There is a style of news-feature writing that I have heard described, over the years, in words that sound something like this: “Don’t tell me a story about 100,000 people who are wrestling with a big, complex problem. Tell me a story about one person who stands for those 100,000 people.”
For years, this was the style of feature writing that we saw over and over in the “column one” features at the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times. When used by a skilled reporter, this strategy can help readers understand complex trends and events through the eyes of a well-chosen symbolic person or organization.
One of the biggest religion-news stories out there right now is the slow death of thousands of shrinking churches that face painful questions about what to do with their buildings and the legacies of the believers who once filled the pews. Statistically speaking, most of these churches are old-school mainline Protestant or Catholic congregations in urban or small-town settings. But, truth be told, this is a trend that will torture everybody, sooner or later.
This brings me to a fine Religion News Service story that ran the other day with this double-decker headline:
A once-dying church hopes to reinvent itself with coffee and kindness
Embrace Church had two years left to live. Rather than wait for the end, the church sold its building, reinvented itself and invested in a local coffee house.
Literally, my only question about this story is whether the “summary” paragraph explaining the big picture could have been moved up a bit — somehow. That, gentle readers, is a tiny, tiny nit to pick. Here is the overture:
Community Covenant Church in Kirkwood, Missouri, had a problem common to thousands of churches around the country: an aging congregation, a shrinking budget, a too-big building that spent most of the week empty.
And the clock was ticking.
“We had about 22 months left,” said pastor Chad Wible.
Rather than wait for their reserves to run dry, church members decided to make the most of the time they had left. They sold the building to a local school, put the money in the bank and began praying for the future.
Then they met Olivia Tischler.
A graduate of St. Louis University, the 20-something Tischler had a degree in theology and entrepreneurship and a dream of starting a coffee shop, where she could pay people well, buy from local suppliers and treat customers — and her staff — like family.
All together now — “a degree in theology and entrepreneurship.”
Reporters live for that kind of symbolic detail. That’s a Jesuit university, by the way. The college professor in me wondered if she ever, literally, wrote a term paper on the idea of combining a coffee shop and an urban religious congregation.
Want another killer detail? Check this out:
Believing that God told her to start the coffee shop, Tischler began praying and following what’s known as a “Daniel fast” — 40 days of eating nothing but vegetables and drinking only water, following the example of the beloved Old Testament figure.
On day 31, she got an email from the leaders at the church asking if they could meet up.
That meeting would — after a long delay during the COVID-19 pandemic — eventually lead to the founding of Teleo Coffee in Kirkwood, Missouri, home of the Love Your Neighbor Latte, a tasty sea salt mocha that satisfies customers and helps raise money for charity.
Teaming up with Tischler and investing in the coffee house proved to be a godsend for the congregation, now known as Embrace Church. Rather than owning a building that was empty most of the week, they’re part owners of a thriving third space — filled every day with the sounds of conversation and friendship.
What would I have cut out of that material to get to the “nut” paragraph sooner? I have no idea.
But the summary material is important and it really helps — here’s a sign of the digital times — if readers run into this story online and have the option of clicking the many URLs in this material that add even more depth.
Yes, there are other important stories hiding between the lines.
It’s easy to ask familiar questions: Why do some churches grow and others shrink, in this competitive and hostile age? Why do some churches and denominations create a culture that produces children, new believers and clergy (think Roman Catholic priest shortage)? Why do some denominations use their empty buildings to help create new churches and, as with Teleo Coffee, creative ministries while others just sell and move on?
But here is the solid summary that gives readers some context for this story:
The ongoing decline of organized religion in America has led to an existential crisis for tens of thousands of congregations across the country. Over the past two decades, the median size of a congregation has dropped from 137 people in 2000 to 65 people in 2020, according to the Faith Communities Today study. Thousands of churches close every year, leaving empty buildings behind.
Some are sold and the proceeds used to start new churches or shore up denominational ministries. Others become breweries, gyms, nightclubs or some other commercial venture. Many more are demolished to make way for affordable housing or other ventures, like a skate park.
Often the decision on what to do with the building is put off until the church shuts down. But at least a few congregations are beginning to rethink how to use their buildings before that happens.
There are other details and other examples, in this RNS feature. Read it all.
FIRST IMAGE: Publicity photo on the Teleo Coffee website.