混乱的水晶大教堂

JACKI LYDEN, host: After battling financial difficulties for several years, Crystal Cathedral Ministries has declared bankruptcy. Church spokesmen say that they will allow the ministry, known for its soaring glass building and global weekly broadcasts, to reorganize and repay its many debts.

But as NPR's Karen Grigsby Bates reports, money may not be the only problem.

KAREN GRISBY BATES: "The Hour of Power," once the brainchild of a young California pastor named Robert Schuller, is now fully middle-aged. At a service celebrating four decades of religious broadcasts, Schuller confessed to his congregation（集会，圣会）: The thing that worried him when he began his television ministry in 1970 is an even bigger challenge now.

Reverend ROBERT SCHULLER (Pastor, Crystal Cathedral Ministries): It was the money that scared me, and that's where the anxiety still comes, because the costs go up and many of my strongest supporters are passing on.

BATES: That and other problems have left the Crystal Cathedral about $50 million in debt. But spokesman John Charles says everyone owed will be repaid.

Mr. John Charles (Spokesman, Crystal Cathedral Ministries): We fill its biblical that we pay our debts and we pay them in full, and so that's our ultimate goal.

BATES: To do that, the Crystal Cathedral's soaring glass building and 40-acre campus will be sold to a local real estate developer, who will then lease the buildings back to the church so services and programs can continue. The church hopes to buy everything back in four years.

Professor RICHARD FLORY (Director of Research, Center for Religion and Civic Culture, UCSC): Four years is a really, really fast turnaround to come up with $30 million when they're $50 million in debt right now.

BATES: That's Richard Flory, a sociologist at the University of Southern California's Center for Religion and Civic Culture. He's been charting the progress of megachurches for a few years now, and he thinks the Crystal Cathedral's repayment plans may be unduly（过度地） optimistic.

Prof. FLORY: The debts they report are anywhere between $46 and $50 million. They're selling it for $46 million and then they can buy it back for $30 million? Somebody's losing money.

BATES: The church wasn't always financially pinched（缩紧的）, says Diane Winston. In the beginning, growth was quick and contributions generous. Winston specializes in media and religion at USC's Annenberg School, and she says Schuller's personal appeal was important when the church was founded.

Dr. DIANE WINSTON (Media and Religion, Annenberg School, USC): At the time, he wasn't trying to organize a mega church. He was knocking on people's doors in Orange County, California, trying to figure out why so many people didn't go to church and how he might get them to come to his church.

BATES: The congregation that started out with hundreds in a drive-in eventually morphed into （转化成）thousands who met in a huge building that became a landmark, complete with orchestra and several choirs.

BATES: Winston says Schuller's largely homogenous congregation doesn't appeal to many of today's perspective members.

Dr. WINSTON: And it's not surprising that given the time in which he organized that church and the way he did it, that he might have had a clientele that reflected what Orange County looked like at that time. And the fact that he hasn't grown the church in significant ways may explain why it's graying and why it's so white.

BATES: Scott Thumma teaches at the Hartford Seminary and is an expert on mega churches. The disclosure of this church's recent financial troubles didn't shock him.

Professor SCOTT THUMMA (Sociology of Religion, Hartford Seminary): The Crystal Cathedral has been having problems now for quite a few years, and figured it would was only a matter of time until they had to seriously restructure their financial situation.

BATES: And it's not just the money. Thumma says changing its style of worship, broadening the demographics, not only of Schuller's congregation but the staff that serves them, is critical.

Prof. THUMMA: Culture and society and worship styles have changed. But because his brand, in essence, was defined by TV for decades, it was very difficult also to shift away from that.

BATES: Change is good, one saying goes. Another says change is hard. And for the Crystal Cathedral to survive its current crisis, many observers believe it's going to be both.

Karen Grigsby Bates, NPR News.