Churches struggle with declining congregations

January 07, 2012
By Kristin E. Holmes

For a while, it seemed as if the new year would be anything but happy for the members of St. James Episcopal Church in Prospect Park.

The 106-year-old Delaware County congregation was so mired in debt that it couldn't pay its rector. Closing seemed imminent.

Just 10 minutes away, in Ridley Township, Leiper Presbyterian Church faced a different challenge: a small, aging membership, with only 30 coming to Sunday services.

Leiper, founded in 1818, voted to dissolve, an acknowledgment of hurdles too steep to overcome. Its last service will be at 2 p.m. Sunday.

St. James fought and survived - for now. It will install a part-time rector Jan. 28. the rest