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Church and Main is a podcast at the intersection of faith and modern life. Join Pastor Dennis Sanders as he shares the stories of faith interacting with the ever-changing world of the 21st century.
On this episode, I don't talk to a Lutheran.
This time, I talk to a Presbyterian pastor about the best way to grow mainline
Protestant churches by focusing on the youth.
This is Church and Main.
Music.
Hello and welcome to Church and Main, the podcast at the intersection of faith and modern life.
I'm Dennis Sanders, your host. Church and Main is a podcast that looks for God
in the midst of issues affecting the church and the larger society.
You can learn more about the podcast, listen to past episodes,
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That helps others find the podcast.
So, this past summer, as I've probably shared before, I attended the General
Assembly of the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ,
which is my denomination, and they had their semi, I think it's semiannual,
meeting in Louisville, Kentucky.
It's always a great time to catch up with other members of the church from across
North America, the United States and Canada.
And I remember chatting with two pastors, They're both from my home state of Michigan.
And so I just kind of wanted to know how things were going with disciples back home.
And the outlook wasn't that great. I heard a lot of stories of churches that
were struggling and churches that were closing.
And that made me think about what ministry has been like here for disciples
in Minnesota, which I've seen a number of churches close, especially in the last decade or so.
And sadly, this is a picture that has been repeated again and again within a
lot of the mainline Protestant denominations as churches shrink and close.
And this is probably also a situation in evangelical churches as well.
The interesting thing is that many of the church planting movements,
especially that may have been very strong in the 80s and maybe the 90s in any
of these denominations are either kind of anemic,
or they're non-existent.
Now, Paul Moore is a Presbyterian pastor of a congregation in suburban Blaine,
Minnesota, and he recently preached at his home congregation,
which is a Presbyterian Church USA congregation in southwestern Minnesota.
The congregation basically recently sold their large building to a Pentecostal
congregation, congregation, and that congregation is going to swap their smaller
building with the Presbyterian church.
Paul notes that in a blog post that the sanctuary used to be filled with hundreds of people.
And when he preached there this past fall, there were less than 50 in attendance.
Writing in his blog, he notes that what's happening to his home congregation
is taking place throughout the Presbyterian Church USA.
In 2022, the Presbyterian Church USA had 747 fewer congregations and about 340,000
fewer members than in 2016.
No business would tolerate that without making significant changes,
he wrote in his November blog posts.
But he also observes that while a business wouldn't tolerate these losses,
there isn't much movement in the denomination to change things.
He continues, though these statistics are shared every year,
I'm almost astonished that these statistics haven't been a clarion call to focus
more on church growth as a denomination.
So, in this episode, I talk to Paul about why there hasn't been a call towards
church growth and also how he and his congregation are responding to the changes
that are taking place in his denomination.
Paul Moore has been the pastor of Chain of Lakes Presbyterian Church in Blaine,
Minnesota, which is a church plant, since 2009.
And before that, he was pastor of Community Presbyterian Church in Plainview,
Minnesota, that's in Southeastern Minnesota, for 16 years.
He has a BA from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, and his Master's
of Divinity from Union Seminary in New York.
This is the second time, actually, he's been on the podcast,
and I'll put a link to his past interview in the show notes where we actually
do talk about church planting.
But for now, let's listen to this episode, this new episode with Paul Moore.
Music.
All right. Well, Paul, it is good to have you back on the podcast.
It's good to be here. Now, when was the last time I was here? I don't remember.
It was maybe spring of 2022. Oh, okay.
That's not too long ago. Yeah. Somehow, to me, it seems like it's like a decade ago or something.
But yeah, I think it was around spring of 2022.
We talked a little bit about church planning about that one. Okay.
Nice. I'll have to go back and look. I'm sure, yeah, I'll go back and look on your podcast, but yeah.
So the reason I had you on is because you wrote two blog posts on your blog
that even you said got a lot of traffic.
And kind of recounting about church growth in mainline Protestantism,
but especially, of course, in your denomination, Presbyterian Church USA.
I think the first thing I wanted to talk to you about is, you kind of focused
it on an event that you took part in, and that was preaching at your home church
in Worthington, Minnesota.
So can you kind of explain a little bit about your home church? Oh, I absolutely can.
So I grew up in Worthington, Minnesota, and I went to church at Westminster Presbyterian Church.
That's the church I knew as a child, as a youth, as a young adult.
I was ordained in that church.
I officiated my sister's wedding in that church. My sister was ordained in that church.
So this church is a very important part of my life and my faith life.
My parents are still alive and they still go to that.
They still attend the church. In fact, my dad's on the session right now.
So Westminster celebrated their 150th anniversary this year.
And I wasn't able to go to the celebration as we had a big event that weekend
at the church that I serve, Channel Lakes Church.
But I told their pastor, Pastor Galen,
that I would be willing to come and preach on a Sunday, which I did.
It was, I don't have my dates exactly in front of me, but it's,
I don't know, but within the last month.
So at any rate, Westminster's gone through a big transition.
They just recently sold their building to a Pentecostal church in town,
and basically they exchanged buildings.
And Westminster though is going to receive, I mean, the building that they're selling is is.
Much larger than the building where they're going so that they're going to get some money behind that,
But and I knew everything that I experienced at Westminster that day that I
preached was not a surprise,
as you know, I talked to my parents all the time and You know,
we're I'm a definitely a church nerd and I don't know my parents are but we
talked about that church frequently,
So, you know, when, so as a church that's gone through significant decline,
and it's very hard,
you know, and I just want to say, as I talk about decline, and as I talk about
growth, um, you know, I really share from a sense of sadness,
more than a sense of anger, or frustration.
I mean, I do have some frustration.
And I know that I'm not really trying to poke the bear, if you would,
that's not really what I'm about or what my ministry is about.
But I think we also have to look at reality.
And so I'm not trying to push anybody's buttons. And so Westminster has gone
through significant decline.
And when my parents moved to Worthington in 1963.
And that building was built, I don't know, probably in the late fifties,
and it's a sanctuary of 650 people in a town of 10,000.
And when my parents moved there, my dad, this is all from my dad,
he said, you know, it was full every Sunday.
In fact, they were setting up chairs at this church.
And this is a very large building.
It's probably the largest Presbyterian church building that I know of to tell
you, it might even be bigger than like a Westminster, just the building.
So it's a very large building and they probably, but at the time it was full.
And so I just, um, so then going back to my home church and preaching on Sunday,
you know, there's probably 50 people there.
No children, maybe one child, uh, and a congregation moving and,
and again, I have to say I'm in full support of what they're doing with the
building and, and downsizing.
And of course, churches are not about buildings. But I just had this very great
sense of sadness about what's happened to this faith community that's very important
to me and very important in my own,
was very important in my own spiritual life and the spiritual life of my family.
Some of our, like I said, some of the most significant events of my faith life
have occurred in that sanctuary.
So that's what led me to write that blog on my home church.
One of the things that I find always interesting about Presbyterians is you
all are great record keepers.
Right! I mean, the whole indecent and in order really, you live it out.
And so, one of the things that's always fascinating on the website,
if you go there, is there are statistics,
and in your blog post you actually cite that, and that in some ways you can
kind of map the decline of the denomination,
but you could even map the decline of individual congregations in looking at that.
And I think one of the things that didn't anger you, but I think puzzled you,
it seems, is that there wasn't as much consternation or maybe disturbance about
the fact that there is this decline.
Yeah, so what concerns me about that is it just feels to me,
and again, I'm not really trying to poke anybody or poke the bear, if there is a bear,
but I just think that we as Presbyterians have come to accept that as our reality.
And there doesn't seem to be this impetus to change it.
And that's what is frustrating. Now, if we were a business, nobody would accept this.
It was, uh, because, you know, and I'm not calling for this,
but I mean, you know, the, the CEO and the board, they'd get fired immediately.
Um, so, but we, I think as Presidents have come to accept our decline and,
um, you know, we might make fun of it or make jokes or, uh,
and I mean, it's a big, it's a very big thing to reverse the decline,
but I'm and you know, I certainly I'd love to be a voice for growth in the press
chain PC USA, you know, my focus is on channel lakes.
Um, and that's where we're trying to grow. Oh, and we are growing.
Um, but that's, yeah, yeah, we are.
Yeah, I mean, it just doesn't seem to resonate, this kind of clarion call for, we need to grow.
Why do you think that that is? Because it's not just a Presbyterian thing.
I see that in my own denomination, and I see that across many other,
especially mainline Protestant denominations.
Why do you think— But, well, many
people who are much smarter than me have written a lot more about this.
So I just share my perspectives as a frontline pastor.
And I wanna say everything I do with a sense of humility, but I think we've
just come to accept it, that this is our reality.
So why do we accept that? Because I don't think we really know what to do.
And I think that we've kind of accepted the secularism, the secular,
I mean, I'm not finding the right word, but how our culture is moving to a more secular society.
Even though there are many churches who are growing, and there are many denominations,
I don't know many, but there are people who, denominations who are growing.
And I just don't think we know what to do because it's really hard work.
So I don't know. I don't have a great, I don't know why we accept it.
But I just think that we have. And, um...
I don't know. I mean, I can speak on my church. You know, if that happened to
my church, first, first of all, I'd get fired.
Well, maybe I could hang on to my job, but I highly doubt it.
So, you know, we haven't had fantastic growth at Chain of Lakes.
I mean, we average, you know, we started from scratch 14 years ago.
We average, you know, 65 to 70.
But on a Sunday, But if you came here, you would, and again,
I say this without humility. No, no, there's no pride.
Um, but if you came here, you would experience a great sense of vibrancy.
And energy and, um, a lot and a lot of ministry and people's lives are being
touched, um, and it's, it's really exciting.
And I think that we're at channel lakes, actually, we're on the precipice for
some significant growth. I think we're going to.
And I'm really excited about that.
So anyway, I feel like I'm kind of ranting, or drifting, but... Tom Blissey No, no.
But I think, you know, the other side of that is the concept of church growth,
and you even shared this, seems to also be something that people are wary of.
Why do you think that is? I think it's because a couple of things.
So our denomination is is more on the left side And we and so we those folks
who are on the left don't really think that church growth is all that important and,
You know, they certainly don't worry about people's well,
I'm projecting but it doesn't seem that there's a great sense of concern about
like somebody's salvation and And we don't want to be like a Billy Graham type of place where,
you know, you have to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior immediately and,
you know, convert or you're going to go to hell.
So I think that those are a number of reasons that I think that we haven't done
a great job at growing and have just kind of come to accept it.
So, one of the things in your second blog post that you talked about was about growing young.
And you kind of had this interesting proposal that in some ways you're kind
of living out at Chain of Lakes to focus on youth and family.
And you even noted that earlier when you talked about Westminster and Worthington
that there weren't any kids there.
What is so special about focusing on youth and family and how is that the key
to growth? Because that's where a lot of vibrancy has to come.
Because we're a congregation, we're a denomination that's old and elderly.
And people have been talking about this for a long time.
And there are a lot of people who are doing really good work on youth and children's
ministry. So again, I'm not trying to poke the bear.
But we have to get young. I mean, it's just, it's all, I mean,
it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out.
We have to do that. And I think part of the frustration is we've had a significant
focus within our wider denomination on Matthew 25, kind of a social justice movement.
And I think that's wonderful to focus on social justice ministries.
And we've done that at Chena Lakes a a lot.
In fact, we're known for that in the wider community.
And I was just throwing out because I'm a, you know, one of my gifts,
I don't know if it's a spiritual gift, but one of my gifts is kind of vision
and dreaming about the future.
So what if we intentionally try to get young and try to really focus for five
years on getting young, relating to youth, relating to children and growing
in that ministry, relating to families.
Now, that's not going to work everywhere. I get that. But, and...
You know, I think, you know, if if you accept the fact that there's a lot of
people who aren't going to church, even in places that aren't growing,
there are many young people who aren't going to church.
And so I think that and I think it's very hard.
I don't think it's easy. Like the church that I served before in Plainview,
Minnesota, when I came there, we had like five.
We had hardly any kids when I first came there. And when I left, we had, I think, 30 to 40.
So I know that it can be done, even if you don't have children.
Now, Channel 8, if you came here, we don't have this fabulous,
I shouldn't say this, we don't have a huge number of youth and children.
But it will grow. I am very confident about that.
So, I think that, you know, if we can have a denominational focus on Matthew
25, why can't we have a denominational focus on serving our youth and children?
And it makes so much sense to me.
That's, that, it was my, and it's still my passion.
I still believe it. And again, no criticism of people in the wider denomination
or organizations who are doing a lot of really good work.
But I don't think it's enough. I don't think we have enough of a focus.
Tom P. Davis Do you think that there is, especially in denominations, kind of a,
well, it seems like you've even kind of talked about this in a way that there
isn't a good sense of resourcing congregations and helping them,
and that there is a focus on social justice.
And I think that that obviously, as part of the heritage of a lot of mainline
denominations, it's important, but it also feels like it's putting the cart before the horse. Yep.
For sure. And, you know, I talked about this in my blog, you know, in terms of resourcing.
I don't think congregations have been resourced well by our wider governing
bodies. And I'm not talking about money, though money helps.
But I think what I'm talking about is focused.
Focus. Success stories. The willingness to talk about what's working, what's not working.
You know, the expectation that we're going to have be successful.
You know, I expect, I expect Tina to grow every year.
I mean, that's just what I expect. So it's that sort of resourcing that I think
congregations really need.
So like Westminster, like my dad, who's, I mean, my parents,
they care deeply about this congregation.
You know, they're both in their 80s. You know, they would say,
we don't have any kids. What are we going to do?
Well, those are the questions that we have to address. What are you going to
do if you don't have any kids? Are you just going to give up? I hope not.
I hope that there are things that we can do to help congregations grow in children and youth.
And it's not about a number. I mean, that's always kind of the pushback.
No, numbers are about lives and about people and about people's faith life and
about their involvement in the community.
So if Chain of Legs didn't exist, we couldn't have a ministry with the homeless
organizations that we do.
So, I mean, you can't separate, you know, social justice and congregational
growth. they all go together.
And you can't separate that from like youth and children's ministry,
they're still together.
And in terms of resources, I just think there has to be a much greater focus.
That's where I always start, is let's focus there.
I feel like I'm ranting, but, um, but yeah, so I think, I just think that,
um, we have to focus on youth and children.
I'm very passionate about that. So at Chain of Lakes, what we've done,
um, so in the last year, we've spent the whole year working on this and we had
a staff person leave and he was doing a good job. he's 15 hours a week.
And I was like, you know, we could go back and try to hire somebody at 15 hours a week.
But what happens to us is that person might want to, will probably want a full-time job.
And we can't offer that right now.
So we need to figure out how to sustain a staff person with youth and children.
And not every congregation, it's not like you have to have a staff person.
But for us, I've always found it to be very helpful, having the right staff.
So we spent the whole summer at Channel Lakes.
We had a task force, and we looked at our history with youth and children.
We did a deep kind of analysis of ourselves.
We're in an area where we should have a large number of youth and children come
to Channel Lakes. That's just the reality.
And so we talked about that, what would it look like?
And we realized that, and we talked to some other churches who have successful ministries.
And we came to realize that we need, I mean, and everybody did buy in,
that we need to increase the staff person to 30 hours a week,
still not full-time, but at least that could be the primary part of that person's work.
And we had somebody, so, and it's $20,000 extra.
So it's a big, it's not insignificant financially for us. A big commitment.
And commitment. And the leaders have to buy in.
So, and I give our congregation a lot of credit. We spent a lot of time,
we talked about it, we had this task force, our session,
talked about it for two meetings, and they looked at the pros and the cons of
doing nothing, of staying where we were, or going to 30 hours,
and they unanimously agreed to do it.
And that led us into our stewardship drive, which has been so far successful.
And we just hired somebody, it was a person actually who was already on our
staff, who's, and she's going to be terrific.
So, you know, and I, that's why I'm, you know, I'm not trying to come across
as arrogant at all or prideful, but I am confident that we will grow with those ministries.
And it took, it took a year of focus for us to do that.
And, and we're going to continue to have to focus on that.
And I'm really excited to see what's going to happen.
I mean, have you noticed that other churches that are growing,
that that has been their focus because I. Oh, sure.
Yeah. I mean, I think youth and children has to be a focus, for sure,
for growing churches. I don't think that I think creationists can grow in a lot of different ways.
And I don't think they, I don't think youth and children has to be the primary driver of that.
But I do think that certainly it's important, definitely is important.
I mean, it is. It makes so much sense.
Yeah, the reason I ask is because I am even thinking about my, um...
My husband is the music director at a Methodist congregation in the South Metro
in Eagan, and they have really invested in children and youth.
They have a deacon that does something, and then another person who isn't a
deacon but has all the classes and everything.
But But they have, I think, a fairly strong children and youth ministry,
and a growing congregation, which again, for another mainline congregation,
that's a rarity, but they are doing fairly well for themselves.
So that does seem to be a consistent theme for that. Right, and so to talk,
let me also, in addition, let me just share some more experiences from Chain of Lakes.
So we have really grown, really, well, it's not like we haven't had rapid growth,
but we've grown, we're growing.
I mean, COVID, like all churches, really hurt us a lot, but we're almost at our pre-COVID numbers.
And one piece that's really helped us is our support of the LGBTQ community.
We've had a large number of people who've come to Chain of Lakes,
who have come not only as LGBTQ people and also as heterosexuals who support
that issue and wouldn't go to a church that isn't supportive. So.
A lot of people actually. And that actually, I shouldn't say actually so much,
but that's been really our prime driver of our number growth.
And so in our community, there aren't a lot of churches who are supportive of LGBTQ.
So we've tried to kind of use that opportunity.
I mean, I wish all churches were, but I can't control the churches.
So that's really been helpful to us. So that has actually has nothing to do,
with youth and children.
And that's where I think that, you know, and traditionally, of course,
LGBTQ support would be seen as a justice issue.
And that's where I think that these, you can't separate evangelism from justice and growth.
We've had people who come to Channel Lakes because of our partnerships with
organizations who help homeless, people who are homeless.
And they just find that, they love that about our congregation.
So I think, I think what's important for congregations is to kind of identify
what their people are passionate about, and will Will that fit the,
and then can that fit the wider community in terms of growing?
So one of the things that I've also noticed every, and I haven't gone in several
years, but every year you go down to the Leadership Institute that is put together
by Church of the Resurrection,
which is a United Methodist Church in Kansas City.
And I think they are very much a model of a church that has grown and grown
astoundingly in many ways.
Yeah, it's a mega church. It's a mega, mega. Oh, yeah, yeah.
It's even beyond mega at this point.
But what are the things that in those experiences and in kind of knowing about
Church of the Resurrection,
what are things that can can be learned for congregations and how they can grow
in a way that is not just about numbers,
but it is really about trying to change lives.
Yes, definitely.
Now, totally, and the reason that we go to Church of the Resurrection every
year is, one, it's just a lot of fun. It is.
And I had decided, I've gone.
I have to go back and count probably 20 times. And I decided when I came to
Channel Lakes that I wasn't going to go by myself, that I was always going to bring a group.
And I think they're a good model for a mainline church who's had a lot of success
in a lot of different areas.
I mean, they've grown and they've grown in their numbers, they've grown in discipleship,
and they make a significant impact in the community.
And our folks, like this year, I think we brought, I don't know, five or six people.
Next year, I told our folks, I would love for us to rent a house.
I mean, let's get 10 to 15 to go and just rent an Airbnb. We can all hang out there.
And we always get ideas. There's always something that we bring back that's
helpful. And I think it's helpful
to just see places that have success and then try to learn from that.
We're not trying to become, obviously, I mean, we're not trying to become Church
of the Resurrection of Blaine, but we can adapt what works for them and put
it through the filter of our community.
And yeah, that's, I encourage anybody to go.
I mean, if there was a Presbyterian congregation that was doing what they're doing, I'd go there.
And, you know, it's important to see mainline churches that are very successful,
because there, I think, is a real, our sense of, I think we've lost,
I mean, I'm speaking very generally,
but I think we've lost a sense of confidence in living on a purpose.
So, the article that you wrote and asking about the five years,
and I said that it was getting some responses. What were the responses?
And... I didn't get a... Well, I actually didn't get a lot of emails or things,
but a lot of people, it was... A lot of people read my article,
or the blog that I wrote about my home church.
And it was very sensitive for me because there's just a lot of sadness there.
And it's the sadness of what's been lost. And I'm not even part of the church.
I mean, but my parents are, and I shared earlier why it's so important to me.
So I didn't get a lot of... that was the response, like it's just a lot of...
You know, I had hundreds of people read that blog.
And I didn't receive a lot of emails or contacts from people but I know a lot of people read it.
So one of the other questions that I have is, I mean, why is it so important
to have growing mainline churches?
And I think, go ahead, go ahead. Well, because I think the mainline church offers
something that's very significant.
So we offer this great opportunity to combine personal faith and social justice.
I mean, it's right here in the Presbyterian Church. We offer something where,
you know, lay people are significant leaders.
They don't have to rely on their
pastors, though pastors certainly have a very important role to play.
So you have a combination of pastors and elders, not old people,
but leaders working together to make an impact.
I mean, we have a great process, a form of government, not that,
you know, it's rare that, you know, that's another whole blog.
You know, we use our form of government as our model, and it's very significant, but it's healthy.
When it works well, it's healthy. And I think, you know, you're not going to
have authoritarian pastors.
I mean, you can, but we have a system that's going to prevent them,
hopefully, from causing damage, unlike other churches.
So there's just, you know, and like I always say, if you go to a town anywhere
in America of 10,000, anywhere in America and there's a Presbyterian church,
that Presbyterian church will be involved in the food shelf.
I guarantee it.
And that's significant. That's important.
And so I think there's just a lot. There's a lot that's important with a mainline church.
You know, we support women in leadership.
We're one of the few congregations in the Blaine area where a woman can be a pastor.
I mean, a woman's not going to share the sermon at Eagle Brook,
which is a large megachurch. A woman's not going to share a sermon at other churches, and we can.
We support the LGBTQ community with passion and support, I mean,
with passion and without apology.
And, you know, you're not going to find that in other places.
So there's something very special.
And if the PCUSA declines, and I mean, continues to decline,
that's not going to be offered in our communities. And that is,
you know, so, you know, I'm still a passionate Presbyterian.
I share often when people come, you know, cut me open, I bleed Presbyterian.
And because I'm on blood thinner, I bleed even faster.
So in, you know, we're not trying to make people Presbyterian.
When we have new folks come, I always share that the metaphor that I use for a denomination is a car.
We're riding in the Presbyterian car. And we're not trying to make you Presbyterian,
but we are going to share with you the parts of our car that are important. And without apology.
And that's just what we do. So, you know, that's my kind of fairly quick spiel
and why a Presbyterian slash mainline denomination is important for a community.
Yeah, and I think I bring that up is because we talk a lot about decline,
but we don't really understand.
I sometimes wonder if we don't understand what we're losing,
or what is it we want to conserve.
I think that that's important. If we don't have that, then that voice is not there.
And I think that that can have consequences.
Significant consequences. I cannot agree more.
Yeah. So if people would like to get in contact with you, they're wanting to
talk a little bit more about this, where can they contact you?
Oh yeah, they can always contact me at pastor at colprez.org.
You know, Chain of Lakes, colprez.org is our website.
I'm, you know, it's very easy to get in touch with me. always go to my Facebook
page. Those are three possibilities.
And I will always respond.
You know, I'm not gonna make, I'll always get back to people.
And, yeah, I, I still, I'm, I'm still discerning and praying what my own role is in this.
And I think there's something, I'm not sure what it is.
And I just, I'm really sensitive, because some of these questions,
people get defensive, and there's resistance.
And I'm not trying to, as I've said earlier, poke the bear, because I do this
out of really deep care and appreciation for what people are doing.
And we have to be ruthlessly honest about what's happening.
Yeah. And I think that that's been part of the problems that we haven't been honest.
I think we all know what's happening, but we're not, we haven't made the effort
to change those numbers.
And I think it's hard. I think it's It's very hard. It's hard work. It's very hard work.
But I think God's leading the way. And I think, you know, congregations that
have that spiritual energy, it's just beautiful.
I think God, I totally believe that God has something in store for,
I mean, I just think about Chain of Lakes.
I know that God has something in store for our congregation.
There's no doubt in my mind about that. and I would hope that we could get to
that place where we believe the same for PCOSA.
All right. I think that that is a hopeful note to end this conversation.
So, Paul, thanks so much for chatting with me again. Oh, yeah.
Thank you, Dennis. Thank you for your good work. Thank you for your podcast,
and thank you for inviting me to participate.
Thank you. All right. Take care.
Music.
Well, thanks for taking the time to listen. As usual, there are links of interest
related to this episode with Paul, so please do check out the show notes.
Also, I wanted to let you know about the other podcast that I do that's called Lectionary Q.
This podcast focuses on, usually on a text from the Revised Common Lectionary,
and what I do is I have a reflection and then I ask some questions to Q stands for questions.
I started actually last fall and, um, had it going for a while,
but, um, basically just stopped. I was just really too busy.
Um, and I'm trying to get it started again. And so you can, uh,
find and subscribe to the podcast by going to, uh, lectionary q dot substack.com.
And if you didn't get that, don't worry. It's also in the show notes.
So, that's it for this episode of Church in Maine.
As always, remember to rate and review this episode on your favorite podcast
app so that others can find the podcast, and please consider sharing this podcast
with people that you know.
Also consider donating so that we can continue to produce more good episodes.
I hope that there should be another episode or two coming before the year closes, so do stay tuned.
But for this episode, I'm Dennis Sanders, your host.
Thank you so much again for listening. Take care, Godspeed, and I will see you very soon.
Music.