American Bible Society (ABS) spent a lot of time and money to build the Faith and Liberty Discovery Center (FLDC). I was present at the first content planning meeting for this museum. During that meeting, the ABS planners believed that their new Center would become a fixture on Independence Mall, drawing Christian visitors who wanted to learn more about the Bible’s role in the American founding.
I also wrote about the plans for the FLDC in the final chapter of my book The Bible Cause: A History of the American Bible Society.
Today, Emily Belz of Christianity Today is reporting that the FLDC is closing on March 28, 2024. One former ABS employee called it “a colossal waste.”
Here is a taste:
ABS had projected that the museum, centrally located on Independence Mall in Philadelphia, would draw 250,000 visitors a year. The revenue from ticket sales for the museum show a much lower number, maybe as low as 5,400 visitors in fiscal year 2022 (the museum’s program revenue was $54,000 and full-priced tickets cost $10).
ABS’s new CEO Jennifer Holloran, arriving last month to an organization with a variety of financial and missional troubles, said in an email to staff on Wednesday that she and the board had agreed at their February meeting that “now is the time to proceed with this difficult but necessary action.” She quoted Ecclesiastes 3, writing that “everything that happens in this world happens at the time of God’s choosing.”
“The FLDC as conceived was a wonderfully innovative idea,” she wrote to staff. “That idea came with big possibilities and requirements to allow it to be functional in the long run. Unfortunately, despite the valiant efforts of our FLDC leadership and team, we have not been able to achieve the long-term sustainability that an experience like that needs to be successful.”
The museum opened in May 2021 when venues were still experiencing pandemic ripple effects, but it never rebounded like other places. CT visited the museum last month and only three visitors trickled in over a two-hour span.
ABS described FLDC as a $60 million museum when it launched in 2021, and it had $11 million in expenses in fiscal year 2022. ABS’s 2023 stewardship report showed the organization contributed another $9.4 million to the museum.
ABS rents the museum’s space, so it is unlikely to recoup the investment, but this decision halts the bleeding of some of that money. The organization pays occupancy of about $1.3 million a year, according to its tax filings. ABS declined to comment on what the resolution of the lease would be.
Donors to the museum include several churches like Elevation Church and Houston’s First Baptist Church. Hobby Lobby is also a sponsor. The Museum of the Bible, backed by the Greens who own Hobby Lobby, loaned items to the museum. Other major donors include Linda Bean of the L.L.Bean family.
“I am disappointed. I’m sure I’m not the only one,” said Peter Rathbun, who donated to the museum along with his wife because he became excited about it when he served as general counsel to ABS. “I’m disappointed because I believed it was a wonderful vision, and I have no reason at this point to think that it is not still a great vision.”
“It was a colossal waste,” said one former ABS employee who was not authorized to speak on the record.
According to multiple sources, ABS was not sending donors regular reports on the museum. ABS’s 2023 stewardship report simply thanks anyone who visited the museum.
ABS had a windfall from selling its $300 million building in New York in 2015 to move to a rented office space in Philadelphia. The museum became one selling point of relocating to the “birthplace of America.”
Read the rest here.
I am a bit surprised the ABS did not stick with the FLDC until 2026, the 250th anniversary of American Independence when Philadelphia will be flooded with tourists. If you are planning a trip to Philadelphia in 2026 and want to learn more about religion and the founding, don’t despair. I am part of a new project dedicated to exploring religion in early Philadelphia. I am sure I will be writing more about this soon.