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The Presbyterian Outlook isn't interested in printing this (I wonder why), so I am publishing it here:
Two recent articles in the Presbyterian Outlook state that “The future of the PC(USA) is pastor-less, and that’s OK,” by Catherine Neelly Burton, and “The future of the PC(USA) is being reformed by God,” by Allison Unroe. The first describes the decline of congregations, especially rural ones, and the decline of small towns in rural America. The second raises questions about the value we do or do not place on “theologically educated and ethically trained pastoral leadership.” A look into the recent past and a larger context is needed to address these issues. Active, engaged church members and leaders only see the problems from inside the churches and are no longer in conversation with those who have left, who would have much to say about churches and the need for educated pastors.
I saw these issues close up during the 1990's, when I was Associate for Professional Development in Louisville, and then Executive Presbyter/Stated Clerk in Great Rivers Presbytery. “Leadership” for times of change was the cry of the day in reaction to “management” which had been fitting for a seemingly unchanging church in the 50's. Presbyterian denominations had begun their membership decline in 1965 when I became a church member, and even when I graduated from seminary in 1972 my professors assumed that I would be a custodian of a small part of a large, stable and secure institution. Many of us could see in the 90's that the mainline churches would fall off a cliff when the “greatest generation,” the largest cohort within the churches, passed on.
My favorite explanation for the church decline we experienced was given by Hoge, Johnson, and Luidens in Vanishing Boundaries, who described active Elders and other lay leaders in the Presbyterian and other mainline churches as “lay liberals,” middle and upper-middle class professionals whose humanist and secular values were stronger than the propositions of traditional faith. They directed their children from confirmation classes into non-church-related colleges and universities, where they chose secular careers. Later, most chose not to attend church. I concluded that the cause of our decline lay with John Calvin and the early Presbyterians who valued education so highly that many of us were educated out of the church.
I believe that secularization was a good thing. After all, the churches proclaim that God sent Jesus not to condemn the world, but to save it through him. I think of salvation as making whole, or tikkun olam, repair of the broken world, a task given to all of us. A vital church near me teaches to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly (Micah 6:8), a simple vision that stirs the people there. 2001 was the first year that more Americans were unaffiliated with a church than belonged to one. Since then even Presbyterians feed at the new and plentiful smorgasbord of spiritualities, or leave theism entirely. The decline in belonging to church cannot be separated from ceasing to believe old orthodoxies.
While working for the denomination on issues of professional development, I still assumed the presence of a pastor in almost all congregations. In west central Illinois I saw that this was not so. Congregations without theologically educated pastors may wander into strange beliefs. Only congregations with well-read, articulate lay leaders will be able to provide their communities with the role of ethical and authoritative guidance that pastors once filled. When I was pastor in the ‘70's and ‘80's, I was alarmed that many of my congregants read books by Billy Graham and Oral Roberts, which they received for contributing to those evangelists’ television shows. The times were changing, but we could not see exactly how or where it would lead. Too many in the church thought I possessed priestly powers, yet our worship services could not compete with the new media. Today, affluent congregations seek growth with electronic technologies of their own, while the basic causes of church decline remain mostly unaddressed. Churches going their own way may become centers of “Christian nationalism” or various kinds of personal pieties. Theology and Christology as serious fields of study are now on the operating table, awaiting surgery or death.
As presbytery executive once, and as guest preacher today, I see that most small congregations want to hold on to their past identity, and cannot envision changing. They will rarely collaborate with other nearby congregations, Presbyterian or otherwise, which might multiply their ministries. On Sunday mornings I used to travel to these towns, stop at the convenience store, and ask where the Presbyterian church was. Rarely did any one even know that a Presbyterian church existed there. My point to the congregations was that they should be known for doing something to benefit the town and its people.
The town without a doctor, lawyer, or minister is in serious decay. Farms have become larger, high tech operations. Many farm families who used to go to church, visit the doctor, and retain the lawyer for business needs have left. The stores that served the farms are gone, and the Walmart in the county seat has everything anyone needs. We are dealing with a cascade of loss.
Fewer church members means less financial support and fewer pastors, which means smaller and fewer seminaries, resulting in fewer jobs for teachers of ministers, and the writers of fewer articles and books of theology and bible interpretation. Large universities close their religion departments from which those teachers would come, because fewer students major in subjects that are no longer in demand.
The fact that remaining pastors post their sermons online means that anyone in the pastor-less church can read them to their congregations, but then, if members are really interested, they can read them on their own at home, separated from the community. Not many of those sermons will be honest, or teach what needs to be known. Without a pastor there will be no one dedicated to teaching, resolving conflicts, or organizing church life and missional outreach. However, a “mission and ministry connector” can direct them to good resources and teach lay leaders how to use them. A knowledgeable Ruling Elder from another congregation can serve as the presbytery to others in this way.
The human desire for meaning in life, and the need to belong in community, will last. How people find ways to satisfy such longings in the future we do not yet know, but the denominational and congregational model we have known will change. I see droplets of hope in some conversations and initiatives in and around the denominations, but what denominations do draws little interest. The creation of new institutions seems unlikely in the near future. Some congregations do grow, usually in more densely populated places, but their experience is individual and anecdotal.
In retirement I have turned to music and to my relationships with historical Jesus scholars in the Westar Institute. At the end of my memoir, Blue Neon Cross, I wrote, “Who am I to say what small groups of people, unknown to me, now or in some future time, struggling with the teachings of Jesus, might yet become or achieve?” If they sit around a table, and share food and drink (bread and wine?) while studying Jesus, and seeking a more just and inclusive future, I think it is a church.
