RELIGION
Utah churches' role in meeting community needs to increase
Last updated 01/29/1998, 12:01 a.m. MT
By Lois M. Collins
Deseret News staff writer
Since members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints settled in Utah 150 years ago, they have made up the bulk of the state's residents. Nobody's predicting that religious makeup will change, at least proportionately, as the state heads into the next millennium.
 Jason Black leads a procession from the First Presbyterian Church. |
Community needs and changes in government policy will affect churches. Call it a domino theory. Population increases will bring more traffic, more need for schools and police and public services. And the needs that the community at large can't meet will largely fall on churches, synagogues and mosques.
The single largest factor is apt to be increased pressure on families — pressure to provide, to guide and nurture children, to survive time and money constraints.
"Perhaps our greatest concern is with families," LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley said during an Oct. 5, 1997, General Conference address. "The family is falling apart all over the world. The old ties that bound together father and mother and children are breaking everywhere.
"As I look to the future, I see little to feel enthusiastic about concerning the family in America and across the world. Drugs and alcohol are taking a terrible toll, which is not likely to decrease. Harsh language, one to another, indifference to the needs of another — all seem to be increasing. There is so much of child abuse. There is so much of spouse abuse. There is growing abuse of the elderly."
While the pressure on families mounts, churches and even coalitions of churches are expected to try to make up shortages — both physical and spiritual.
"No congregation can go it alone," said the Rev. Suzanne Spencer, pastor of South Valley Unitarian Church. "Coalitions have to be the way to go. We need to combine our strength and our know-how and act on it."
Utah's churches are no strangers to alliances. The recently defunct Shared Ministries survived for more than a decade, bringing faiths together particularly well for support of shared causes.
But how well these alliances will do at reweaving a tattered social safety net or providing emergency help to increasing numbers of families in need remains to be seen.
And Spencer believes that Utahns will be able to judge that for themselves. She believes the coalitions of the future will be more directed toward social justice for the entire community. Religions, for example, can unite against racism. As the challenges become greater, churches will find more opportunities to seek common ground.
Perhaps the most difficult task for churches in the next decade, however, will be caring for individual flocks.
"The challenge is to maintain our identities as churches, instead of just as melting pots, whatever distinguishes one church from another," said the Rev. France Davis, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Salt Lake City. "And doing something to help the community deal with youth problems, gangs, those sorts of things."
Will churches a decade down the road be ready to face those challenges? Spencer and Davis aren't sure. There's no formal effort going on in local churches to get ready. Rather, most congregations are trying to meet needs as they encounter them.
 Churches face changing goals and challenges as they guide their flocks. |
lessness. We can do it without losing our own identities and our own independence. This is a community of various faith groups and we can work together. We're trying to do that.
"That doesn't imply that we all accept each other's doctrine. We can work together for a common cause for the common good. Surely we can do that and must."
It's a natural task for churches, Davis agrees.
Some of the framework for cooperation is already in place. The LDS Church, for instance, has worked cooperatively with scores of other churches on specific projects, like providing supplies for homeless shelters.
Recently, a coalition of Utah churches called the Community of Churches was formed, bringing members of the American Baptist, Assembly of God, Disciples of Christ, Episcopalian, Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Society of Friends (Quakers), United Church of Christ and the United Methodist churches together to work on social issues and promote common goals.
What they'll be doing in 10 years to solve social problems — or if they'll even be together — is completely unknown. They had their first formal meeting — a worship service — this month.
Trying to predict future demographics of churches seems a little easier than predicting their social future. Utah is approximately 70 percent LDS and "my guess is that it will pretty much stay like that over the next 10 years," said Elder Morrison. "I think there is a certain amount of self-screening by people who come to Utah to live. Many of them come here because they like the lifestyle that's here. That's not just religious lifestyle; they like the mountains, the open spaces. They like the way people live here."
"How we live" is determined largely by faith. Utah has a very strong religious component and most churches report that they are growing as the population grows.
"We're bursting at the seams," echoed Davis. Calvary Baptist Church has a predominantly black membership in Salt Lake City. "We do expect to see the growth continue, but not in terms of percentages. I don't see the African-Americans, for example, getting any bigger. Bigger in numbers, yes, but not percentage-wise."
The same is true for the Catholic church, said Salt Lake Diocese spokeswoman Mary Mayo. According to the 1987 parish census, Utah was home to 66,394 Catholics. (The number doesn't reflect Catholics who are not registered with a particular parish.)
A decade later, 94,700 Catholics were registered in different parishes — an estimated 4.3 percent of the state population and the single largest denomination, next to the LDS church.
But the Catholic church, like the others, can't predict the future. An influx of Hispanics may boost the church's population. But increasing numbers of Hispanics are also swelling the ranks of other churches, particularly Protestant and Mormon churches locally.
What's happening here reflects what's happening in Central and South America, where increasing numbers of Hispanics are joining other faiths, according to Morrison, although the Catholic church is still predominant there.
"The Hispanic influx will continue unless there are draconian changes in immigration laws and enforcement of those laws," said Elder Morrison. "Some join our church and some don't."
