It tripled in size between 1965 and 1985. At that time, a plague of building contractors descended upon Prune City and immediately there were five thousand identical houses, a KMart, three supermarkets, five strip shopping centers, countless metal and tilt-up buildings, nine gas stations, eleven fast food restaurants, and five doughnut shops. Naturally, the churches grew, erecting new sanctuaries in earth tones. Both the buildings and the trendy Bible version were dated before they were completed. Now the boom is over in Prune City.
Church attendance is lackluster and graying.
The only growing church is Rivers of Living Refreshment Christian Fellowship which is only five years old and already the largest congregation in town. As you can imagine, anxiety has been mounting in the established churches, precipitating the strange tail I am about to tell. This past February, unbeknownst to one another, the governing bodies of several local congregations took action on their stagnating church attendance. These congregations included Prune City Evangelical Free, First Baptist, Faith Lutheran, Westminster Presbyterian, Freeway Wesleyan, and, Prune City Covenant. The proceedings were better than any side show.