Well, we are still alive as a congregation. We may be gone in a month, but as of now we are still here.
The meeting was a whole lot of fun. The one council member who decided to dog me when I was gone decided to come to the meeting. But this was only because another council member asked her. She would not respond to any of my notes, calls, or e-mails. Even when confronted with her behavior, she would not say anything. Then she was told that the Bishop had removed her from the council. Another council member wanted to tell the congregation that she quit. The assistant to the Bishop said, "No, she was removed from the council. If she wanted to quit, she had plenty of opportunity." When she came to the meeting, I asked if she would come into my meeting so we could talk, and she would not. If finally took the Assistant to the Bishop almost lifting her up to make her go to the office. When she found out she was not going to get the "quit" out, she walked out of my office and out of the church. She sent through the other council member that she had also quit the congregation. I am sure in her mind I did all the wrong things and that I should not have called her or her friends on their behavior.
We finally got the meeting going. We talked about what we did well and what we needed help with. The favorite thing was the "Family Atmosphere" but their least favorite thing is the decreasing/aging population. So if we don't want new people, how are we supposed to grow?
The big thing is that we have enough money to keep the doors open for about 30 days. We shall see.
The Assistant had mentioned something about training me for interim ministry. This might be a good thing. I think I could do it. It is one thing going into a troubled congregation knowing there is trouble and knowing you are going to be there for a limited amount of time. When you come in expecting to stay for a while, there is a whole different way of approaching things. The Assistant said that no matter what happens, this is not my fault and that I have done the best I could.
We shall see what happens.
And, yes, I am VERY tired.
2 comments:
I am very, very glad that you got that affirmation.
Yes, interim ministry is a special gift; e.g., when the congregation says that they like the family atmosphere/model -- you get to reply, you mean "dysfunctional?"
Remember, the Menendez brothers were part of a family too. So, perhaps the response is "Tell me what you have in mind?"
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