Pastors and dying churches

Regarding pastors being called to dying churches.

Some of us believe pretty strongly that churches in the inner city and the rural areas also deserve good pastors. We also affirm that many churches in some of the dying denominations deserve to have good pastors. Not every pastor is going to have the privilege of pastoring a thriving church, and not every church is going to thrive no matter who the pastor is! Pastors are primarily called to shepherd the flock. I believe that people at every stage of life deserve to have good pastoral care. Many of us are going to spend most of our pastoral careers in small- to medium-sized churches. Hopefully we can teach the Word of God and nurture the believers who happen to be part of that community.

There are plenty of churches that are going to hold on to some traditional ways of doing things. This doesn't mean that God can't use some of those old ways to nurture and protect His children. There are a number of us pastors who probably secretly, sometimes openly, admit that we yearn for simpler times and methods. We wish that we didn't have to keep up with all the new ways to reach people and grow churches. There are many people who wish that church was still a place of dignity and traditions because that is the way they learned to worship God. So much of our culture is changing so rapidly that many older people in the church wish that the church could be a shelter from all that change and that they could have some of those traditions to hang on to.

I do believe that God may call some of us to minister among people who don't want to change styles and we may be there to help them prepare for their dying. Sometimes, in dying churches, there is also the possibility of a resurrection as people return to a traditional church after being disillusioned with the trends of the contemporary church. My prayer is that we can be the shepherds who truly minister to the people whom God has given us at this time.

from the Pastors' Weekly Briefing newsletter, Dec 5th, 2008