From Houston-
As much as Church of the Redeemer's members will miss the glowing mural of the risen Christ, the sanctuary echoing with music, the basement lined with old photos and the historic buildings themselves, they're most heartbroken to leave the place where they served the Eastwood neighborhood for more than 90 years.
Redeemer can't afford the $7 million needed to bring the church up to code, so after Sunday's service, the congregation will move from its crumbling structure to a shared space in a nearby Lutheran church, where a group of small-but-committed parishioners will try to keep up with its outreach programs.
"It's not just about us," said Daniel Coleman, who has led the 70-member congregation as senior warden since September. "We want our congregation to continue the ministries we have here," including gatherings for neighborhood kids, Scout troops, a bike repair shop and weekend meals for the homeless.
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Redeemer was one of the first Episcopal churches to bring in guitars and drums to accompany organ music, adopting a Pentecostal-style of worship under the leadership of the Rev. W. Graham Pulkingham, its rector in the '60s and '70s, said Julia Duin, author of Days of Fire and Glory, a book about the charismatic movement.
Pulkingham coordinated communal living for hundreds of recovering drug addicts and ministries like a coffeehouse, health clinic, street-evangelism team, resale store and bike repair shop.
Some of what made Redeemer worship special in its early days has become adopted across Christianity.
"A lot of competition has arisen that wasn't there in the '60s," Duin said. "Why would people want to go to a poor neighborhood in Eastwood when they can just go to … Lakewood?"
More here-
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7445234.html
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