our pastor is leaving. he announced that today at the end of our church service. he and his wife, who is pregnant, are moving back to california to be near their families. it makes perfect sense, and we all wish him well. it’s just hard when there’s no stability in the leadership of the church. he hasn’t even been here a year, and now he’s leaving.

that’s the problem with small churches, and i have mixed feelings about a church the size of the one i attend. my church has 9-10 pews. it’s tiny. on one hand, i love the congregational singing at the beginning of the service, which larger churches don’t do, and everyone knows everyone. on the other hand, everyone knows everyone. joe and i are at the point in our lives where we’re not home a lot on the weekends. for the last two weekends, we were gone both days. we go to my parents’ a lot (though those trips will become fewer with the rising cost of gas), and we end up having other things to do. even though we go to my old church when we go to my parents’, the people at my church don’t know that, so they start sending us cards in the mail, fearing we’re leaving the church.

and, with small churches comes the constant in and out of pastors. unless the conference hires an older pastor who is settled to take over our church, we will continue to have a high turnover rate. our church is a stepping stone in young pastors’ careers. it’s really rough on the congregation because, until a new pastor is hired, church members have to give the sermons, and that’s just not the same. many of them don’t know how to be engaging and keep the congregations’ attention.

we have about another month left with our pastor. i just hope and pray our conference finds a new leader for our church soon.