PARISH

Parish.

Though the length of stay for many preachers is trending longer, still the average pastor only stays at a church for 3 to 4 years. Most of these pastors have a membership mentality. They are hired by or appointed to a church and all of their focus is on caring for the members of that church. Baptisms, weddings, funerals, visiting the sick, preaching, and programs all tend to be member-centric. The new minister spends a year getting to know his or her congregation, then spends a year trying to lead them and hopefully grow the number of members, and then he or she spends a year saying goodby.

It is not a good model for success. Because of ministers having a membership mentality, they have very little interaction with the larger community outside of the church. They tend to spend all their time with people who look alike, think alike, vote alike and fight alike. The people and the needs of the community are often overlooked.

John Wesley once said "the world is my parish." Many Methodist think that his words were a call to world evangelism. Actually, it is because the Anglican priests in his day were complaining that Wesley was preaching in their parishes. 

Anglicans and Catholics (and some others) have a parish mentality. Their reach goes beyond the members of the church into the community in which the church exists. But, at that time, Wesley had fallen out of favor with the Church of England and did not have a parish assigned to him. So, he went to the mines and factories of England and preached to the common people who were not welcome in the stuffy churches in England. He told people that were not a part of the church that God loved them, that they matter, and that they were loved. And the people responded. Ultimately, the Wesleyan movement became the Methodist Church. 

While Wesley would have encouraged world missions, his "the world is my parish" statement reflected his belief that wherever he was - in the church or outside the church - that place was his place of ministry. He did preach in churches, but he also preached in cemeteries, in bars, in homes, and in the foundries. He did not minister just to those who were like him, but he ministered to people of various cultures, socioeconomic groups, education levels, races, ages, and other groups.

Our ministers and churches would do well to develop a parish mentality. By doing so, the people who live within the shadows of the steeple become the focus of ministry - the homeless person in the alley, the elderly couple across the street, the family around the corner, the widow and the widower, the people of other races that cause us to lock our doors rather than opening the doors to them, the people who might vote differently, the sick, the lonely, and others. 

People gain energy when hospitality is offered to them. As the church lives out its message of love and hope within the neighborhood, then lives are changed as new relationships are formed.

Parish. The Wright Word for Today.