The conversation begins

I am a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. My congregation is an amazing congregation full of history and ministry and, like many other urban congregations, has struggled over the past 15-20 years to grow the congregation. In recent months the congregation has started seriously looking at their past, their current situation and their future and after months of prayer, conversations and listening to the Holy Spirit they are considering letting go of the ministry with grace and hope.
This blog is intended to write about the process of closing a congregation, or dissolving a congregation, from the pastor's perspective.  My prayer is that as this develops it will be a place I can find grace and hope in this hard yet life giving process. I also hope that with its completion, after the sale of the church building and the official dissolving of the congregation -after the final worship service and after many of the members of the congregation find new church homes, this blog may be of some help to other pastors that find they too are walking with a congregation through this special kind of ministry, or a lay leader who might want ideas on how to bring this conversation up with the board/council of the congregation.
We started this journey in an official sense 2 months ago, but really this conversation has been happening for over 5 years in this congregation - it's just the last 2 months we have begun really looking at the details of what it would mean to "close the doors". As I entered into this process and started conversations I am finding very little resources to help lay leaders or pastors through this process. If this blog helps another congregation going through the process of discerning the next phase of ministry, which might include allowing other ministries to benefit from the assets of the congregation and freeing the members of the congregation to find life and hope in new settings instead of fighting to keep something alive but is no longer giving life - then I will know that God is working through this blog and my thoughts.

This is a working blog. I will share sermons, meeting outlines, bible verses that are helpful, challenges, ideas, and practical lists of archives, closing worship, member transfer, legal issues... Anything I come across as "man, I wish I has this laid out for me" I will post here - as it happens. We are just starting this conversation any my guess is it will take 9 months to a year to officially close the congregation. I invite you to journey with me through this year.