Comments on: Buildings vs Clergy

By: Eamonn

Eamonn — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:16:22 +0000

Agreed, Kelvin. Part of the cost is staying with people who love their buildings more than they care for their clergy.

By: kelvin

kelvin — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 07:57:17 +0000

Chris, hearing of the reported comment, “do clergy love themselves and their buildings more than they love their congregations?” all I can say is that the ability of both clergy and laity to keep on being with and loving the sad and the bitter is one of the things that gives me hope.

However, few people who are not clergy would understand the cost of what people offer when they offer themselves for ordained ministry. I certainly didn’t when I said yes to it.

By: chris

chris — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 23:09:09 +0000

No, it isn’t. Just sloppy writing on my part.

By: Kimberly

Kimberly — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 21:36:37 +0000

That is not a reversal of the original question, Chris.

By: chris

chris — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:41:56 +0000

The following comment carries a health warning. It is not my own, but rather came up in discussion arising from your original post, uttered by someone who doesn’t “do”blogs. The question was asked the other way round, namely: do clergy love themselves and their buildings more than they love their congregations?

End of quote. Call it a view from the pew!

By: gail

gail — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 21:32:04 +0000

All I can add is that tho I have found beautiful places – including churches – uplifting and momentarily inspiring, the “Life-Changing” “Wow” “Kick-in-the-Pants” factor of Christianity has reached me thru PEOPLE – and it also seems to have been that those who have been most adept at “Tickling the Reluctant Spirit Within” have mostly been those in Holy Orders with an unequivocal conviction and vocation for the task…….perhaps even giving some glimpse of The Christ in person…
(And, er, isn’t that something of what He was on about, and what made Him such an attractive sort of guy to Those Who Followed in the First Instance……?)
I vote for Priest Before Church.

By: Kimberly

Kimberly — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:54:03 +0000

I’m not sure it always has to hurt (no, let me try again: I’m sure it doesn’t always have to hurt) but maybe we’re more aware of it when it does.

By: chris

chris — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 10:31:03 +0000

I wrote my first, careful comment before leaving for a meeting in Edinburgh, so had no time for further reflection. However, I’d now like to add this:
Having worshipped in one small, beautiful, decrepit church for the 34 years since I became a Christian, and having undergone the conversion to Christianity quite dramatically in another beautiful, costly and threatened church, I find myself terribly torn by the threat of their loss. However, Last week I lost, among other items left on a plane, the last 2+ years of a personal journal I’ve kept for 50 years. This last loss – to many, perhaps, an insignificant one – has brought home to me the terrible burden of caring too much about anything perishable. I don’t know if I’m cured – Di says I’m a Type 7 – but I’ve learned something I only knew intellectually before.

Why does growth have to hurt?

By: Di

Di — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 07:38:13 +0000

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head, Rob. People do seem to be so attached to the building that they forget what makes the church. Without adequate leadership, I can see little opportunity for growth in a congregation. But maybe that’s what some want: leave us alone – we like it just as it is, thank you. Trouble is, it makes for woefully overworked itinerant priests who have so many tiny congregations to minister to that they cannot possibly manage to do a proper job with any of them, leading to stress on all sides.

A beautiful old church building is a privilege to have and sometimes also an impossible burden.

By: Rob

Rob — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 04:38:14 +0000

You have no idea how true this is… 5 years ago I was forced to resign from a mission congregation after the vestry decided they’d rather use their funds to purchase the building they were leasing instead of paying a priest’s salary. 5 years later they have their building, but still no priest- and still no growth. Thanks for the musings