Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Former SD priest on the isolation and burnout of clergy & decline of congregations

Tony Clavier, who served in South Dakota in the years just before I arrived, has some great ruminations on local ministry up at his blog. (h/t A.S. Haley)

He is describing what many clergy today face: a system that makes clergy and the whole church irrelevant - an organizational system that seeks to perpetuate itself long enough for existing members to get what they need, but could care less about really reaching and transforming others for Christ.

This is exactly the choice that Good Shepherd, Sioux Falls is facing. We can very easily slip into the national pattern of fewer and fewer members giving more and more money to keep the familiar stuff in place "just long enough."

Do pray for us - our annual parish meeting is this Sunday and these issues will be laid out in black and white.

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