Since graduating from seminary in 2011, one of the biggest challenges I’ve faced as the pastor of a small, rural congregation is recruiting, retaining, and replacing leaders within the church. At Nixon United Methodist Church, we have a practice of rotating new leaders out of leadership after three years. This policy has been challenging to…
Category: Church Planting
Who Is My Neighbor? The Rev. Kathryn Lester-Bacon on Neighbor, Change, and Mutual Responsibility
Above: V prays with a finger labyrinth in a “Praying with Your Senses” group. At Pittsburgh Seminary, we seek to participate in God’s ongoing mission in the world by seeing and getting to know people as our neighbors. Challenged by Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan and inspired by Mr. Fred Rogers ’62, who sang,…
What Is the Church’s Future? Finding Hope Together, Rebuilding After Storms
Storms have ravaged us these last number of years. A pandemic, extreme weather, and political and denominational turmoil only begin to name the trials we have faced. In the midst of it all, most of us were confronted with our own personal storms, although they are less often named. The classic United Methodist hymn puts…