Ever since I came to this church, I have been having discussions with various leaders here about how our community can make the jump from a pastoral church to a program church.

These conversations have all been based on the assumption that we have been poised right on the cusp of making this transition for quite a few years. In some ways, due to all the diverse activities we have going on and our staffing situation, we are already trying in some ways to function like a program church.

According to the latest research on churches of all denominations, however, it is starting to become apparent to organizational consultants that a church is not really ready to begin that pastoral to program transition until Sunday attendance averages around 150 per week, and the transition is not really complete until regular attendance averages about 250 a week.

Judging by these newly emerging criteria, it seems clear to me that we are setting ourselves up for failure if we continue to try to emulate and judge ourselves by the criteria of being almost a program church. It seems to me that we would do better to really embrace and understand our current situation with about 100 folks attending most Sundays during the program year.

This means we are a successful pastoral church and not a program church, and we will all be happier with our community if we understand what that means.

It means that the leadership pool is still limited and that we would be better off and more successful if we try to do a few things well than many things with varying levels of success.

It means that Sunday morning is currently the center of our community life and that we should do everything we can to make the Sunday morning experience welcoming and fun and not do so much church business that day.

It means that we might approach more of the tasks of church life through a team approach and not try to have so many standing committees which we have trouble keeping operating in a healthy fashion.

I would recommend that, to understand more about our church's current situation, all the leaders and would be leaders and stakeholders in this operation read the book "Raising the Roof, The Pastoral to Program Size Transition" by Alice Mann.

If a number of us have this information in common, we will be much more able to help this church be a healthy and happy place where we can grow spiritually and have an impact on the world beyond our walls.

Blessings on our ongoing struggle to be a place of growth.