Who Is My Neighbour? The Case for the Tri-Parish in One Retiring Pastor’s Reflection

by Rev. Donald A. Schieman

Although I am currently in the process of retiring, I have been serving Redeemer Lutheran Church in St. Thomas, Ontario and Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in West Lorne since 2010, and more recently, in 2024, have added Our Saviour Lutheran Church in London, Ontario.  Those are the three congregations that I have been serving on my own.  I am also the Circuit Counsellor of the London and Windsor circuits but will be giving that up in September.  The new pastor, a seminary graduate, will be ordained and installed on July 12.

Jesus is asked, “Who is my neighbour?”  And this leads into one of the best-known parables of our Lord; The Good Samaritan (St. Luke 10).  No doubt you are well familiar with it.  So, “Who is my neighbour?”  Who is the one right in front of you who needs your care, your charity, and your compassionate?  Your neighbour of course, and that might very well be the Lutheran congregation down the road, not more than an hour’s drive away.

In our time it is different; congregations which were strong and robust now have a membership that is shrinking at an alarming rate, with an often corresponding lack of finances and the ability to maintain a building and a pastor all in a single point charge.  With that all too well-known combination and the forthcoming shortage of pastors, perhaps it is time to look down the road to our neighbour.

For the pastor serving a dual parish of two congregations, a tri parish of three congregations, or even four congregations is a lot of work, a lot of time on the road in sometimes difficult conditions, but it does bring some wonderful benefits.  Often these congregations, at some point, were contemplating closing, selling the property, and being lost.  But, joining up together, being served by one pastor, each congregation carrying only a portion of the financial responsibility of the pastor’s compensation package may very well allow these congregations to carry on with Word and Sacrament ministry in their various locations and individual church buildings for some time to come.

Two congregations are the most workable with two worship services on a Sunday morning and a quick trip in between.  Three congregations are a little more challenging and draining, often moving well into a Sunday afternoon and evening, with many kilometres driven in between.  In the case of four congregations perhaps alternating the worship services every other week is required.  What this does at the congregational level, and forces the pastor to do, is streamline and eliminate so much of the busywork that seems to have been added to congregational administration.  That might mean, one bulletin per week or even per month covering everyone’s worship service.  No ongoing newsletters.  No chasing after church members to fill some kind of visitation quota.  Keep it simple, workable, paying attention to what is necessary, visit when it is important.  Preach Jesus, do Word and Sacrament ministry and don’t get bogged down in the nonessential stuff.

And, here is where some of that Good Samaritan compassion might show up.  Not every congregation has the same financial resources and ability; just as not every person sitting in the pew has the same financial resources.  So don’t expect it to be all equitable with each congregation paying its fair share.  Our churches get all excited about missions in far off places, which is a good thing, but are we ever called upon to think about the mission down the road in a congregation that is struggling even though it may very well have been established fifty or one hundred years ago?  For truly it is a mission, and that might mean a mission that requires financial support.  It is a place where Christians gather to hear about Jesus, to be comforted with the words of forgiveness and life in Christ, where they receive the Lord’s body and blood, where babies are Baptized and mourners gather to grieve and rejoice in the resurrection and the life that Jesus promises.  That is mission, for it would be a shame if those houses of worship were lost, those places where the saints, those made holy in Christ, have come together over the years and are continuing to come together, a building that boldly bares the cross-out front, that has made a footprint in a community.  For surely that is worthy of our efforts.

So, I encourage our congregations to think of one another.  Pastors, look for opportunities just down the road.  For, who knows, that the Lord should bring about repentance and faith in our land, and that all of a sudden people yearn for the Christian faith and our churches will be there with the doors wide open to welcome them in to hear about Jesus, their Saviour.

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