Rhetoric Race and Religion
For more than a century, Metropolitan Baptist Church was one of the premier churches in Washington. And for nearly 40 years, the Rev. H. Beecher Hicks Jr. forged a reputation as a “preacher’s preacher,” gathering a flock of as many as 7,000 people at the red brick church at 13th and R streets NW. It was a must stop for local politicians during election seasons, and sitting presidents, including Bill Clinton, would attend services there.
Now, the congregation is meeting in a D.C. school building, its membership down by nearly 70 percent. An unfinished $30 million sanctuary in Prince George’s County is under threat of foreclosure. And Hicks has announced his retirement.
Some former members say perhaps the church overreached. But its decline coincided with a financial crisis that rocked the nation’s investment and real estate markets, taking down churches across the country.
In the Washington area, Progressive Baptist Church in Temple Hills, Md., which owed more than $2.86 million on its mortgage, went into foreclosure in 2009. The Ark of Safety Christian Church in Upper Marlboro filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012. Last year, Light Global Mission Church in Fairfax County filed for Chapter 11 reorganization.
“No place was immune,” said Robert F. Cook, executive vice president at Reliance Trust Co., one of the largest providers of corporate trust services for churches that issue bonds and the lender working with Metropolitan. “That has been true for churches.”
Cook said churches were seeing their collections drop by as much as 30 percent.
In 2009, Hicks described the situation this way: “Very often, the choice is extremely stark: ‘Shall I place food on the table for my children? Or shall I place money in the plate as I’ve been instructed?’ That’s not an easy choice to make.”
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