“What to Do When You Can’t Afford even a Half-time Pastor?”
15 min 50s
It’s not about “saving” the congregation, per se, but about buying the time for serious thinking about what the cong. wants for its future.
Discerning what form of ministry is faithful to the basic values & resources that you have now?
Guidance for how lay leaders can work productively with a very part-time pastor;
A targeted approach that equips and empowers the laity can do themselves:
Specific recommendations for how the laity can create and lead worship, for congregational care, etc.
Quentin lives in Pittsfield, MA, with his wife, Amy. He has a bachelor’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Illinois. He received his M. Div. from Union Theological Seminary in 2002. He has served as an interim pastor for several congregations in western Massachusetts, including UCC, American Baptist, and United Methodist. All but two of the congregations have been part-time. He has been a hospice spiritual counselor for ten years. He also served as a chaplain for homeless veterans. He taught workforce ethics to inmates at the Berkshire County House of Corrections. He has also served the wider church. He wrote several worship services for Worship Ways and was the author for a General Synod worship in 2015. He was also on the writing team for the revised Manual on Ministry.
- Recorded in September 2023
- Listen to more from Rev. Quentin Chin
