Changes

Pastor’s Epistle—July 2023

As many of you know by now, the shape of my ministry will be changing come August.

For years, St Peter’s managed to buck the broader trend. I was often told that our parish remained one of the few in our synod with a 1:1 ratio of clergy to congregation. Larger churches have multiple pastors serving in one place, while smaller churches tend to share a minister between them. It’s been this way for decades: big churches get bigger while small churches get smaller. And there are many more small churches than big ones. Rural areas have had to learn to work together, often quite successfully.

There are many reasons for declining worship attendance. I’ve spoken upon them at some length before, and feel no particular need to rehash them here again. Suffice to say that it has little to do with St Peter’s specifically, or even with American Christianity as a whole. There are socioeconomic forces at work here which have affected most every congregation in the country, and most every organization far beyond the bounds of religion. All of civil society—book groups, bowling leagues, Boy Scouts, fraternal lodges, knitting circles, anything relying on voluntarily in-person commitment—is adjusting to a new and different norm. We are all of us individuals now.

In other words, people haven’t lost faith in God. People have lost faith in people.

In many ways, this is a return to form. Broad worship attendance across all sectors of society largely came about in the aftermath of World War II, with most of the population reeling from wartime trauma while retrenching against the existential threat of nuclear-armed Communism. To be an American, we thought, was to go to church, especially a mainline Protestant church. It seemed the patriotic thing to do. But religious collapses and revivals pepper American history. Charles Wesley wrote 6,000 hymns, a great deal of them from the saddle of his horse as he rode the circuit between his many churches.

But I digress. That’s the big picture. Here’s the view closer to home. St Peter’s, like so many other congregations, has never recovered from COVID and can no longer afford a fulltime pastor on our own. Consequently, we have entered into partnership with Nidaros Lutheran Church of Clitherall, who have contracted for 50% of my time. The folks at Nidaros have been warm, welcoming, and accommodating. They have also lent their wisdom, as this is not the first time that they have shared clergy with a fellow congregation. All the paperwork has been filed and the contract signed as of the end of June. We begin time sharing in August.

While many scheduling specifics will be worked out in due time, my initial plan is to officiate at both Sunday worship services, then split my workweek with two days in Mills and two in Clitherall. I’m used to offering services on Wednesday evenings as well, and these also can be evenly split: two Wednesdays a month at St Peter’s, and two at Nidaros. I’m hoping to offer midweek Bible Study and adult education at Nidaros, should they want it. The Wednesdays at St Peter’s will have to focus on Confirmation. Yet have no fear: We’ll still have Pub Theology. I might even add a second one at ABC Brewing.

My hope and my prayer are that this arrangement will work out to the benefit of both of our congregations, to the greater glory of God and the mission we share. Wisdom traditions teach us that ideal conditions for learning and growth occur when we can keep one foot in the familiar and one foot in the new. This certainly would appear to be the case for me: serving a brand new congregation on the one hand, with their own history and traditions and stories; while also continuing to serve the parish which has been home to me and my family for 15 years now, on the other.

So far everyone involved has been quite optimistic regarding the entire endeavor. It gives me hope for things to come. May God continue to bless us, guide us, and accompany us in our life of faith together.

In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

P.S.—Nidaros is named for my favorite medieval archbishopric, but I’m sure you all knew that already.