These are troubled times for the Crystal Cathedral, the once thriving megachurch in Garden Grove, California, founded by Robert Schuller over 50 years ago.
Schuller retired in 2006 after appointing his son, Robert, Jr., as his successor. But under the younger Schuller’s leadership, the church’s membership and giving declined dramatically. According to the Christian Century, the father blamed the son, saying his sermons were too biblical, filled with too much Jesus talk.
The elder Schuller, of course, is a devoted disciple of Norman Vincent Peale, prophet of the Power of Positive Thinking. I remember years ago being ill on a Sunday morning and deciding to check out the religious fair on TV. I found Schuller’s “Hour of Power.” That day, he was preaching on Romans 3:23: “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Schuller began by confessing that he normally stayed away from texts like this one because, “it’s just too negative.”
Robert Jr., who earned his M.Div. at Fuller Theological Seminary, wasn’t as much concerned about his sermons being “positive” as about them being scriptural. For this, his Dad publicly chastised him, eventually fired him, and promptly replaced him with his sister Sheila, who has already returned the Cathedral to its “Positive Thinking” roots. Under her leadership, the church has also sold property to reduce a $55 million budget deficit, and folks who had wandered away are starting to come back.
Reading about the Schuller feud sent me back to my early days as pastor of my present church. This mainline congregation took a huge risk in calling me as pastor. I had been reared as a Southern Baptist and had only recently made the decision to leave that denomination in search of a community that practiced more grace than judgment. How were they to know I wasn’t a wolf in sheep’s clothing?
Trained by example and by the book in the SBC, I did not know how not to preach a biblical sermon. I didn’t know there was any other kind of sermon. About two months after I arrived, a prominent member of the church came to see me. He was concerned about my “fundamentalism,” and where I was leading the congregation. I think I actually laughed out loud. Me, a fundamentalist? Too much Jesus talk, I guess. That disgruntled church member left, but over the next five years, worship attendance doubled even though my preaching style remained the same.
I doubt that true biblical preaching – or a heavy dose of Jesus – drives people away. Bad preaching, biblical preaching that doesn’t connect to everyday life, or sermons that use Jesus as a shill for selling a preacher’s personal agenda, will turn people off. But good, relevant, biblical preaching that faithfully witnesses to Christ feeds the soul and creates an appetite for more.
I suspect the Crystal Cathedral’s troubles run a lot deeper than discontent over preaching styles. In its heyday, this church was hip. The huge glass sanctuary, as much outdoor as indoor, was a natural expansion of Schuller’s innovative drive-in church. He had perfectly captured the optimistic spirit of post-war, suburban, freeway-happy, sunny Southern California. But today, California is bankrupt, suburban sprawl has destroyed communities, the freeways are clogged, and Americans in California and every other state are weary and anxious about the future. The Crystal Cathedral of a generation ago will no more succeed in the early 21st century than Schuller’s drive-in church would work here in wintery upstate New York.
Other congregations learned from the Crystal Cathedral’s success. They didn’t just copy what they saw in Garden Grove; they re-invented the church experience to appeal to new generations in their own communities. “Hip” was redefined, and the Cathedral no longer fit the definition. It isn’t enough to be innovative only once and then congratulate yourself for being creative. Truly creative churches will continually adapt, reshape, and remold their worship and ministry in order to stay relevant.
When Jesus said that the powers of hell would not prevail against the church, he wasn’t talking about worship styles, liturgical forms, hymns, choruses, or building architecture. He wasn’t even talking about particular congregations. He was speaking of the church in its essence, the called community (the meaning of ekklesia) gathered to practice his commandment to love one another while spreading the hope of his message to the world. That community, he promised, would always be present in some form, wherever two or three or two or three hundred gathered in his name.
When we become more concerned about the packaging than the contents of the gospel – more enamored with the trappings of religion than the essentials of faith community – we are like chaff that looks like wheat but in the end is blown away by the wind.
I hope the Crystal Cathedral finds its way again. Perhaps Sheila Schuller Coleman has the savvy to apply her father’s legacy to the unique challenges of a new generation. I hope her church regains its status and becomes more than a tourist attraction or a novelty of American Christianity. If the Crystal Cathedral succeeds in being church for people in Southern California, its pastor will need more than the inspiration of Norman Vincent Peale. I’m pretty sure she’ll need to provide a healthy dose of Jesus, whatever her Dad might say about it.
Copyright 2010 by J. Mark Lawson
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