Sic transit mega - transitory church popularity - Column

Ross Hidy, a pastor/archivist/historian, has written a biography of his uncle: Ross Stover: That Sunny Man of God (Lutheran Pioneer Press). It tells of a very talented Lutheran minister who worked very, very hard and was very, very, very successful. For example, during the Depression he organized an Easter sunrise service in Philadelphia's Temple Stadium that attracted a record 75,000 attenders. Try that today.

On the eve of World War II he led an ecumenical (not pro-Catholic) Protestant "Spiritual Defense Parade" of 80,000 marchers. Try that today. He led Sunday night hymn sings at Convention Hall featuring 200 singing ushers and attracting 12,000 worshipers each time.

His home parish, Messiah Lutheran, broke membership and attendance records in his denomination and among Philadelphia churches. In 1952 he dedicated what today would be a multimillion-dollar church and in 1959 the congregation burned its mortgage. Stover took ill and retired in 1961, rested from his labors, and died in 1974. It's all well told in the celebratory book, and it's the kind of story that merits telling.

Not until 14 pages from the end is there a shadow: "The whole city was changing.... This was a time of mobility and social change." In the epilogue we read a headline from 1992: "Messiah Lutheran Church closes!" Hidy notes: "Cities change and communities change. Institutions must accept these tides of change and adjust. At times nothing they can do will sustain the programs of earlier decades."

As I read this work, I became roused to preach my sermon on success and size. I begin with confession: In 1962 Life magazine named my parish the "fastest-growing Lutheran congregation in the country." My successors were as talented and hard-working, but the moment for "fastest" and "biggest" had passed in that suburb, as it does and must for everyone everywhere. Not long before and shortly after 1962 I worked just as hard, if briefly and part-time, in congregations in the city. We didn't grow at all. From such experiences came the text for my sermon. It's "Marty's Law of Church Success #1: Behind Every Story There's a Story." For example, a story of mobility and social change that momentarily benefits some and may hurt others statistically

The sermon itself is this: Everything passes. Gifted and fortunate ministers and their moment pass. Therefore, as one does not put trust in princes or princesses, so one does not idealize or idolize the moment, in state or church.

This means that wise believers and planners do not make one form of congregational or church life a norm for future Christian life. Today it is the market-oriented, seekers' megachurch that tempts some observers and planners to make it the standard and model for all. Where are the market-oriented megachurches of yesteryear? Gone with the snows, or - since they work best in the Sunbelt - with the sands.

The pastoral prayer: Lord, let us find meaning and provide service wherever our vocation and location call us. Amen.

Benediction: In the case of Stover or the unnoticed clerical and lay folk down the block, the meaning of their work should be measured by the intrinsic value of their acts. Someone is fed, lured from despair, moved to join a group of the mutually supportive, called to promote justice, enabled to counter addiction, cheered in a lonely senior residence, delighted by a touch of humor, inspired by example. Benison be yours. Amen.

COPYRIGHT 1995 The Christian Century Foundation
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