A Sign of the Times

New York Archdiocese Shutting 10 Parishes - New York Times Many church organizations are having to make difficult decisions. The Catholic church is not alone, the United Methodist church on an annual basis closes church locations and is seeing a rise in congregational mergers. Two reasons from my perspective that this is happening in the UM church: 1. Population shifting into the cities and away from rural settings. 2. The UM, as a denomination, has lost almost 5 million members since 1968. The answers to the delimna are not particularly easy to discern, hear or implement. Many people are throwing rocks at the mainline denominations and are pronouncing them places of "hospice". I for one do not believe that God is done with the mainline denominations.