Journalist's enterprise turns up church issues

(image from KARE-11)

I wonder if Bob Shaw had any idea he was writing an article that could turn out to be career-defining for him. Mind you, there's no intent on the part of the journalist to harm anyone. A journalist definitely has the sense when he's writing an article of that type. In his head he ought to be thinking "let the chips fall where they may." Or, "the truth will set you free."
When injury is done, where mendacity exists or when policies are insensitive or poorly articulated, it serves the public's interest to know about it. So Mr. Shaw wrote an article about a church in Cottage Grove - suburban Twin Cities? - that is having to deal with the stress we all know exists in mainstream denominations.
A few years ago you'd have to be a regular consumer of C-Span lectures to know what the terms "nones" and "dones" meant. Today the odds are much higher that your personal acquaintances will be familiar with the terms. They have to do with alienation from church. People are increasingly choosing to sever their direct involvement, not necessarily becoming atheists, mind you. They may decide to focus on spiritual values on a private basis. Is it an extension of the "bowling alone" phenomenon? Whatever the case, mainstream Christian churches still exist and they are obviously having to wrestle with the realities.
People in church organizations find their livelihood at stake. That's quite the motivator. So, this church in Cottage Grove is undertaking a strategy to jump-start its numbers and vitality. It had a nucleus of older members who were devoted and I'm sure enjoyed the weekly sense of fellowship. Pulling the rug out from under them was a mistake, a scenario described in Shaw's article for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. He quoted people in appropriate positions to know what was going on. It all came to be interpreted as "kicking out the older people." Well.
There you have a newspaper article that is certainly going to grab attention or to use the contemporary term, "go viral." It went amazingly viral. The "micro" story of this particular church isn't that important, what's important is how the dust-up is a reflection of what is going on macro-speaking. Professional clergy are highly distressed by how the 20-somethings just aren't interested. They see so many gray-haired people in the pews.
Well, obviously the pastors ought to appreciate any and all people who continue to "show the love" with church. And if you want to get real practical, isn't it true that older people have more money to contribute to church? The money factor ought to weigh in quite a bit, given our current nature in America, but what happens if there's no young generation coming up to sustain these organizations? So the Cottage Grove church planned a re-launch and decided to close for several months before getting going with hopefully a new image that gets the young adults excited, I guess. Church leaders claim this has worked elsewhere.
 
Wrestling on more than one front
We're talking the Methodist denomination. I'm not sure what are these "Methodists." I do know they have had one other big fish to fry recently: the gay rights thing. Many young people will shake heads over a church even having conflict over this. Silly rabbit, basic rights for gay people is pretty understood through society now. The ELCA of the Lutheran denomination is past this.
But it seems the ELCA is feeling even more duress than the Methodists. What are the fundamental differences between the two? Well, I remember a popular song refrain from when I was young and my generation was having to respond to apologists for the Vietnam war. When asked to listen a little to reasons for the war, the song offered a rejoinder: "Don't tell me I don't give a damn."
 
You say potatoes. . .
The whole idea of comparing Methodists to Lutherans, on its face, causes many young people to just shake their heads. And I think they feel revulsed by the whole judgmental nature of the organized Christian faith. They just aren't interested. My, I'm not either. I'm 65 years old and strive to keep connection to the ELCA because of the wishes of my deceased mother.
My church definitely appears to be stressed. Lots of older people. Obviously we shouldn't even categorize people according to age. It's age-ism which has the same disturbing effect as racism. We will all get old.
Grove United Methodist Church is the name of the humble little place which now seems to be noticed internationally! Congratulations to the scribe Mr. Shaw, you have shed valuable light on the pressing questions faced by the mainstream Christian denominations. The Catholics? I don't wish to address them much, as I feel the clergy sexual abuse thing has damaged the whole faith and is unsavory to talk about.
So we have this little Methodist church in a Twin Cities suburb that has now come to be a focus for discussions about where the "nones" and "dones" are coming from. Photos of the church building reveal it to be pretty humble and maybe not real inviting. Is there an ELCA church nearby? The 30 or so regular congregants at Grove would definitely be welcomed at the nearest ELCA church. Why not posit that as a nice resolution? The ELCA is a haven for all fair-minded people, people who stay calm and reasonable about social issues.
The ELCA has a progressive standing politically. It is a haven for people with skepticism about President Trump. The "evangelicals" who follow Trump are having a chafing effect on the faith just like the Catholic sex abuse scandal. The media probably overrates or hypes the political "evangelicals." It's a cultural flashpoint and the national media salivates over cultural flashpoints. Wait until the Iowa caucuses. "What are the evangelicals going to do?" Why don't they ask "what are the Lutherans going to do?"
I wince about the Lutheran faith because Martin Luther was such a virulent anti-Semite.
 
Whither the faith in Morris MN?
Here in Morris MN we have three churches that I would characterize as reasonable middle-of-the-road types: my First Lutheran plus Faith Lutheran (also ELCA) and Federated. Federated is partly covered by the Methodist denomination. It gets complicated. Getting to the heart of it, the same type of people are attracted to all three of these churches.
Good Shepherd was formed to the north of town as a rebellion against the ELCA and its political tone, especially with gay rights matters. Which I personally find to be highly troubling. But those people have a right to their views.
First Lutheran and Faith Lutheran ought to behave like one and the same church. Years ago that would have been a hard sell because of the usual small town parochial garbage. I sense that's gone now as it should be. First Lutheran Church appears to be treading water and it's impossible to know the future. But the immediate future does not look good.
Good Shepherd along with the Apostolic churches are a siphon away from the more reasonable-seeming churches. So the latter churches are flailing a little, evidenced in $. I hate it when I contribute $ to my church and realize some of it will probably go to foreign missionaries or Habitat for Humanity. I make the contributions only because it seems like "dues" to an organization that I find fills a social need for me. And because my late mother would insist on it.
The church in Cottage Grove capitulated to an urge to be desperate, to grab some 20-somethings to firm up their future - good luck - when it should have just been thankful for the assets it had. I fail to see how shutting the doors for several months is a commendable thing to do, for any purpose.
Great work, Bob Shaw.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com