Riverside Church- With Forbes Gone the Bickering Continues

Last Wednesday evening Dr. James Forbes, senior pastor at Riverside Church in New York, celebrated his retirement with a ceremony befitting his 18 years of service at the Manhattan landmark. The lavish 4-hour service was beset with celebrities from music, television, politics, academia and world leaders, but even as this celebration progressed, the battle lines were already drawn.

The Sunday edition of the NY Times reports that since his retirement announcement, church leaders have been bickering about everything from sermon content to finances, politics, racial makeup of the church members and even voting to oust members. According to the Times, many of Forbes’ detractors “have histories at the church that predate him, accuse him of softening Riverside’s political involvement and abandoning his predecessors' intellectual approach for something more evangelical.” It appears the heart of the matter may boil down to a portion of the membership taking the church to court for cronyism and mismanagement of the church budget. The case was thrown out, no charges were levied and the in-fighting continues.

I made some calls yesterday and spoke to several people, who requested to remain anonymous. It seems that the church is suffering from the old guard/new guard syndrome. And, according to one person I spoke with, much has been made about the chairperson of the search committee, a member for only two years. This appointment was viewed as a slap in the face of the old guard, and thus the battle continues. New lawsuits have been filed, in an effort to have the court appoint a receiver to pour through the finances.

The Church does not have a short list put together as of yet. Dr. Forbes, in the Times article acknowledged that he is leaving at a critical time, saying, “Some friends and supporters have said in that in order to sustain our multiethnic history, perhaps the pendulum ought to swing back to the way Riverside Church was before I got here. That is going to be a test of the depths of Riverside’s depth.