c. 2007 Religion News Service

Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod reports drop in membership

(RNS) The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has reported a drop of 22,867 in members in 2006, bringing membership in the St. Louis-based denomination to to just over 2.4 million.

Despite the lower membership numbers, giving and average weekly worship attendance have increased, the church said.

Giving rose by an estimated $58.6 million to $1.3 billion for 2006. Average weekly worship attendance was 172.5 in 2006, slightly higher than the 2005 average of 164.2.

The denomination saw decreases in the number of children baptized and the number of teenagers and adults who were confirmed, but saw increases in the numbers of students attending weekday religion classes and enrolled in Sunday school.

Only 64 percent of the denomination’s churches reported their information, so its statistical office tallied the new information and added figures from previous years for congregations that did not report 2006 figures.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Wife claims husband’s church as asset in divorce case

(RNS) A Brooklyn, N.Y., pastor has used his church as a “personal piggy bank,” his estranged wife says, arguing that it should be considered a marital asset in their divorce proceedings.

New York State Supreme Court Judge Arthur M. Diamond agreed to hear arguments on that claim and ordered a financial appraisal of the church in a decision published earlier this week.

The couple’s names were redacted from the decision.

The husband’s attorney, Eleanor Gery, said she had never seen a court agree to appraise a church in her 16 years practicing law in New York.

Her client may appeal the decision, Gery said.

The couple had been married for 31 years and lived in Baldwin, N.Y.

The wife claims the couple together founded Grace Christian Church in Brooklyn with $50,000 of their money. Her lawyer, Robert Pollack, told The Associated Press, “That church is no different than any other business he might have opened.”

The wife also said her estranged husband helped himself to the church’s coffers whenever he wanted to and ran a business from the church building.

Gery said her client doesn’t own the church.

_ Daniel Burke

Quote of the Day: Brady Boyd of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo.

(RNS) “As far as me standing in the pulpit holding a voter guide, that’s not going to happen. I won’t use (my position) to influence their vote.”

_ Brady Boyd, the new pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo., speaking to the Los Angeles Times about church-based political activism. Boyd took over after Ted Haggard, the former president of the National Association of Evangelicals, resigned the pulpit in a sex scandal.

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