It’s time to tackle the pint-sized elephant in the room:  This church I am working with for the month of August is tiny.  In fact, it’s so small that on July 1st it entered into a “cooperative parish” with another nearby church.  Basically, that just means that two small churches share one ordained elder who splits her time between the two congregations.  In theory, the churches should have joint committees and merged ministries and the like.  In practice, the two churches have yet to really integrate their organizational structure, leaving my pastor with twice as many meetings to attend, twice as many budget issues to deal with, and half as much sleep. Continue reading →