Holy Conversations

Holy Conversations with Good Shepherd

Summary of Meetings between members of Saron & Good Shepherd, Fall 2025. Feel free to talk with any of them during coffee fellowship or any other time as they are happy to continue these conversations.

1) Sherri Mettler, Sue Miller, Joe Warren, Alan Nelson, Missy Krift and Kerry Hill bonded quickly and have developed a friendship and trust that we expect will last a lifetime.  We laughed and cried together and we’ve taken our “call” very seriously. We felt we could be completely honest with each other, knowing what we shared was all done in confidence.

2) We started our discussions using questions outlined in a pamphlet developed by the synod entitled Holy Conversations ~ Options for Congregations Considering a Vital and Sustainable Future. Saron & Good Shepherd were able to identify both significant strengths and weaknesses of our congregations.  We also acknowledged that both churches have definite gifts that need to be shared in order to be more effective and that neither church can be sustainable without the other.

3) We talked about where we see ourselves ten years from now and it was a bit of an eye-opener for all of us.  It was hard to be optimistic ~ our numbers continue to decline and there are so few truly active families that it is hard to imagine that we will grow in numbers.

4) In discussing Flock, it was clear that neither church felt that they’d had as much success working alone (since the pandemic) as they did together.  Those on the team who worked with Flock last year, however, explained how things had basically fallen apart after several of the main leaders were no longer available.  The few people left to keep things afloat felt drained and exhausted before the school year ended.  We are feeling more optimistic about this year with more people volunteering.  Time will tell.

5) It is our belief the two congregations are better together.  We can fulfill more of our responsibilities working as one: we can better serve the community and we can better serve the world.

6) It is our recommendation that the two congregations share a pastor.

7) It is our recommendation that both congregations keep/use their current buildings. We do NOT recommend building a new church nor do we recommend selling either one (though that may be necessary years down the road).

8) While there will be times the 2 congregations worship together, we recommend that we try only one combined worship a month, scheduled around shared celebrations such as confirmation, first communion and the children’s Christmas worship.  If both congregations prefer worshiping together, we could do it more often, rotating which church we use.

9) We already share many activities.  The Flock program includes both churches (Flock, confirmation, first communion, summer Bible camp) and we share worship at Prentice Park, Lenten services and Rittenhouse breakfasts.  We could expand to include the quilters, dartball team, bazaars, sales (garage sales and garden sales), bell choir, St. Lucia, vocal and/or instrumental ensembles (duets, trios, small choirs, etc).

10) There may be a time when neither church will have the number of people and/or the finances required to keep two church buildings and a merger may be necessary but we don’t think we’re there yet.