By Ed Thompson
They say, “Time flies when you’re having fun.” I think it creeps during Zoom meetings, but maybe that’s just me. The end of this month marks five full years of my ministry as the General Presbyter of the Presbytery of West Virginia. I must be having fun because the years have flown by. In some ways, it doesn’t seem like I’ve been back five years, but to be honest, in some ways, it doesn’t seem like I ever left.
While there’s probably some recency bias in this statement, this past year, even with the pandemic, has been a highlight of my ministry with you. I continue to be impressed with how pastors and churches have stepped up and made an almost seamless pivot to online ministry. I didn’t think that could happen or would happen. Pastors and churches have been talking about doing this and needing to do this for years. Then, boom, within less than a month, it happened. That had to be the work of the Holy Spirit.
Another highlight has been establishing the New Life Congregational Grants. We have somewhere around half a million dollars available to give to our congregations. Most of the grants we’ve given so far have been used by churches to upgrade their technology, so they’re better able to have worship online. Other grants have been used to support congregations’ mission work. If your church has a need or if you have a dream, I encourage you to look into this. We want to help you. We want to give this money away to support your ministry.
These funds have become available to us though because we’ve closed churches. That’s been the hardest part of my work. It breaks my heart to do this. Certainly, the closing worship service of the McKinnon Presbyterian Church was a highlight, although other than my parents’ funerals and maybe the death of my dog, I can’t remember feeling so sad. Seeing a full sanctuary, seeing people I had worked with for more than 12 years in my first tour of duty in this presbytery, seeing the family of church members that had died while I was there turn out for that service almost brought tears to my eyes. In some ways, it was an incredibly fun day. Knowing that the building was still going to be used as a church by another congregation on Tyler Mountain does bring some consolation, although I still don’t have the heart to drive by the church to see how they’re doing.
A continuing frustration is watching churches struggle to call new pastors. That was never easy, but now, it seems like that process takes longer and sometimes much longer than it used to take. To be fair, and really more than fair, our churches have called some excellent pastors, and that probably more than balances out the extended time. I’m trying, we’re trying, to do all we can to help.
I don’t really expect to serve another five years, but who knows? It’s basically one day – and sometimes one Zoom meeting – at a time. Most days, it’s still fun. I still have a lot to learn. There’s certainly more than enough work to do. Right before our eyes, the Presbytery of West Virginia is being reformed and being transformed, and it’s exciting to be a part of that. We’re finding new ways to serve God and to support our churches. Please know how much I appreciate the opportunity to work with you to discover the amazing goodness of our God, who is still with us and is still using us to bless the people of this state.