Can a Church Founded in 1677 Survive the 21st Century?

As a non-religious person, I have nothing against keeping an interesting historic building around. However, the world is full of abandoned and ruined shrines, temples, synagogues, mosques, churches, stupas, etc. Adding one more to the list doesn't really change anything.

I got married at this church in 1987. It's a beautiful church.

We're in a New Age, and religion is part of the old.

Congratulations to a congregation that knows the meaning of perseverence and a pastor who is bringing energy, vision, and passion to the journey. May God be with you and bless you!

Thanks for the article. I’ve lived in Bensonhurst since 2000 and lived within a few blocks of this church for about 10 years and never knew the story behind it.

Perhaps the congregation could share the space with another denomination. This has been done to save old churches with declining congregations. The practice goes back to the Reformation in Germany where the town often owned the church building and required the Catholic, Lutheran or Calvinist congregations to share the same building.

"Can a Church Founded in 1677 Survive the 21st Century?" Amusing title -- only to be read in America. For reference: the catholic church was founded in the first century AD and is still alive an kicking (for better or worse)

Quickly reading through the story, I see lots of problematic language, which points right to the problem with most formalized religions. Talk of 'luring' more people...drawing more people inside...etc. If formalized religions truly offered people something that benefitted them...that uplifted them... these institutions wouldn't need to come up with sales pitches. As they say, 'if you build it, they will come'. The question is, why aren't they coming anymore? Perhaps some folks have simply wised-up, and decided that they will determine on their own, what it means to be 'good'... to live a life that's meaningful... how to be happy without brainwashing ideas telling you that you can only be happy this way or that way.

My wife and I attended a weeknight lecture by Elaine Pagels at Montview Presbyterian Church in Denver in mid-November. The main sanctuary was almost full which I took to be an indicator of a healthy church until I realized that despite my wife and I being in our mid-60’s we were the youngest people there by a large margin with a couple of exceptions and one of the exceptions was a person pushing a wheelchair. It looks like Calvin’s legacy is dying out

Look to the UK example; interest in religion has been declining for decades there. Most churches have been turned into community centers, fulfilling a much more relevant need than meeting periodically to reinforce magical beliefs in a collection of dark ages era fairy tales meant to keep the peasantry in their place.

I did not realize that there any churches with boxed pews in New York. The only ones that I had seen were in Boston and Maine. Although they went out of style long ago, as an introvert, I would love to go to a church with boxed pews. I'd even be happy to pay pew rents.

This church is a metaphor for mainline Christian churches. And, as one who has attended one church or another for decades, and continues to do so, I realize that the God I worship may be rejecting those churches as well as my own. Every Christian should be open to the possibility that what has been handed down to us for centuries may not have come from God but man's misguided efforts to understand God. I will always firmly believe in the importance of a community of faith and gathering for worship, but how we express and structure our faith experiences may need to change, or faith and the immeasurable good works it has inspired and accomplished may be lost.

Across the country beautiful historic churches are falling empty as their congregations age and decline. Many causes are asserted for this, among them the increased secularization of the country. Secularism is a result however, not a cause, of church decline. Those who study church growth (Barna, et al.) point out that the largest and fastest growing congregations are conservative in their theology and politics. Those who study the reasons for overall church decline (Putnam, et al.), especially among young adults, point to two reasons: 1) the church’s obsession with sexuality generally and homosexuality in particular. Homosexuality is not an issue for most young adults, and they view the church’s obsession with it as a blatant sign of hypocrisy. 2) the church’s overt politicization, especially in evangelicals’ extensive interconnections with right wing Republican politicians. When conservative evangelicals strive earnestly to allow churches to make political contributions while still maintaining their tax exempt status, they simply cheapen religion into being just another crass PAC. The failings of the Catholic Church in supervising priests, and the failings of many churches in elevating profit-making schemes over service have caused serious erosion in trust. In the last analysis the growth or decline of religion in America depends on trust. Can congregants trust their church, and one another, to do the right thing, as they are given the grace to understand it?

Applause, 21-gun-salute, and an ecumenical blessing to the 340-year-old congregation. It's only novelty must have been the appointment of woman pastor.

I loved the article. Nice to see someone focus on what is good in the world today instead of all the ugliness. I wish them all the good luck in rebuilding their church.

No matter what kind of America the USA will become. The history of it all will always be vital. Let it be a history for everyone with as much physical reminders and mind formers as possible. We have often forgotten the importance of our heritage in buildings. Plus there is the added benefit here in that it is also a good place to meditate which I understand is extremely healthy.

The Dutch Reformed Church on Flatbush and Church Avenues is even older. It's right across the street from the even older Erasmus High School. That church was quite revered back in the 1950's and 60's. It too fell into disrepair in the '70's. What's going on in that church now?

I was born and grew up a very short distance from the church, and even as a very young person, I was fascinated by the church and extremely curious about its history, and that of its cemetery a few blocks away. I actually attended New Utrecht H.S., which also was only blocks away from the Church and cemetery. Sadly, back then, no one emphasized the historical significance of the church and the neighborhood. I thank you for this interesting and informative article about part of the history of our City and my old neighborhood.

Since the 1960s, situations as this have gone under the euphemism of "urban congregations"---churches whose dwindling memberships no longer reflect the surrounding community. There are many examples of this and generally there is no solution except to sell the building to a recent immigrant group if possible. If not, these are torn down or converted to some other use. Here in eastern Queens, the synagogues of the 1950s are fading away as the population changes. Only a few protestant churches offer services in English. It seems a shame so much money was invested in a structure that will likely be abandoned in the future.

This is a wonderful place to spend time. Its a shame that the congregation is getting smaller. There are fewer houses of worship in the US that hold the same lineage. The building itself is stunning in its simplicity and elegance of construction.

Thanks for this article. I hope they are able to sustain their venerable community and beautiful building. My curiosity is aroused about a number of aspects of their 341-year history. When did the liturgical language change from Dutch to English, for instance. I would guess it was as late as the mid-19th century. Who comprised the community in the 1950s when the neighborhood was mostly Catholic Italians? And so forth.

New Utrecht Reformed Church resembles our church in many ways, especially in having an aging and declining membership. Our church was founded only in 1860, but its difficulties might just as well be interchangeable with New Utrecht Reformed Church's. Robert Owen President, Board of Stewards Community Church of Syosset, New York

What is the address of the church? What would the process be to join the congregation? Does the church have a website? These are a few of questions this article might have answered.