Pastor Resigns! from New York’s most famous pulpit By Bishop Andy C. Lewter, D. Min.
gosp e l today | JuL 6, ‘09
At the height of the Great Depression in 1929, millionaire, John D.
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Rockefeller, endowed and helped to build Riverside Church as the prime example of the Protestant liberal tradition. Operating between Columbia University on its one side and the widely respected Union Theological Seminary on the other, the church has long been home to such pulpiteers as Harry Emerson Fosdick, William Sloan Coffin and James Forbes. The church has been used by notables like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nelson Mandela as platforms for major policy speeches that they made. Now the church is at the center of much controversy as Rev. Brad Braxton, the recently elected pastor of the church, announced his resignation and decision to leave the church. “it has become virtually impossible to establish a fruitful covenant with the congregation,” said Pastor Braxton. Over the years, Riverside Church has long established a reputation for addressing such thorny social issues as gay rights, “deed versus creed” and Anti-Apartheid. Trouble in the church began to brew not long after Rev. Braxton’s arrival when some in the congregation took offense with his “evangelical” style. Complaints about him conducting “altar calls” and emphasizing personal salvation over social justice was heard with greater frequency. When it was learned that the compensation package for the pastor exceeded 600K annually, a small group of members within the church went to court to block his installation as pastor; the effort received little traction and the judge sided with the church’s board and pastor. Just when it seemed that the matter was resolved, emails were circulated throughout the congregation attacking the pastor and his style. The New York Daily News began to refer to Pastor Braxton as the “600k Pastor”. According to Ari L. Goldman, Pastor Braxton soon began to feel that he had become the embodiment of a conflict. “Pastor Braxton told me that he felt that he needed to leave so that healing could take place within the congregation.” reports Goldman. In an article issued by BCNN, “Jean Schmidt, the chairwoman of the church council and a supporter of Mr. Braxton, expressed the hope that Riverside will learn a lesson from this period of adversity. This is a time, she said, for “deep soul-searching” that will ultimately “allow us to move forward as a stronger and more unified congregation.”