Article November 11, 2002 Issue

watching people grow in their faith

A Presbyterian minister looks back over decades of service.

By Kim Shippey Sentinel staff

"TODAY THE ENTIRE CONCEPT OF CHURCH HAS CHANGED. Going to church is no longer the socially acceptable thing to do. You go because your needs are being met, or you don't go." The words are spoken with quiet sincerity by Walt Gerber who retired October 1, after 42 years in the ministry—28 of them as senior pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, 30 miles south of San Francisco.

"If you go back, let's say, to the 1950s, churchgoing was a very socially acceptable thing," says Gerber. "And if you didn't go, you didn't make an issue out of it. What we have today is the rise of the megechurch— the whole phenomenon of marketing the Gospel, you might say, to meet the needs of the customers.

"Sadly, our Lord's idea of laying down your life in servanthood to others is no longer popular. It doesn't really matter what name's on the outside. It's rather, 'What can this church do for me? If it doesn't meet my needs, I'll yell like mad, or I'll leave and go someplace else.'

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

WALT GERBER SPEAKS FROM THE HEART ...