Despite $6-million fund, church with gay agenda is spiraling downward
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, March 8, 2004
Well-stocked with a $6-million endowment, Downtown United Presbyterian Church in Rochester, N.Y., is advertising for an interim co-pastor to help the congregation snap out of its downward spiral.
Church complexThe 2,577-word advertisement, posted on the Web site of That All May Freely Serve, is a profile of a congregation that has put the issue of ordaining homosexuals at the top of its agenda while its membership and worship attendance have plunged. With its budget funded chiefly from its endowment, the generosity of the congregation’s members is far below the norm for Presbyterians.
The advertisement makes two references to Jesus and one to the Bible, but many more to activities and beliefs that shore up its non-Reformed theological perspective and its commitment to social activism.
The congregation’s leaders want the candidate to have “an ability to present a feminist and liberationist theological perspective in addition to a variety of other theological perspectives in preaching, teaching and leading.”
Once at the center of the homosexual ordination debate in the Presbyterian Church (USA) – when it unsuccessfully tried in 1990 to install lesbian activist Janie Spahr as a co-pastor – Downtown United is in a freefall.
To cover its 2003 expenses of $869,002, it withdrew 9.2 percent of its invested funds (roughly $560,000). The advertisement for a new interim co-pastor did not say whether the drawdown depleted some of its endowment capital, but it did note that the congregation’s leaders want to limit future withdrawals from the endowment to no more than 6 percent.
It uses that money for a variety of “mission” causes – including Spahr’s work as a lesbian “evangelist” with All That Freely Serve, which, along with the Covenant Network of Presbyterians, the Witherspoon Society and More Light Presbyterians, seeks the repeal of the “fidelity/chastity” ordination law in the denomination’s constitution. Downtown United, one of 126 congregations allied with More Light Presbyterians, lists Spahr as a member of its staff.
But the Rochester congregation does more than dissent. In a separate statement posted on the Web site of More Light Presbyterians, the leaders of the congregation openly proclaim that they will not comply with the church’s law: “We will continue to work to remove G-6.0106b from the Book of Order, and, in the meantime, we will interpret this law so as to permit the ordination of those whom we deem qualified.”
Also housed within the congregation’s complex is a renegade Roman Catholic group called Spiritus Christi Church, which was expelled by its diocese in 1998 because of the congregation’s “stand for open communion, for permitting women active roles in leadership, and for inclusion of GLBT people,” according to the congregation’s advertisement. GLBT is the acronym for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender.
The continued existence of Downtown Rochester and its ability to pay top dollar for social causes parallel that of the denomination. Both are propped up by investment capital that resulted from the gifts of Presbyterians who have been long deceased.
The Presbyterian Foundation, one of the largest endowments of any denomination in America, has provided up to $141.1 million in a single year (2001) for Presbyterian Missions, although that has dropped sharply in recent years to $126.9 million for the current year.
Downtown United has a large and attractive complex. Besides its sanctuary, which has Tiffany stained-glass windows and a Fisk organ, the congregation owns an adjacent four-story building that includes a gymnasium and a bowling alley. Its fellowship hall seats 200 people.
But its members are well below par when it comes to supporting that complex and the work of the church. The advertising profile of the congregation said the 2003 budget included only about $220,000 in pledges and offerings, which is roughly $618 per member. As a whole, members of congregations throughout the PCUSA gave an average of $827.37 in 2002. The average annual giving per member among the 1,315 Confessing Churches within the Presbyterian Churches (USA) is nearly $1,000. By emphasizing that Jesus alone is Lord and Savior for the world, Scripture is the infallible rule of life and practice, and Biblical standards for morality and holiness are timeless, the Confessing Churches are the virtual opposites of the Rochester congregation’s theology and practice.
The Rochester congregation’s advertisement says the membership is mostly white-collar and professional, presumably people with higher incomes. “Our membership consists largely of employed and retired professionals, such as teachers, healthcare providers, business people, scientists and engineers, social services providers, and consultants,” the advertisement says.
Separately, the appeal for a new staff member points out that the membership is aging fast. Forty-three percent of the members are over the age of 66 and 58 percent are over the age of 56.
The congregation’s advertisement says membership at the end of 2003 was 356. That’s a decline of 47.8 percent from its 1992 membership of 681, according to congregational data reported by the Presbyterian Church (USA). In 2003 alone, the congregation removed the names of 49 members from its rolls, an 8 percent drop.
The Rochester congregation has a 500-seat sanctuary, but average worship attendance is only 145 – 40.7 percent of the membership. As a whole, the denomination’s data say worship attendance is higher than 50 percent.
For whatever it means, the advertisement does inform candidates about what the congregation believes. Under the heading of “our theology,” it says:
- “Congregation and pastors together prayerfully seek to discern God’s will and strive to follow God’s guidance in all that we do. We are committed to a co-pastorate consisting of clergy with complementary skills, gifts, and talents. We are committed to co-ministry consisting of members and clergy working in concert to achieve our mission and vision. We are an inclusive church. DUPC celebrates diversity. We invite individuals and families of diverse age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, physical and mental ability, and economic status into all aspects of congregational life and leadership.”