The meeting last night was probably one of the more painful things that I've ever witnessed. I sat there and asked no questions... I just listened... and prayed.
The different options were laid out before us: Merge with Copper Hills; Hire a "start-up" pastor; Stay in our current location and be absorbed by our current host church and have our Thursday night service turn into a 20-30's video venue; or disband honorably.
The vote has been postponed by another week.
Forgive me if this is all I have blogged about lately. As my fellow bloggers know, we tend to write about the things that are on our minds. This is on mine.
The truth of the matter is that our church cannot survive as it is. We have no longer have an elder team and we have no one in our congregation that would be biblically appropriate to fill these rolls. We have not had a baptism in quite some time. We are not growing. Our tithes cannot support the 2 full time staff that we currently employ.
Evidently several years ago our church was gifted a sum of money by another church that disbanded. Very little of this sum is remaining. However there is some... and now we have to decide what to do with it. Use it to help a growing church with a similar mission (Copper Hills for example) and join them in the work of Christ here on earth. Use it to hire a start up pastor to see if we can revive our church. Or gift it elsewhere in our community and just part amicably.
These are difficult choices and we all have different ideas about what is best.
I would like to ask for prayer on behalf of our pastor Scott and his wife Amy as this must be an especially painful time for them.
5 comments:
You are right, I am sure your Pastor is hurting a lot and is very troubled by this happening. I am sure he is wondering why this "door" is being closed.
I am struggling right now, as our son and his wife have decided to leave our business and it is beyond painful for all of us...but I am just going to trust God with all my heart that it is for His purpose...but it hurts so much...I can't even talk about it! I will pray for all!
Boy this is hard to see happen. I've sat at church meetings where just deciding what to name the new library tore people apart... i can't imagine what this must be like.
You all will be in my prayers.
I work in my denomination's district office, and unfortunately we see this more often than not. Church just isn't a great business to be in right now, and people are really struggling to hold on to their churches. What most people don't realize is that churches are living, breathing things. They have a birth, a life and a death. Even the greatest churches will someday probably disband and spread out and evolve. It stinks, but it's almost always the case.
Just remember the Christ is not bound to one building or another - he works EVERYWHERE! And he will continue to work in your congregation, no matter where you meet.
I'm praying for you, your pastor and your church. This won't be easy, but rest assured that God is working in this situation.
I do know what you are going through right now. Believe me, it will get better with time a lots of prayers.
I feel it in your words how burdened this has you. I pray that there will be a resolution to this soon so that you can make peace with it, WHATEVER the outcome.
May God's will be done.
Jen
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