Crystal Cathedral filed for bankruptcy on Monday in Southern California after months of trying to overcome mounting debt.
The megachurch, birthplace of the Hour of Power televangelist broadcast, announced its filing as it deals with a $55 million debt.
Church spokesman John Charles said the church owes about $7.5 million to a host of vendors for services such as advertising and providing the use of live animals for Easter and Christmas services.
Both my parents had attended the church a few times, when it was a “drive in”. We also watched it on TV.. The music was grand, they hired the best, but sermons left a great deal to be desired.
My folks always felt that Schuller preached prosperity gospel, strange how that worked out huh?
Grandmother in
SC
Very sad. Seems like a case of mismanagement combined with excessive visionary aspirations.
I saw the Easter pageant there, which was exceptionally moving–especially seeing a live actor on the Cross. I think the sad thing about a lot of megachurches and a lot of Protestantism is that big ministries are built on magnetic personalities. When those shoes are emptied by age or other factors, it is hard to re-fill them. Whatever one thinks of the depth of Robert Schuller’s preaching he is a fundamentally decent man who generously cared about others and had the audacity to dream.
I must say that when a “church” with $22 million in income can not pay its bills, it begs some questions. Staring with, what are you spending all that money on?
Before all the crud after 2003, about 1990, my father who is a minister of this church, sent me a thing on all the things that TEC used to do world-wide. That, of course, was before all the giving dwindled and all the lawsuits began. It was amazing with all the efforts and money being poured into poor countries.
It also showed how much money was taken in by these named churches, such as the “Chrystal Cathedral” and how little was left, after the “cream” was fed at the top, to help others.
I am personally glad that it has failed so that the stealing can stop. So much for the lying and stealing, and so much for the screwing of it’s adherrants out of their well earned money!
By the way, my father is a minister of TEC, not the Chrystal Cathedral, if there was any misinterpretation.
The Amish have got it right. When a “house church” reaches 100 people, it must split into two churches of 50. Never, ever let a church get too big.
I think they have a good grasp of human nature and what is likely to happen when a church (or any institution) gets too big.
I beg to differ from #7 (respectfully, I hope). I see nothing inherently bad about super churches per se, as long as they preach the gospel without compromise and minister with integrity. During the first decade of the 21st century, in most “mainline” denominations (especially in the UMC and the PCUSA), the only category of churches that grew over the last ten years were the very large churches with an ASA over 1000. That illustrates how people continue to be attracted to the largest churches in disproportionate numbers, for various reasons, including the enormous variety and quality of the programs offered.
But when it comes to Schuller and the Crystal Cathedral, it’s precisely the authenticity of the gospel preached there and the integrity of the ministry that is in doubt. For example, I once heard a rumor from a well-placed source who ought to know that Robert Schuller forbid any music in a minor key to be played or sung at his church. He wanted worship services there always to be upbeat, never sad. I find that very telling, and troubling.
I agree with Grandmother (#1), that there is something very ironic about a church that preaches a “positive thinking” gospel ending up bankrupt. How ironic that a church that promotes prosperity as a Christian value and condones the American obsession with “success” should end up in such a sorry state.
David Handy+
Why do we misuse the trained, professional clergy and isolate them into a role that is usually untenable? How about a good clergy leader over several churches with trained laypeople invested to carry forth the churches. Deploy the professionals to several churches as pastoral overseers and priests.
If the “tent-making” ministry of the Apostles was good enough why isn’t it good enough now? The whole notion of a professional clergyperson in a single Church will not work in most churches in our current economic system. Yes, trained clergy. Yes, compensated clergy. But why do those clergy have to be isolated to one or even two churches?
(BTW: Tune in to Hour of Power and you’ll see that all of their former “umph” is gone and Schuller’s daughter can’t begin to get it together for TV. Hence, my comment about the impracticality of the current interpretation of the role of professional clergy).
#8: I know someone who attended services there in the glory days of the 80’s who remarked that one of the very disconcerting aspects to the worship and tone at the CC was that all references to suffering, the cross, pain, loss, &. had been weeded out of the hymns. That should tell one a lot. It was, in the end, an insufficient gospel, centered on one personality. While I imagine some of the productions were very moving, and that there were some pretty interesting sermons here and there, the underlying teaching was (based on my reading of Schuller) deeply skewed towards a secular American prosperity gospel.