From the second to last pew at All Souls\u2019 Episcopal Church in Harlem on a recent Sunday morning, Sylvia Lynch, 80, lifted a hand toward the rafters and sang praises through a haze of burnt incense.<\/p>\n
Her voice was steady and strong, as was her grip on the cane she leaned on as she stood and sang and peered over the sparsely populated pews, peppered mostly with older women with fancy hats and hair as gray as her own.<\/p>\n
\u201cI came up through Sunday school, and I\u2019m still here,\u201d\u009d Ms. Lynch said, taking a step into an aisle at the 104-year-old church after the last hymn. \u201cBack then, it was packed. You couldn\u2019t get a seat.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
All Souls\u2019 Church, on St. Nicholas Avenue, and any number of the traditional neighborhood churches in Harlem that had for generations boasted strong memberships \u201d\u201d built on and sustained by familial loyalty and neighborhood ties \u201d\u201d are now struggling to hold on to their congregations.<\/p>\n