The Church is not a family business

American televangelists have been fair game for critics and cynics over the years, but there has been one stand-out, squeakie-clean example that seems to have survived the scandals - Robert Schuller of "The Hour of Power" fame.



Sent by his denomination to start a new work in southern California over 50 years ago, he began in a most unorthodox way, establishing a church in an old disused drive-in cinema in Garden Grove. One innovation led to another and the reach of his church grew beyond the local community in which it was situated. His ministry reached into my life some 30 years ago through "The Hour of Power", offering encouragement and hope through what were some very dark times in my work for the church.



Last month, the legal entity of the Crystal Cathedral filed for bankruptcy because they were not able to satisfy their creditors of their ability to meet their financial obligations to them. What went wrong?

In essence, I think just two things were ultimately enough to cause the momentum for this ministry to stumble. Most recently, the impact of the Global Financial Crisis has reduced all-purpose revenue for the ministry by 27% from 2008-2009, from $30m to $22m. While $22m seems a lot for a church to manage its affairs on, long-standing commitments have been predicated on higher levels of income.

However, I think the most crucial factor in the demise of this ministry was a failure in succession-planning by the founding minister Robert Schuller. Robert Schuller intended that his son, Robert (jr) should succeed him, but even though there were signs of disquiet as the younger Robert was being groomed for this role the plan was implemented and Robert Schuller (snr) retired. Not surprisingly, however, trouble fermented within the congregation and in 2008 - almost coincident with the GFC - the younger Robert resigned his position as a result of that conflict.

This kind of conflict saps the energy of any community and the decline in momentum always takes significant time to recover from. I feel very sad for the holders of the vision of that ministry but have equal confidence that they will come through this time - the challenge is to take from it the things that need to be learned.

Rev'd, the Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes, AC, MLC, formerly a Churches of Christ minister and then Superintendant of the Wesley Mission in Sydney, offers some observations about what went wrong, too - some of his comments are, in my view bordering on self-agrandisement, but they are worthy of consideration.

Having said all that,bankruptcy will not close the church. It will continue to exist and offer services in Garden Grove and around the world for many years to come. But hopefully this experience will enrich their wisdom about how to go forward.