Just a quick sociological note. The content of the story doesn't surprise me, what does surprise me is that it made the news.
The membership in most mainline denominations (Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopal, etc.) has declined precipitously over the last few years for a number of reasons. The same is true of the indigenous Roman Catholic population here in the states. While the number of Catholics in the US has increased, but this is due to immigration from predominantly Catholic countries.
As a result many churches have dwindled to the point where their membership consists of a few aging members who have been members of the church for years (the proverbial blue-haired old ladies) because the membership was largely based on cultural practices rather evangelism.
Under these circumstances, the church begins to function as and resemble a social club for old people. The environment is comfortable, the population is fixed and accepted and only changes via a gradual decline. Eventually it will disappear entirely, but it "meets the felt needs" of the present population. Under these circumstances, new people (unless they perfectly resemble the current population or are relatives) seldom feel welcome, and people who do not fit the general profile of the members of the church are tacitly or actively shunned. The same phenomenon occurs in social clubs and fraternal organizations and could just as easily have happened at the social hall of a retirement home.
I'd be willing to bet the majority of members of this church are women and seniors who felt threatened and scared.
This is obviously not the way the church is supposed to function, but it is the inevitable result of being co-opted by the dominant culture and the liberalization of her theology and mission that occurred in many denoms in the 19th and 20th centuries. The culture has moved on, the theology has collapsed, and these churches are emptying out.
- SEAGOON
