Well, first, a lot higher percentage of church attendance ;)
But even so, multi-point parishes are necessary, i.e. where various congregations share a pastor (and possibly do things like Confirmation and Vacation Bible School together). The ELCA church (my church) is part of a parish with two congregations, one here in town and one in the country between here and the next town down the road; the LCMS church and the Catholic church are both part of three-point parishes (i.e. where it's three congregations working together). The Assembly of God church currently has a part-time minister, and the Methodist church has a retired pastor who drives an hour up from the city each Sunday to do services. The Evangelical Free church may be the only one that's completely independent on its own; but it's the result of the Methodist and Baptist churches combining into one about 20 years ago. (The Methodist church is populated by the small remnant that WOULD NOT join with the Baptists.)
You have to remember that when the town was settled a hundred years ago, 1) people were pretty spread out on their homesteads, 2) people didn't have cars, and 3) the ethnic and denominational boundaries were VERY STRONG. So you end up with a lot of little churches that were within walking/horseback distance of a certain number of people, but it wasn't 1 church per x people, it was one church per x people of that particular denominational and ethnic background. So, for example, lots of them were Lutherans! But the German Lutherans and the Scandinavian Lutherans (mostly Swedes, for my congregation) would not worship together; they each had their own church. (Partly because of rivalry, and partly because ... the Germans spoke and worshipped in German, and the Swedes in Swedish.) And today the German church is LCMS and the Swedish church is ELCA. But back then there was a pastor shortage and even then some of these little churches would have had a hard time supporting a pastor by themselves, and so they shared with the closest church of similar ethnic/denominational background.
The thing in DC that I really love that few people know about is the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. It's well off the beaten track, but it is an ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS Catholic church, huge and with incredible art (a basilica is a cathedral that doesn't have a bishop). I mean, the National Cathedral is pretty, but it's fairly standard European-style. The Basilica is far more unique, and the art in it (paintings! statues! mosaics! carving!) is all phenomenal.
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But even so, multi-point parishes are necessary, i.e. where various congregations share a pastor (and possibly do things like Confirmation and Vacation Bible School together). The ELCA church (my church) is part of a parish with two congregations, one here in town and one in the country between here and the next town down the road; the LCMS church and the Catholic church are both part of three-point parishes (i.e. where it's three congregations working together). The Assembly of God church currently has a part-time minister, and the Methodist church has a retired pastor who drives an hour up from the city each Sunday to do services. The Evangelical Free church may be the only one that's completely independent on its own; but it's the result of the Methodist and Baptist churches combining into one about 20 years ago. (The Methodist church is populated by the small remnant that WOULD NOT join with the Baptists.)
You have to remember that when the town was settled a hundred years ago, 1) people were pretty spread out on their homesteads, 2) people didn't have cars, and 3) the ethnic and denominational boundaries were VERY STRONG. So you end up with a lot of little churches that were within walking/horseback distance of a certain number of people, but it wasn't 1 church per x people, it was one church per x people of that particular denominational and ethnic background. So, for example, lots of them were Lutherans! But the German Lutherans and the Scandinavian Lutherans (mostly Swedes, for my congregation) would not worship together; they each had their own church. (Partly because of rivalry, and partly because ... the Germans spoke and worshipped in German, and the Swedes in Swedish.) And today the German church is LCMS and the Swedish church is ELCA. But back then there was a pastor shortage and even then some of these little churches would have had a hard time supporting a pastor by themselves, and so they shared with the closest church of similar ethnic/denominational background.
The thing in DC that I really love that few people know about is the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. It's well off the beaten track, but it is an ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS Catholic church, huge and with incredible art (a basilica is a cathedral that doesn't have a bishop). I mean, the National Cathedral is pretty, but it's fairly standard European-style. The Basilica is far more unique, and the art in it (paintings! statues! mosaics! carving!) is all phenomenal.