The Death And Resurrection of the Episcopal Church

How To Save A Church In Decline

Caswell Cooke Jr

• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781645696384
• eBook ISBN: 9781645696391
• Topic: Teologia e religione
• Subtopic: Cristianesimo

In an era where churches in America are in decline, this book offers a clear path and hope for the future. using the Episcopal Church as an example of a Mainline Protestant Domination that has faced a half century of steep decline, the author shows where the church has gone astray, what has contributed to the continued losses, a strong critique of the leadership as well as a way for the people to take back their church and grow it. This book is a must have for anyone who truly cares about the future of American Protestant Churches especially the Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregational Churches, who all face the exact same fate. Delving into how to compete for peoples attention in the modern age, how to modernize your parish, reach out to those who have left and attract new members, this is a "how to" for congregational growth. This compelling narrative tackles the modern day issues that divide our country: conservative vs liberal, race issues, sexuality and other third rail controversies that have torn apart the church. Most importantly the book offers real solutions for how the church should deal with them so as to be a big tent for all people. In addition to the "how to" nature of this book, the author travels to and examines many parishes in the Episcopal Church from the largest in the denomination, St. Martin's Houston, home of the Bush family to St. Bart's on Park Ave in New York City. With interviews ranging from Fox News personality Tucker Carlson to Telemundo's Fr. Alberto Cutie of Florida, this book examines all angles. Brutally honest, insightful and reflective, this book will be a quick read and easy to implement in your own parish. Nothing coming from the leadership of any of these denominations has worked, so if you care about the future of Mainline Protestants and especially The Episcopal Church, then this is for you! Caswell Cooke is not a priest or minister, never went to seminary and holds no theological degrees. This is a grass roots way to make a difference and get results. The future might just be a little brighter with The Death and Resurrection of The Episcopal Church: How to Save a Church in Decline.

Chapter 5

The National Church—the Third Rail Which Is Gender, Race, and Sexual Orientation

If there is going to be a controversial chapter, then this is it. Yes, I am a white, middle-aged male cradle Episcopalian Republican. Read on knowing that it is my personal viewpoint, yet I believe it is a viewpoint many people with my background have but would never voice. My feeling is if you do not voice it, then people like me continue to leave. I also realize this is only my perspective. I also know we live in a culture where, if you have a conservative angle, the left will label you. That’s fine. But our story needs to be heard, too.

I do believe in the structure of the Episcopal Church. It’s amazing that the framers of our constitution in 1789—people like George Washington—are the same people that in 1790 formed our current denomination in the United States. We are pretty much the most uniquely American church there is.

We have a lot of great things in our history and have been very fortunate to be influential in our nation’s growth and life. It’s no small fact that our nation’s cathedral in Washington DC is an Episcopal cathedral. Or that the largest cathedral in the northern hemisphere is St. John the Divine, New York City. Or that more than any other denomination, we have had the most presidents be Episcopalian. These are cool things, and I’m proud of all that. For such a small group, we have made some pretty big waves in our nation over the years.

I believe very firmly that the structure of our church is a good one with the house of laity and the house of bishops and the election of the presiding bishop to serve for a term of nine years. I think the timing of our conventions every three years is perfect, and I think the way in which we elect our delegates is also wonderful.

Where I think the national church has failed is that up until now each presiding bishop has pretty much ignored the decline and soldiered on in spite of it. Our last presiding bishop, Katherine Jefferts Schori, told us that “we’re not dead yet,” but again gave us no way to fix it. I have not heard a concise message from any presiding bishop directing us to restore our buildings, increase attendance, bring more people in, or for that matter, anything really practical that we can use. Ignoring the problem will not make it go away.

You know what? Maybe it’s not up to the presiding bishop to do that all the time. Maybe it’s up to the executive committee and those delegates that meet every three years and to the bishop of each diocese.

I think that the church’s focus for the next ten years, which includes the next three conventions, needs to be to put aside differences and concentrate nearly 100 percent of our energy on reviving the church and growing the membership. And they need to put money and resources behind it.

We spend way too much time debating things like inclusive language, alternative liturgies, revising prayer books and hymnals, and apologizing to every organization or group that we might’ve offended in the past 250 years and so on down the road. We have a lot of infighting when it comes to elections, such as the use of the national cathedral the day after the inauguration in 2017 because people were offended by the president. Get over it.

We spend way too much time passing resolutions against pipelines in favor of caravans and defending this group or that group with some kind of proclamation. Stop it.

Remember what Paul wrote in First Corinthians. He pleaded that the followers of Christ set aside any differences for the common calling. Now is the time to do that. Now is not the time to fight over a new prayer book or anything like that.

Listen, our church fought against injustice. And we succeeded. We ordain women to the priesthood, we marry gay couples, we allow for no discrimination as to who can become a priest or bishop, and we even have been led by not only some great men but also have had a woman elected to the highest post in our church and currently now an African-American.

I think the strife is over, the battle done, and the victory of Christ is won. Sometimes it’s hard when the war is over because so many people still have PTSD. But the war is over, and it might be time to move on to other issues. The Episcopal Church, if it stays together, can lead simply by example. We do the right thing, and it will catch on with the other denominations.

Our church is 90 percent white, a majority of the members make over a hundred grand a year, and we work in high levels of corporate America and government. And when these statistics are listed, it is as though that’s a bad thing? It’s bad to have money, power, and influence? I would think the Church would embrace that and use it to her advantage to do more good in the world. But, no, we are made to feel bad about our own identity. That’s wrong. Too many middle-aged or old white people somehow equals bad. Keep that up and watch them all leave, along with their pledges. So many of them already have.

The other thing is since we revised the prayer book in 1979 all the way up through the changes we have made until recently, we have not grown the church. Instead, we have actually caused division and splintering, and it hasn’t really gotten us anywhere.

We should now turn our attention away from revising the prayer book that does not need to be revised or worrying about if we call God a he or a she or Creator and concentrate on the basics. I don’t need my pronoun written on my nametag at general convention. Knock it off.

I’m asking all of the delegates to put the social revolution agenda on hold for a few years and to not make any more liturgical changes for a few years so that instead of parsing words and pissing people off, we can proclaim the gospel to those who have left us and to those who we hope to convert.

There are many ways for the national church to get moving on this project. The first thing I would say is that our presiding bishop needs to visit more parishes around this country. There are only 6,500 churches which means, in the course of nine years, he or she should be able to visit a ton of churches and communities. Get out of New York City and move around the country. The revivals are a good step in the right direction.

What it means is for now probably the overseas trips should be limited, and we should really concentrate on the Episcopal Church in the United States and have him come to our parishes to inspire us.

It would be good if he could visit all of the fifty states so that people at least have an opportunity to get to one of his events. He’s an inspiring leader, and I think if more of the people of our congregations across this country could meet and see him in person, we would be well served. We would be more apt to respond to the Jesus movement.

What I want our leaders to do is to stop talking about how we need to decentralized or downsize the church, sell the headquarters, etc., and really focus on inspiring each bishop and each parish priest to renew the call across our country.

We need to hear our leadership say there will be no more churches closed, there will be no more rectories sold, there will be no more ignoring decline. Instead, we will change the paradigm, and we will put our money where our mouth is so that we will grow.

We need the Episcopal Church to get the message out on a national level. That means a national advertising campaign. Out of the 320 million Americans, I bet you 2 percent are very familiar with our denomination, 70 percent know nothing about our church, and the other 28 percent probably don’t know much more than what’s written on the sign outside of an Episcopal Church building. It means we have a lot of work to do with branding ourselves.

I want to see an Episcopal Church ad play during Super Bowl. That’s the kind of attention we need to get. We need to be out there. Every time you turn around, you should see a billboard that says the Episcopal Church Welcomes You. We need to make people ask, “What is this Episcopal Church all about?” I want to see us for the next three years promote ourselves like none other and like never before.

I want our national leadership to make sure that every parish has the resources to have a website and proper signage, and every parish has the ability, if they would like, to open a preschool or utilize their church buildings in other profitable ways that attract people and keep the buildings open. I want to see the Church offer a revolving fund for maintenance and repairs and other necessities. Instead of mission trips to the Far East, or Africa, or Europe, it’s time to spend that money here shoring up our base.

If we could just stop debating race, gender, social policy, and politics for just one decade and take all of that energy collectively and pour it into evangelism, then we would be in great shape. Let us stop preaching at people and invite them in and listen for a while. Like Jesus did on the mountain, let us contemplate for a while.

The leaders of our church ...

Table of contents

• We Have Arrived at the Fork in the Road
• Reality Check: Having Your Clergy, Vestry, and Faithful Core of Parishioners Face Reality
• The Basics Are Simple
• Go Out and Tell Our Story
• The National Church—the Third Rail Which Is Gender, Race, and Sexual Orientation
• So What Can Your Diocese Do?
• Shepherd to Lost Sheep
• Let’s Roll out the Welcome Wagon
• Use the Church Property More
• A Quick Trip around the Church
• A Conservative Voice in the Wilderness
• Another Way of Doing Things
• The Big Question: Will This Decision or Change Grow the Church or Cause It to Lose Members?
• Hope for the Future
• Growth Is the Focus