A new book by a local author addresses issues facing the American church.

Polk Culpepper’s book “Decline and Dysfunction in the American church” examines problems within the church and offers a unique interdisciplinary explanation of its decline, one that converges at the intersection of Christianity and psychology, Culpepper said.

Based on extensive research and over 25 years of parish and diocesan ministry, Culpepper contends that the American church has, for most Americans, become irrelevant due to the toxic influences of co-dependent patterns of behaviors that corrupt relationships and block attempts at authentic ministry.

“What moved me to write the book was I began to notice that there was a fairly steep decrease in mainline churches, especially, but also in more conservative, fundamentalist churches — in membership, financial resources, respect, cultural influence and ministry — and I began to wonder what was behind that decline,” Culpepper said.

Culpepper was ordained in 1987 after graduating from the School of Theology in Sewanee, Tennessee, with a Masters of Divinity. In 25 years of ministry, he shepherded seven Episcopal congregations in Kentucky, North Carolina and Indiana. A native of Louisiana, he and his wife Cathy moved to Washington two years ago. Culpepper spent the last four years working on the now-completed book, he said.

 

Culpepper said he began to look at the decline and realized it has something to do with basic core relationships within the church itself. The codependent relationships are negatively affecting bonds in the church, he said.

“For example, in a church setting, I began to notice that I was somewhat dependent on the membership of my congregation for approval and acceptance and the members of the congregation were emotionally dependent on me for their needs of approval and acceptance met. And codependent relationships are inherently dysfunctional and unhealthy and churches are made up of relationships like families. The health of any social entity like a family or a church is determined by the health of the relationships that compose them,” Culpepper said.

His background — 10 years of practicing law and 25 in ministry — is something that has prompted Culpepper to not only identify problems within the church, but also come up with viable solutions for the problems, which he addresses in the last chapter of the book, he said.

“Basically what I say in that chapter is that the first thing that has to happen for the church to become effective and healthy again is to acknowledge the existence of the problem — the presence of destructive behaviors and relationships that is keeping the church from doing what it is suppose to do,” Culpepper said. “And once the church acknowledges that something needs to be done, a conversation has to take place within the church itself and eventual action so that codependent, dysfunctional relationships are replaced with interdependent, functional ones.”

Culpepper gave a reading and held a question-and-answer session at Brown Library on Tuesday, an opportunity he says he is most thankful for.

“I think it’s a great thing for the library to do,” Culpepper said. “I was very appreciative of the opportunity to bring my book to the attention of a wider public.”

“We’ve allowed (authors) to use our multi-purpose room to host such events,” said Kim Davenport, library services coordinator. “We are part of the Community and Cultural Services division with the City of Washington, so that fits perfectly into our mission statement, as far as being engaged in the community and cultural enrichment. It’s just another way we can respond to the community and help engage our patrons.”

For a copy of “Decline and Dysfunction in the American Church” contact publishing company Sable Press at http://www.sablepress.co.zw/contact-us/ or email Culpepper at polecat793@gmail.com.