That Was Fast…

I haven’t blogged much about transition lately, but felt like I ought to since things took an interesting twist this week.

My mobility papers have been finished since November. I felt like I ought to hang on to them for some reason…maybe I wasn’t quite ready to send them off. I decided I would send them in this week when I got back to the office, which I did on Monday. I emailed them Monday night and sent out a paper copy that same day. I figured it would be a while until I heard anything. I was feeding the baby on Saturday when my cell phone rang and it was none other than the Bishop’s mobility guy calling on his cell phone. He had the papers, and has several churches in mind.

“Is it ok if I go ahead and send you some profiles and set up some interviews?”

“huh”

Yep, less than a week after I submitted the papers they are already wanting to send my stuff on to churches. I am a *little* shocked at how fast it moved. Now I know full well that I am not committed to anything other than looking at papers. I am not committed to even interviewing at this point. Still, the rest of Saturday and then into Sunday I felt really unsettled all of a sudden.

Anyway, they are sending papers on three calls, all of which are RURAL. I mean, really really RURAL. Why do I point this out? To quote an exact line from my call papers, “I do not feel as if I have the gifts to do rural ministry.” The truth is, I have not had any exposure to rural ministry, so I may very well have the gifts and just don’t know it.

What else about the calls? One is two-point, with one church worshipping around 30 and the other around 90; one is a two hundred year old church also worshipping about 90; the final is also a historic church in the two hundred year old range that worships in the 50s. All are declining in attendance and membership. One appears to be hemorrhaging people.

Now all of this is based on what I have read in the congregational trend reports. And I do not intend to disparage the churches. I went to a couple of churches that had less than 100 average worship attendance and LOVED it. These could well be vibrant small towns with active, devoted and loyal people showing up Sunday after Sunday to hear the Gospel and receive Christ in the sacrament of the altar. Who knows? I just have three page reports to look at to get an initial impression.

I was also told of a few other churches that will be opening to the interview process shortly, only one of which I am familiar with, and is in an Atlanta suburb. The rest are scattered far and wide, and one appears to be a part time call only.

So there you have it. The wheels are moving forward. Excitement, anxiety, joy and sadness all rolled up into one.

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edited to add: I just received the profiles a few hours ago on two of the places. One is a big ole “NO” just from the papers. Very negative tone and infrequent communion with a lack of willingness to change anything. The other is interesting, though located in a town of…yes…200. I am guessing they don’t have a sushi place.