[Magdalen] Psalm - Whither Goeth Thou?

[Jim Guthrie]

>>Mass is. And I think it’s not really anyone’s business to tell parishes
>>what they "should" have, or not.

>We have lots of people (and the TEC national HQ, otherwise known as 815) 
>pumping out all manner of parish growth advice at retreat, seminars and in 
>printed reports (one I referenced earlier in the thread)  that does exactly 
>that. It's pretty basic stuff in TEC nowadays.

Let me hasten to add that many TEC parishes hire consultants to see what they 
can change to attract more members -- at great cost I might add. And others send 
members (again at great cost -- thousands of dollars in some cases) to the 
seminars (Get Up Get Going, Maintenance to Ministry, How to do a successful 
Alpha Course and all the rest, and then there are the reports that tell exactly 
what successful parishes (i.e. those who can afford to pay a Rector and Maintain 
the Building) do that your parish should do too.

There's no end to people who will tell a parish what it must do/change, and no 
end of parishes that will pay considerable cash up front to participate.

And let me add further: there are various jokes about Confirmation being the 
ticket out of the church. In the case of these "How To" seminars, symposiums and 
retreats,  the participants -- sent at great out of pocket costs -- come back 
all enthusiastic with lists of things to do vetted in break-out sessions, run 
into the buzzsaw back home, and leave -- just as to Confirmands.

Cheers,
Jim Guthrie