovering new life. Others are still deep in prayer and discernment. I commend them all to their holy living and holy dying as an inspiration to all of us."

Another orthodox rector from the diocese wrote to say that these parishes do not include New Life, and Joshua House ministries housed in the same building--one that the diocese owned as a result of the clergy and congregation leaving for the AMiA 5 years ago. This congregation was "allowed to die" a year ago by not being funded by the diocese--a result of budget shortfalls due to pledge restrictions by orthodox parishes. The building was sold at a "fire sale" and proceeds placed into new missions funding and the missions funding $$$ taken out and used to balance the budget. Kind of a hint to the rest of us who might want to leave--our buildings will be used to fund the diocese.

"This also does not include at least half a dozen churches, who are not on the diocese radar screen. We are making it from day to day, some missions and some parishes, and if things do not break and improve in the very near future, we will be in the same position."

The Bishop of Colorado is Robert J. O'Neill, certifiably one of the least intelligent bishops in the HOB, distinguished himself in a Pastoral Letter following General Convention saying that GC2006 and the election of Bishop Schori was "historic in proportion" and that the church offered "a significant and substantive response to The Windsor Report." Which is why the Archbishop of Canterbury is hurriedly sending two emissaries to a meeting of Windsor Bishops in Texas to try and keep the lid on The Episcopal Church from exploding, and why Dr. Williams has hastily called together a summit meeting of theologically diverse Episcopal bishops to address the crisis in the Episcopal Church.

But it is not only the Diocese of Colorado that is feeling the heat of Robinson's consecration and decisions made by the national church causing parishes to close.

At the diocesan website of the Diocese of Pennsylvania, Bishop Charles Bennison admits that the diocese now has 155 congregations, down from 162 last year. Evangelical priest Gregory Brewer who has written that Bennison must voluntarily resign because of his mismanagement of the diocese (among other things) noted that present figures reveal that less than 20% of pledged income to the diocese has been received with over 100 congregations (out of 155) statistically in decline. The Standing Committee continues to call for the bishop's resignation.

And in the Diocese of Newark massive closures are in their future. Jack Croneberger, Newark's outgoing bishop admits that "maybe as many as one-third" of the dioceses 114 churches, "... are struggling mightily to keep the doors open."

Nearly eight years ago Robert Stowe England, an Anglo-Catholic journalist did a survey on the state of that diocese and noted then that 15 to 20 parishes had closed. His story was titled "The Graveyard of Urban Ministry." Now, the churches in the old suburbs are dying even faster. How ironic that Jack Spong, the former Newark bishop said Christianity must change or die. Now it is obvious that it is the Diocese of Newark that must change or die. Thus, the number of parishes that failed under Spong will be dwarfed by about 40 parishes that are on the verge of closing under Croneberger's leadership, he wrote.

Across the nation, liberal dioceses are in decline as large, powerful evangelical parishes leave and take their tithing parishioners with them. This is particularly the case in the dioceses of Kansas and Northwest Texas. With or without their properties, the diocese and the bishop is always the loser, because ongoing income is needed to keep the diocese afloat and that is lost forever.

A VOL reader from the Diocese of Florida wrote to say that the hemorrhaging of priests and parishes in that diocese is so bad, "that at the rate this diocese is losing clergy and congregations, you will be able to fire a shotgun across the floor of the next Diocesan Convention without hitting a Christian."

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