S(Pr)aying Goodbye

I have known for some time but found out specific details just recently that the congregation that I served as pastor for 4 years will be closing their doors and merging with another congregation starting in October. They are having a celebration the last Sunday of this month for 169 years of serving God and the North Manchester community. My wife and I will certainly be attending.

It has been one year this week that I resigned as pastor and I though I knew God was calling me to other places, I couldn't help but to wonder if my resignation would also mark the church's closure as well. I have wondered if the congregation would still be going had I chosen to remain. Not that I was what kept the congregation going, but there was a sense that by having someone in the community of faith who could actively lead/shepherd a congregation would in some way keep what ministries they had going. Maybe it was because I was young/naive enough to believe so. Nonetheless, it is hard to say goodbye to something that was so entrenched into your life, to a family that ministered to you as much as you did for them.

You just wonder sometimes about how your decisions really do affect others.