"Median age of 68" - Ooops, has someone in the Pastoral Leadership Department been asleep at the wheel?
No ... we are an "inner city" church with absolutely zero prospect of growth. We have dwindled in membership from a peak of 1,750 in the mid 80's to the present membership of about 450. Part of that decline is because the ELCA added 3 more parishes within a 10 mile radius ... all four parishes are declining in membership, and we often rotate some festival services like Thanksgiving Eve amongst the four, one parish is then the 'home' for that service each year in rotation.
We do lots of outreach in the local community, but it nets zero additional members, not because of any leadership issues, but simply because most people here think they have better things to do than give one hour a week to the church. We are holding our own - our edifice and property mortgage were paid off 30 years ago and so we are 'debt free', except for utilities and insurance. Because of being 'in the black' every year, we are able to maintain a paid staff, which includes myself, and maintain all of our music department which includes our Möller Pipe Organ.
As for Santa Lucia, the interest dwindled as more and more of the Scandinavian population of our parish passed on through the years. Finally, when two people showed up for what became the final Lucia service, we said, 'enough'!
Kh
