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"WE
CHURCHMEN
are gifted at
changing wine into water
- watering down reli·
gion," Yale's Chaplain William S.
Coffin, J
r.,
has been quoted as saying.
Never has church attendance been so
high and church influence so low. Only
a few smaller denominations - who
still vigorously practice their beliefs -
are holding the allegiance of their mem–
bership. But most churches are hollow
religious shells. And the problem is not
limited to thc United States.
The Archbishop of Canterbury has
said: "The churches aren't reaching
people as much as they ought to." The
Bishop of Woolwich wrote: "The sane·
tions of Sinai have lost their terror, and
people no longer accept the authority of
Jesus even as a great moral teacher."
But why? What is wrong? Are the
churches meeting their responsibility for
providing spiritual guidance to their
flocks? When Senior Editor J. Robert
Moskin posed this question to late theo–
logian Paul Tillich, he got the following
answer: "Simply,
NO!
But 1 know the
struggle of many ministers who try it
and are defeated and almost go to
pieces by this defcat"
(Mora/ity in
America,
p.
167).
A
Minister Quits
For one minister - an example of
many - it meant the end of the line. "1
still believe in
Jesu~
Christ," he said. "1
still want to serve Him.... This is why
1 quit the ministry."
These paradoxical words were spoken
by a formcr minister of a large denomi·
nation. This individual "never expected
life as a minister to be easy" and fought
family and friends to enter the profes–
sion. He sacrificed and worked part·
time to pay his way through seven years
of college aod seminary.
His eyes were wide open from the
start. "l knew," he stated, "that the