Time To Take A Stand

Washington - (RNS) Unless mainline Protestant churches can refocus their energies and trim their public agenda, they risk losing their historic and important voice on social issues, scholars said at a conference here on Friday (March 16).

For decades, the mainline churches -- Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians and others -- have quietly fed the homeless, nursed the sick and pushed a progressive social agenda in Washington. They rarely sought publicity for their work, and largely agreed to work with anyone who shared their mission.

But there is a growing sense that perhaps the quiet voice of the mainline churches is not loud enough in the public sphere, and that maybe the churches have taken on so many projects that their influence has become diluted.

"We have to ask whether by taking on everything ... the mainline has spread itself too thin and therefore has fewer success stories to share," said James Wind, president of the Alban Institute, an organization which studies congregational life.

The two-day conference on Capitol Hill was sponsored by the Aspen Institute, a Washington think tank.

In an age when denominational labels matter less and less, Wind said the mainline churches must link with Roman Catholics and evangelicals on projects where they can be truly effective.

That's the same strategy being discussed by the venerable National Council of Churches -- a group of 36 mainline, Orthodox and historically black churches -- as it recovers from financial chaos and searches for a new mission in the 21st century.

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