Sunday Avondale United Methodist Church had a double-whammy to its staffing. We had known before service that Michelle Hoitenga was going to be resigning after almost 5 years as a nursery attendant. But what we hadn’t expected was the announcement of the resignation of our “new” organist Seth Bott after only 6 months in the position. He commutes 50 minutes each way to play for us from Lawrence, KS, where he is a doctoral student of organ. Seems like he prefers taking a position at the First United Methodist Church of Lawrence, KS, which also happens to have the largest pipe organ in Kansas.
While that announcement was shock, I know none of us blame Seth for making that decision. But he will be missed.
But that wasn’t the intended topic of this blog. I was talking to the head of the staff-parish committee (apologies if I get structural names wrong), which is responsible for filling positions, and she commented about how many different positions they have had to fill in the past year. Sometime after that conversation it dawned on me that, yes, there have a lot of positions changed/filled, but also how organic they were.
I am afraid I have grown up in too many churches where staff changes always seemed to be a part of non-organic issues. People disliking the pastor until he moved on seemed to be a favorite. A church split over the use of memorial funds is another I can remember. Then there was the retirement of a senior pastor that led to a church split when people who favored one of the associate pastors becoming senior pastor learned that the board had really meant what it said, years before, when it said they would not be promoting either of the associate pastors (the board had done that to prevent any rivalry between the associates, but the one pastor’s faction apparently didn’t care).
What I guess I am saying, is that it is nice to be part of a church where the movement of staff comes from ordinary life events, where everyone can wish the departing Godspeed, and look forward to seeing them again in the future without concern about who was part of what camp.
So I will feel sad at the recent departures, and know that changes are in store as we fill and find new people, but I am glad to be a part of AUMC, where these changes are a sign that we really are participating in people’s lives and helping them to move along to the next steps God has in store for them.
At The Rainbow 