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Philadelphia

Churches Exercise POWER in Philadelphia

The Church Knows How to Run an Airline

I happened to be in Philadelphia City Hall yesterday. I was there on business for once. No synod chasing me this time, although for a moment I wondered!

As I waited for my appointment on the fourth floor near City Council Chambers, I watched the security screening process. It was a slow day until about 3 pm when the line to pass through security started to grow.

Many of the people in line were clergy. A man with a camera labeled Channel 6 set up his equipment next to me. I thought I recognized one or two of the clergy from our Ambassador visits. They were carrying signs that said POWER. One in particular seemed to be taking charge to some degree.

So, I thought, the clergy do know their way to City Hall. So few showed up for all the hearings on the Synod’s lawsuit against Redeemer (something for which they were directly responsible).

I looked up POWER when I returned home.

POWER stands for Philadelphians Organized to Witness, Empower and Rebuild. 

They were in City Hall to influence the vote on airline leases with an interest for better pay for airport workers. The airlines are wealthy enough to pay their workers better, they feel.

Sounds like a good cause. And they may be right about the airlines. Everyone deserves good pay. I’m sure they know best.

The website has a list of 40 churches. Most participating POWER churches are Roman Catholic. Three are Jewish. There are some Baptist, Methodist and Episcopal congregations represented and a few others, too.

Only two of them are Lutheran (or at least have “Lutheran” in their name) and one of the two is closed. Our Ambassadors had visited both of them. My memory served me well. The two pastors were who I thought they were!

POWER’s mission in part (from their website):

POWER uses our belief in God’s goodness and compassion for the suffering to organize and empower the people of Philadelphia to live and work together so that God’s presence is known on every block, that people work together to transform the conditions of their neighborhood, and that life flourishes for all.

Shining a light on broken systems:

POWER has come together to lift up a new prophetic voice and bear witness to the fact that these systems no longer work for too many families in too many Philadelphia neighborhoods.

We at Redeemer know that we can count on clergy for one thing. They will always stand ready to hold other people accountable for decisions and policies. Shining a light on their own systems rarely happens.

If they could just hold up their protest signs at their own Synod Assemblies and address how their leaders, systems and policies are shaping our city.

One of the pastors I recognized is on Synod Council, a key policy-making body.

It looks to us like grabbing the property of city churches to benefit hierarchical salaries and suburban missions is their city-shaping policy. Part of that policy is neglecting urban congregations and allowing the laity to work hard with little help and no hope of recognition—even when their work is successful. Attacking lay members who raise an objection to this system is their idea of justice here and now.

However valid the objectives, let’s look at who is talking. The Church doesn’t pay minimum wage to its most loyal workers. They pay them NOTHING. In fact, in the Church, the workers are expected to give. The best ones aim for 10%. Entitlement? Tradition? Whatever, it’s free labor with no earthly benefits. (I’m not complaining about the decades of work I gave for nothing. I wasn’t serving them.)

Only a couple of Lutheran churches are represented in POWER—both from the city and one of them recently closed. One of the things our Ambassadors have noticed is just how powerless the Lutheran clergy are in running their own affairs.

POWER believes that people should have a say in the policy decisions that shape their lives and therefore should not shy away from the exercise of power to promote justice and advance the common good.

What is that old saying? Practice what you preach?

05 Jun 2013

No More Mister Nice Guy

A friend wrote a note of encouragement this week to Redeemer, a congregation that continues to be abused by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (SEPA / ELCA).

He wrote that our situation reminds him of a song by Alice Cooper of the 70s. He quoted a song:

“I went to church, incognito, when everybody rose. The Reverend Smith, he … he recognized me, and punched me in the nose. I said, ‘No more Mr. Nice Guy.'”

That doesn’t begin to describe how the Lutherans of East Falls feel about the way their denomination has treated them. But it’s as close as anyone in the church has tried to get.

27 Jan 2013

Church Properties Become a Burden to Church Hierarchies

2×2 points to a recently reposted article about closed Philadelphia churches.

Tons of property now stand empty in the greater Philadelphia region.

Episcopal Bishop Bennison says, Where is the Gospel in this?

Good question, Bishop Bennison. The question should have been asked long ago!

The article deals with the stones and mortar problem church leaders are facing.

It barely mentions the lives of the people who have been affected.

The Church misplaced its priorities long ago. They point to a changing economy and demographics. Where were the experts on change when the changes were happening?

The neglect of God’s people is the real problem.

Most of the church leaders quoted in this article are from Roman Catholic and Episcopal traditions where church property is owned by the denomination.

One person quoted in this article, Bishop Claire Burkat, comes from the Lutheran tradition, where property belongs to the congregations. Her actions, in one neighborhood (East Falls) defied the rules of the church she serves. Courts have refused to hear the case the congregation brought. They want churches to settle their own problems, citing separation of church and state.

The Church does not have a good record of solving its own problems!

Now, they, like the hierarchies modern Lutheran leaders emulate, have a problem. They have successfully acquired property they cannot support or have any use for! Each denomination is competing for few willing buyers.

Costs are rarely discussed openly. This article states the realistic cost as $55,000 per property. No figure like this appears in the regional Lutheran church budget!

The real problem began years ago. The Church fled neighborhoods and considered the people left behind or newly moving into those neighborhoods as demographically unsuitable for their investment in ministry. They paid experts a lot of money to support their decisions.

They sought short-term solutions that would one day be someone else’s problem—presumably the laity’s.

They routinely, assigned part-time, minimal effort, caretaker pastors to see how long they might keep money flowing without actually ministering to the community.

Reliance on demographic studies is not helpful. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America analyzed Philadelphia’s demographics and found only one zip code in the city worthy of mission investment—Chinatown.

Eventually, they officially quit trying and started helping congregations close. Initially, in the Lutheran Church, they allowed the congregations to dispose of their assets as is Lutheran law. But regional bodies were struggling, too. They started imposing new “rules” which would make the assets of congregations go to them. Any such new rules are in defiance of the ELCA Articles of Incorporation and cannot be changed by fickle, expedient bylaws. Only Redeemer is challenging this, although the practice will one day affect many.

The plan is backfiring. Even suburban churches face serious challenges.

Regional bodies are looking for any way to put properties they now manage to work. They would rather work with hot dog vendors and theater troupes than people in the neighborhoods who profess the same faith.

It’s time to start looking at more than property. 2×2 will examine the more important question.

What happens to the people and neighborhoods when churches close?

25 Aug 2012