Vital Posts / Small Churches

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  • Little Church, Big Mission
    I used to think I belonged to a small Episcopal Church. Both the parish where I grew up, in Lake Geneva, WI, as well as my congregation in New York City probably have about 60 people in worship on Sundays. I’ve known the rectors and their familie…
  • Leaving is Lonely
  • Here, Hear the Children
    The call came a few hours after the parish meeting. A young dad, he wanted his priest to know about a situation, in case it escalated. The diocesan transitions officer was meeting with the people of the parish to talk about next steps since t…
  • Broken Windows
    Who would think that cleaning up graffiti and cracking down on jaywalkers could lower crime rates? This is the main premise of the broken-windows theory, which posits that a cleaner, more orderly neighborhood is less likely to attract criminals…
  • Charting a New Path
    The economic news in Dayton, Ohio, isn’t good. Long a manufacturing hub, the city has acutely felt the national financial woes. One in 10 workers are unemployed, and job loss is among the highest in the state. But leave it to the Epis…
  • The Baptist Bus Driver
    Herb beckoned for my husband to come to the bus door. My daughter found this book for me, Herb said. It is really amazing. I’m learning all kinds of new things. Have you ever seen a book like this? The words “Holy Scripture”…
  • Is it Worth It?
    “If no one else signs up to help, you’ll have to bring me in on a stretcher next week.” This was the closing line of a lay leader’s announcement last Sunday, as she pleaded for more volunteers to make blueberry cobbler for the town’s annu…
  • Three Cups of Coffee
    This past July, Tim Schenk, Episcopal priest and blogger at Clergy Family Confidential, tweeted “Forget the tea. I should write a best-selling book called ‘Three Cups of Coffee.’ Subtitle: A Day in the Life of Fr. Tim." As might be expected,…
  • Vestry as Spiritual Leaders?
    How would your vestry's work differ from current practice if the spiritual health of the congregation was its primary obligation? One of the best kept secrets in the Episcopal Church has to do with the wide range of work that vestries can ta…
  • An Unexpected Gift
    A crew from Calvary, Ashland, Ky., was supposed to be rolling in late last night, weary but exhilarated from a train trip to Washington, D.C., part pilgrimage to the National Cathedral, part journey on historic rail cars. But first there was …
  • God Moments
    In college my friends and I became fond of saying “God works in the Housing Office.” As I entered my sophomore year and returned to a small suite of rooms in the dorm, I realized an immediate connection with the two first-year students plac…
  • The Hunger Games
    As I mentioned in my post last week, summer is novel reading time. I recently read the first two books of Suzanne Collin’s The Hunger Games, a popular and unnervingly dark young adult novel. In this series a violent society pits starving teenagers …
  • A Children's Place
    Episcopalians aren’t the only people God trusts to take the summer off. At our church, the nursery attendant goes home from college, and the kids join the congregation for the whole service. During the program year, the nursery is staffed…
  • Space invaders
    The air conditioner died, not with a bang but a whimper. Because of problems getting the parts, it would be a month before the company could install a new unit. With early June temperatures in the 90s – and the priest already prone to sweat…
  • Building Community -- at a Campground -- and Church
    Campers could share a lot with parishioners when it comes to building community. We travel frequently with our children – my son was seven weeks old when I flew to New York City for a business trip. I wasn’t ready to leave him yet, so we …
  • Losing Your Pew, Gaining ground
    Prepare to lose your regular pew this Sunday. Churches are full-to-the-brim on Easter Sunday, with twice-a-year, Christmas-and-Easter guests and first-time visitors feeling inspired to make more of the day than egg hunts and candy-swapping. …
  • The Little Church That Could
    “We had an emergency building committee meeting on Thursday. The boiler is failing. But when I left the meeting, after 2 hours, I was so energized!” That isn’t the usual response from a property committee chair. But it was Liz’s respons…
  • Soul Food Pyramid
    Have you had 6-8 servings of sacred story? What about the recommended monthly 2-4 servings of Christian action?  The Soul Food Pyramid outlines what is needed for a healthy, balanced spiritual diet.  Developed by the folks at St. Patrick’…
  • Growing Pains
    I just got off the phone with a friend who’s been priest-in-charge of a congregation that's grown from an average Sunday attendance of 30 to about 80 in a little less than two years. "It’s a tough day!" she exclaimed. It was only noon. I'd …
  • Back to basics
    The first semester of our experiment ends tonight. My church is a typical county-seat congregation in the foothills of Appalachia. If only Christmas Eve were our typical attendance on Sunday mornings, we’d be a packed 150. Instead, most Sun…
  • Church and Sate
    The separation of church and state is a key cornerstone of the U.S. government. At the same time, everyone at my noonday meeting on Tuesday had cast their vote in a local church. This juxtaposition struck me today as we move from one of the most…
  • Saints Alive
    Faye laundered money. Literally. At the small, rural church, she collected the offering at the end of the service and hid it in her clothes hamper until she could make it to the bank. We discovered the occasions when she washed the purse wi…