BOB ABERNETHY: And now our Cover Story -- mainline decline. Since the mid-'60s, total membership in the major traditional mainline Protestant denominations -- Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutherans, Episcopalians, and others -- membership has gone down by the millions, more than 20 percent. And many mainline officials say they haven't hit bottom yet. Why did this happen? What's being done about it? And can an old mainline church market itself to a new generation with new tastes without putting its theology and soul at risk? First-Meridian Heights Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis, Indiana, 170 years old, lost two thirds of its members in the mainline decline but has begun growing again. Attendance at its classic worship service, Sundays at 10:45, is still going down, but at 9:15 on Sundays, it also now has this. They call it "Alive Time." Instead of an organ, a rock band. Instead of coat and tie, blue jeans. Instead of the pulpit, the minister uses a stool and wears no robe. The service is loud, informal, personal, and successful, and growing by 30 percent a year. The key is entertainment, visuals, music, mood, and pace, all designed to appeal to the young.
JESSICA HOBSON: I have a joy. This is the first time I've been back since I went to college, and its wonderful to see everybody and to see the church with so many people and everybody having fun.ABERNETHY: But not everybody at the classic service thinks "Alive Time" is fun, especially some whose children now attend the new service.
SANDY FENSTERMAKER: I miss the fact that they aren't with us in the classic service.
DAVID ENGELHART: The "Alive" service I don't like at all. I dislike it greatly. I don't like -- the music or what it is, I think it's such a sharp contrast with how I grew up.
ABERNETHY: The minister, Curtis Page, says some older members have left the church because of Alive Time. That saddens him, but he says the church's choice is change or die.
Reverend CURTIS PAGE (Minister): "Alive Time" presents the message of Christ to a whole group of people who wouldn't have heard it before. It's new, it's in the language they speak. We are using a style that was designed to meet the needs of people in this neighborhood and meet the needs of people in this community, to bring them in. Otherwise, if we don't do that, we will close our doors.Ms. HOBSON: I like it a lot better than any other church service I've been to, because it has energy, and I feel like I can actually participate in the service.
ABERNETHY: One reason for the mainline decline was mobility. The old churches, once pillars of every city's establishment, were downtown, but in the '50s, when members moved to the suburbs, many traditional churches did not follow. Then the '60s unleashed an antiestablishment mood that undermined all institutions, not least the mainline. Reverend Tom Long is a church scholar in the reformed church.
Rev. LONG: I think in some ways, they flirt with losing their souls. Coming into some of these services, you don't feel like you've been anywhere, not anywhere of depth. In terms of moving to the profoundest mystery of all, standing before the burning bush in awe and wonder, you don't feel like you've been to that kind of profundity.
Ms. STEPHANIE GUTEMAN: There is no doubt that the younger generations want noisier and more chaotic places, and the older generations -- this is all generally speaking -- want quieter and more reflective spaces, and we have to be able to find God in those separate places and then be able to come together.
