The Reluctant Prophet: When Legacy is all that is Left

Reader Bob asked, “I wonder if the question at the end (of your last post) gives the church more control than it actually has?”

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I appreciated the question. It gives me a chance to clarify the underlying assumptions that I carry when I speak about the Church (with a big “C”) spending this next generation focusing on its legacy. My question was, “Can the Church, as it is, turn its tradition over to people, organizations and communities that will continue to carry out Christ’s work even if they don’t claim Christ’s name?”

First, in response to. Reader Bob’s question I don’t think so much in terms of “control.” I think more about influence. I grew up in a mainline Protestant congregation and one of things I only became aware of much later is that those of us in mainline Protestant congregations had become quite accustomed to having an oversized influence on their communities and American culture. One of my favorite stats to quote is that in 1970 the U.S. Congress had 83 Presbyterians and 66 Episcopalians. That is 28% of the 535 total senators and representatives. That, despite the fact that Presbyterians and Episcopalians represented only 9.5% of the U.S. population. And that is just two denominations. That doesn’t include other mainliners like the Methodists, Lutherans, Congregationalists, and Disciples of Christ.

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My point is this. Mainline Protestants got very used to having an oversized influence on American society since WWII. Whether it was Congress, city councils, mayoral offices, school boards, heads of non-profits, etc. mainline Protestants assumed that there wasn’t much difference between their faith and values and the faith and values of the community. And why not? Mainline Protestants held a vast majority of the most powerful positions in the community and country.

When I speak of legacy this is my primary point—we mainline Protestants assume that we hold influence in American society. When I see congregations grieving, a large part of that is the loss of influence they feel as denominations decline and members age. If we continue to want influence it won’t be holding power, as we have gotten used to. It will be in leaving a legacy.

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Which brings me to my second point. Reader Bob reminded me that there are already plenty of people and organizations that are doing good work and even God’s work beyond the church. Our communities don’t need the church for God to be active. But, mainline Protestant churches and denominations have something in the range of $500 billion in assets. One of the things that pained me when I was serving as a church executive was watching as churches allowed their savings to dwindle and their properties to fall into disrepair rather than spend their final years planning for a meaningful legacy.

The community doesn’t need the church to do good work. But wouldn’t it be a sin and an affront to God to simply allow $500 billion in assets to slowly dissolve away when it could be turned over to the people, communities and organizations who could carry on the Church’s work for generations to come? A congregation has a right to let its building crumble around it and leave nothing for future generations. But, quite honestly, that doesn’t sound like the Church that I know. That sounds like American selfishness.

Question for Dialogue: If a church wanted to turn over $2 million in assets to your local community as their final legacy, where would you advocate that it go?