The End

Today I signed the letter detailing the terms of the severance package. Five years of ministry will come to an end just two weeks beyond that fifth anniversary. The issues are complex and deal with both myself and the church. There are people delighted that I'm not a piece of history for this community. There are others who will be devastated by this move. So how is this something that pertinent for the blog?

Well, here goes! Those delighted will point to my lack of cooperation with their desired direction, they will say I didn't listen to them. Those devastated will say but we didn't find any reason for this! We like his sermons, we appreciated his teaching and visits and counseling. The truth? It lies somewhere in the middle. I know I didn't fulfill all the desires of the congregation. I tried to move in direction of helping them see some new directions for ministry, and to understand that all the church growth studies I have heard or read say that long term sustained growth comes through the congregation instead of from the pastor. I tried to lead them into the direction of new forms of worship, new understandings of how the church reaches out to younger people.

I have listened to those who wanted me to function as a 1950's pastor in the twenty-first century when people are dual career families scheduled to the brow-line with sports, dance, school and family activities. I have tried to help them see that with that kind of scheduling, it's impossible to function as a 1950's pastor. I have not been successful, not to the smallest degree.

So what do I want now? Only a couple of things, that we can find a place to live, jobs, and healing. That the church will in fact figure out who they are, what they want, and if they want to survive - which will include a level of commitment that hasn't been evidence so far in my tenure.

God be with us all! Please, God!!

Peace!