This is what you can do to help the church
I'm bursting with vision and want to share it with you in real time
‘You’re working too hard.’
This from both my husband and dear friend within 15 minutes of each other.
Why? Because we were at a party and I could not stop talking about church!
I can’t help it! People come up to me everywhere and they just spill:
My church is struggling
I’m called to ministry and I don’t know how I’m going to serve in today’s church
I want to start a church podcast
I want to start a church Substack
I want to learn more about Jesus but I don’t want to go to church
It’s not even that I want to help them (though I do), it’s that I’m bursting with vision about how we can do and be church better.
I’m completely excited - and literally see things appearing before me - about how we as the church (and ministers in the church) can get closer to our mission of sharing Good News and farther from the institutional structures that get in the way of this.
But my loved ones have a point.
I’m reaching a point of exhaustion. Right now, I’m:
Running around, trying to help everyone all the time.
Developing four separate ministries.
Simultaneously building a system to create roadmaps towards ministry transformation.
Working with those least able to pay large consulting fees (small congregations, ministers…)
Risking becoming exactly what I counsel people not to become: stressed, underpaid, doing everything for everyone.
Oh, and it’s Lent, so I’m fasting for 40 days with Trexo.
And I’m training for a half marathon that’s conveniently the weekend after Easter (is it a good idea to fast and train at the same time? I’m going to find out…)
It was on a training run this weekend that I realized I need to remember the thing I tell everyone else. The thing that God tells me:
You are not alone.
Which is how I got the idea to invite you to come with me.
I realized that I’m not just ‘building the plane while flying’ with my ministry, I’m also making all my ministry do double-duty: I’m serving God and the church, and I’m figuring out how to serve God and the church at the same time.
So what if I made this a place to update what I’m doing while I do it?
During Lent, I’m inviting paid subscribers into my process (or in this case, into my creation of a process…) while I sort out how to:
Develop Christian Practices to share with individuals and communities
Build a network of innovative ministers
Walk with the small congregation I serve as they face the challenges of today’s church landscape and get ‘unstuck’
Create a series of ‘mini consultations’ I’m calling ‘re-imagination packages’
Each Wednesday, I’ll give you an update of where I am with each of these projects - the challenges and the joys.
Which will hopefully be an inspiration to you in your ministry.
My goal is to create the ‘re-imagination packages’ by Easter (or as close as possible). Paid Free Range Priest subscribers will also get 10% off of these.
It’s sort of like inviting you to watch while I rehab a house - there’s things that are messy and hard, but underneath, there’s good bones.
I’ll also keep you updated on the training and the fasting, in case you’re interested.
I’m building all this into what I’m calling the Stained Glass Project - all four of my separate ministries (the Four ‘Panes’) and how they work together…
Each ministry in the Stained Glass Project has its own Substack site:
Free Range Priest
Substack Seminary
Trexo: a gym for your soul
St. Paul’s, Salisbury, NC
You can subscribe - Free, Paid, or Founding - to each of these to be part of each community.
If you want to be part of everything - and get the discount, and support the Future of Church - you’re invited to become a Founding member of Free Range Priest.
This will give you access as a monthly paid member to all four communities (Subscriptions to St. Paul’s go directly to them. The others support Free Range Priest).
I know - because people keep reaching out to me, even at parties! - that so many people want to rediscover ministry JOY, and figure out how to have more of the ‘Good Stuff’ (love, joy, peace, connection, community - JESUS), and less of the ‘stuff’ (meetings, budgets, stress, conflict…) of church.
Come join me on this journey to discover how to do this - as I discover it, and as you’re inspired to do the same.
Become a Paid member of Free Range Priest to get church transformation in real time (and discounts). Become a Founding Member of Free Range Priest to be a paid member of all four Panes of the Stained Glass Project and the benefits of all four communities.
Be part of Bringing Church to People.
Hearts up!
I love your vision and relentless reach!!!
I subscribed. You are doing great work. It won’t be great if it burns you out. Remember that what you teach and what you model are the same. 😇