wfn.org | Sent to close down a church, minister helped it prosper

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #6084 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

30-June-2000
GA00134

	Sent to close down a church, minister helped it prosper 

	by Edmund Doogue

LONG BEACH, June 30–In September 1973 the Long Island Presbytery sent young
Reginald Tuggle to the troubled Memorial Presbyterian Church at Roosevelt,
Long Island.

	The church, in an economically depressed part of Long Island, N.Y. had a
congregation of 40, and the presbytery had decided the best thing to do was
to cut funds and encourage the remaining members to worship in other
Presbyterian churches.

	"The presbytery had voted to close the doors of the church," Tuggle told
the Assembly news service in an interview on  June 29, during the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s General Assembly, which Tuggle is attending
as a commissioner. "They (the presbytery) thought it would die a natural
death."

	The presbytery was wrong. When he began his ministry at Roosevelt, Tuggle
was studying for his PhD in corporate investment at Yale, and spent only
weekends at Memorial Church. In his first 12 months, the church raised
$12,300, and the youth ministry had 11 members. "Today," Tuggle told the
news service, "we raise over $1 million a year, we have over 900 members,
250 youth members, 24 Sunday school teachers and 26 different ministries. We
have also built two sanctuaries and two social halls. We were a mission
receiving church, and now we are the biggest mission giving church in the
presbytery."

	So, what's the magic formula that resurrected a dying church?

	"First of all, the credit goes to the Holy Spirit," Tuggle said. "Secondly,
we have to thank God  that the members of the church were willing to take
risks to do certain things in the community."

	Singling out a handful of the activities, Tuggle said the church now holds
eight Alcoholics Anonymous meetings a week, and six Bible study meetings.
The church's Economic Development Ministry "buys up abandoned buildings,
fixes them up" and sells them as housing for economically disadvantaged
people. "That is taking a risk," Tuggle said.

	A key to the church's financial growth was a decision, Tuggle said, to ask
church members to tithe, but not to pledge. And a major part of the church's
life is "the vibrant musical ministry." Tuggle described the contribution of
volunteers at his church as "extraordinary."

	Asked by the Assembly news service whether his preaching had helped to
bring the church back to life, Tuggle would only say: "People say I'm a good
preacher."

	Asked also if there was some turning point in his early years at Roosevelt
when he realized that the church would not fail but would survive and
prosper, Tuggle said, "I never felt we would  not make it."

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