Category: Small Church Ministry
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Greetings to the Rock Creek Presbyterian Church (Tallula, IL) on their 200th Anniversary!
Greetings to the Rock Creek Presbyterian Church (Tallula, IL) on their 200th Anniversary.
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The Body of Christ is Both Tough & Fragile
When I was in seminary I was taught: Small churches are tough. You can’t beat them to death with a stick!? I believed that truism, and repeated it to others. Now . . .
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A Peculiar Energy, Even as the Congregation Dies
For the last few Sundays I’ve filled the pulpit for a small church that has lost its critical mass. Attendance has dwindled to a faithful few, all of whom are running out of energy. Not a happy situation. Still, when I enter the church building, I feel a sense of welcome and warmth from the…
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Church Shopping: How Many Stars Would Your Church Receive?
I’m not currently serving a church, which means I’ve been church-hopping. It’s fascinating to see our beloved Presbyterian churches with the eyes of an outsider. Every clergyperson should get the time and distance to do this. We would quit saying things like: Why don’t people go to church? Because we would know. Last Sunday when…
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What I’ll Miss: a pastor’s thoughts on leaving her church
After almost a decade at my church, I am leaving to pursue writing full time, at least for a season. This coming Sunday is my last day in the pulpit! Here are just a few of the things that I’m going to miss . . . I’ll miss my place in the sanctuary, the red…
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Boundary Lines: Is Part-time Ministry Possible?
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. (Psalm 16:6) When people hear that I work two-thirds time as a solo pastor, they usually smile knowingly and say, church work is never part-time. Like most truisms, that one has a grain of truth but also perpetuates a myth. If part-time work were not…
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What Made Me Happy Today at Church
Driving up, the church property looked great after yesterday’s Super Saturday, which accomplished major hedge trimming, gardening, and floor cleaning. The property looks like somebody loves it! Two families who are on vacation each left an older teen at home. ?Those kids came to church today. ?On their own. A child saw me carry the…
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Things to Not Do: One Pastor’s List
I’m thinking about what it means to cease working, in preparation for a sermon on Sabbath-keeping. Yesterday I had lunch with someone whose agenda was to discern whether I’m doing adequate “self-care” in ministry. (Ah, isn’t that the topic of work and rest, or Sabbath?) We began with a little conversation about how my church…
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I Like Church
I like my church. I like listening to the piano and singing the hymns. I especially love it when the pianist makes a little mistake and we sing right over it and it doesn’t matter one bit. I like that people enjoy changing the hymn numbers in the wooden holder, and that people take turns…
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Being a “Transforming Congregation”
In the late 1990s Poolesville Presbyterian Church was struggling. That was not unusual for the congregation. Begun in 1847, they had struggled for most of their existence. The doors of the church actually closed for the decade of the 1950s, and reopened with only a handful of members served by a part-time pastor. By the…
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Holy Laughter Has the Last Word in Ministry with Teens
Last night our Session (church governing body) examined a group of Confirmation students (7th-8th graders), who we call Seekers. There were 9 Seekers, 7 Elders, 1 Teacher, 1 Pastor, and 5 Pizzas. The Seekers have been meeting since October, nearly every Sunday morning. We started with the pizza and a prayer. Then I read Psalm…