 Miami church’s renewal blows into presbytery storm Historic congregation leading multicultural revival in the heart of city’s financial district By John H. Adams The Presbyterian Layman Volume 33, Number 2 Posted April 1, 2000 MIAMI – Along Brickell Avenue, the so-called “Wall Street of Latin America,” the winds of evangelical renewal are blowing from historic First Presbyterian Church – straight into a storm raised by some members of the church and the Presbytery of Tropical Florida. The commotion surrounding the city’s oldest church – founded in 1896, three months before Miami was chartered – has begun to calm down, but there are still simmering issues. The major one is, how does any First Church survive in the downtown business district? And can it survive by targeting a different culture with a band, upbeat music and salvation sermons?
The pastor and session of Miami’s First Presbyterian say their congregation is beginning to show it can thrive. But there’s a cost to be paid. Long-time members, not attuned to drums and contemporary music in the sanctuary, lament the loss of the familiar and the traditional. Some feel they are being left behind. After decades of decline, from a heyday of 1,200 members to about 100 at its recent lowest, First Presbyterian is undergoing a regeneration – numerical, multicultural and youthful. About 160 people – more than double what it was last year – attend the three worship services weekly. Twenty-nine new members joined in 1999. Most of the newcomers are new Christians. But the dissatisfaction of long-time members has been strong. Their complaints led to intervention by the Presbytery of Tropical Florida. The presbytery’s Committee on Ministry came to First Church. After meeting privately with complaining church members, the committee issued four mandates: counseling and mentoring for Michael Girolimon, the pastor, more Book of Order training for the session and two presbytery representatives to look over the session’s shoulders at each meeting. Other steps feared Girolimon and session members, who say they fully support him, were wondering whether they would be allowed to keep the renewal going. They worried that the presbytery might exercise a more drastic measure: assigning an administrative commission to run the church. And, because the congregation tried so long to sell the property, they wondered whether the presbytery might be trying to pressure the church out of existence for a $30-million profit. The Rev. Kenneth C. Harper, pastor of cross-town Central Presbyterian Church and Committee on Ministry liaison to First Church, has tried to ease those concerns. In a letter to the congregation, he said, “We have mandated several actions designed to bring healing to the church and greater conformity to the Book of Order. Among other things, presbytery representatives will be closely monitoring the pastor’s ministry and the session’s actions.” “We wish to assure you that it is not now, nor has it ever been, the goal of the Presbytery of Tropical Florida to close the church and sell the property,” he wrote. Harper did tell The Layman that he was personally concerned that Girolimon was adopting a “purpose-driven model” for church development (the phrase comes from a best-selling evangelical book titled The Purpose-Driven Church by Rick Warren, founder of Saddleback Church in California). A single line describes Warren’s model: “Grow the church from the outside in, not from the inside out.” Harper has his qualms about the purpose-driven church model, but he would not spell them out. Harper also said First Presbyterian does not appear to be adhering to the Great Ends of the Church (G-1.0200 in the Book of Order). However, First Presbyterian Church’s Mission, Vision and Values Statement contains explicit references to the Great Ends of the Church. Girolimon said his first understanding of a purpose-driven model came not from Warren’s book, but from a Presbyterian Redevelopment Conference where “I caught a vision from God for this church. We were to be a church for the unchurched.” Girolimon became so excited about the redevelopment program in the PCUSA that he invited conference leaders to meet in Miami in 2000 – and they will. The transition at First Presbyterian has been both dramatic and tense. The contemporary worship services at noon Wednesday and early Sunday morning have been a sore point for long-time members. (A traditional service is held at 11 a.m. Sundays, but the other two services attract larger turnouts.) There have been impolitic undertones about cultural diversity. Some believe First Presbyterian has been acting too evangelical and not Presbyterian enough. At one point, Harper suggested that the congregation was too charismatic – he even polled the session to determine how many spoke in tongues. Four of the six said they didn’t. Girolimon is the issue on that score. A Princeton Theological Seminary graduate, he is a former Assemblies of God pastor. He says he teaches a straight Biblical and Reformed doctrine and that his teachings about the Holy Spirit are in accord with the denomination’s standards. Girolimon’s style is also an issue. He wins raves from those who have been converted by his preaching. But his detractors say he is purpose-driven to a fault, with little patience for those who disagree.
But one of the most talked about issues has little to do with Girolimon’s style or theology. It’s the property issue. This is a holy and secular brouhaha square in the middle of the financial district, where steel and glass highrises tower over First Presbyterian’s Spanish buildings and parking lot. First Presbyterian is at 609 Brickell, beside Brickell Bay, just a couple of blocks south of the Miami River and a long stone’s throw from Key Brickell, an island of millionaires. But not far west is “Little Havana,” one of Miami’s poorest sections. Economic and cultural diversity are reflected in the attendance at Girolimon’s worship service held at noon each Wednesday. About 60 people attend – from top banking executives to low-income blacks and Hispanics. But there is little theological diversity from Girolimon or among the newcomers. Jesus Christ is Lord. Salvation is by grace through faith in Christ alone. The Bible is authoritative for life and faith. Attempts to sell property That was not the message that held together the dwindling congregation together for years before Girolimon arrived. During that time, the congregation put its hope in selling its property for $30 million and gaining downsized meeting quarters on the first floor of the buyer-developer’s new high -rise. The last permanent pastor before Girolimon arrived in 1984 with a specific assignment: try to find a buyer. He failed and left in 1986. Between him and Girolimon, the pulpit was an 11-year interim assignment. In the past, the presbytery expressed some interest in the value of the property. After arriving in Miami, before his family joined him, Girolimon said he got that message from Jose D. Rodriquez, former executive presbyter of the Presbytery of Tropical Florida. Girolimon says he remembers Rodriquez’ words verbatim: ‘“You are the last pastor that the First Presbyterian Church of Miami will ever have. If this church ever gets into financial trouble or returns to the kind of conflict that it just came out of, the presbytery will close this church.”’ In a story published in The Miami Herald in 1997, Rodriquez predicted that within 10 years one-third of the Presbyterian congregations in Dade County would fold. Membership losses in the presbytery in 1997 and 1998 totaled nearly 2,000 (down to 18,271 in 1998). If they continue at that rate, in 20 years there will be no Presbyterians in south Florida. Girolimon optimistic at start Girolimon now 40 years old and married with two children, arrived in Miami in 1997 with a bounce in his step and his attitude. He was energetic, idealistic and evangelical – and enjoying the affirmation he was getting from the First Presbyterian search committee. “The expectation of me is that I be able to walk on Biscayne Bay, and that is not going to happen,” he said with a laugh during an interview with a Miami Herald reporter. But despite Girolimon’s preaching, praying and coaxing, First Presbyterian continued its downward spiral until Girolimon decided to do one of those strange things that is not inscribed in the Book of Order. One evening, late in 1998, he walked around the sanctuary anointing the empty pews with oil and praying, “God, I know you have a vision for this church. Please show it to me.” He prayed not for the pews but for the people who would, he hoped, sit in them. He repeated that several nights. Now, Girolimon says, the pieces of the vision are coming together. People’s lives are being changed. The church’s financial situation is improving so that there is less incentive to try to sell the building. With a $350,000 budget, about half in rental income from its parking lot and off-campus property, the congregation is paying its bills and saving money – so far about $80,000 has been set aside. That’s important, because the church organ is wheezing and repair estimates are $250,000 and up. Although it derives income off some real estate holdings, First Presbyterian is not shored up with a large endowment. Wrangle still under way The oversight by the Presbytery of Tropical Florida has not concluded, but the intensity has abated. Harper seems to have lost patience with some of the long-term members whose letters and protest brought his committee to First Church. In his letter to the congregation, he said, “To those who have been critical of the pastor and session, we say this: If you believe that the evidence supports it, conscience requires it, then file formal charges with the Permanent Judicial Commission. If not, then cease and desist your agitation, lest you be guilty of disturbing the peace and harmony of the Body of Christ.” Peter Raffalski, a banker and elder at First Presbyterian, is wholly in favor of the new direction at First Presbyterian. He acknowledges that mistakes have been made by failing to understand the pain of long-time members who wanted their church to remain as it was in the 1960s. But First Church could not remain that way and survive, he says. “The dynamics have changed. The demographics have changed. We have to do this differently. We won’t be able to meet every single person’s needs. Some may have to be met elsewhere. But these [the long-term members] are people who are already in the kingdom. We’re now focused on the lost.” |
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