The Episcopal Church of the Good Samaritan in Sauk Centre is stepping out in faith with three other area churches to create a total ministry team to replace the traditional one priest, one parish model. The three other churches are Our Saviour's at Little Falls, St. Stephen's at Paynesville, and St. John's at St. Cloud. Called "Spirit of the Heartland: Episcopalians in Total Ministry," the cluster of churches has covenanted with each other to work together toward the growth and spiritual renewal of each parish.
On Sunday, September 19, the Spirit of the Heartland Total Ministry Team which has been discerned over the past six months by all four parishes, was presented to the congregation at Good Samaritan at their 11:00 a.m. Sunday morning service. The team will be presented to the other parishes on other Sundays this fall. There are eleven members on the team. Four members are from Good Samaritan, two are from St. John's, three are from Our Saviour's, and two are from St. Stephen's. Members of the team will begin their training and spiritual formation at a two-day retreat in October.
All team members have already begun their educational training through "Education for Ministry", a four-year extension course with locally trained mentors, through the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee. Depending upon their particular position on the team, training will range from two to four years, while spiritual formation will be an ongoing process. Mentoring and shepherding the development of the team is the Reverend Patricia Gillespie, who currently serves three of the four churches on a regular basis. The Reverend Canon Connie Claxton and the Reverend Canon Steve Schaitberger, Canon Missioners, coordinate support and assistance from the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota.
The idea of total ministry is not a new one. For example, total ministry teams have been operating successfully in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for more than 20 years. There are two successful total ministry teams in Minnesota, both Episcopalian. There is one in the Hermantown/Duluth area and one in Chatfield.
Total ministry addresses two separate developments among many churches across the country. The laity of many Christian denominations are increasingly ready for more active ministry involvement in their churches. This movement has been referred to as the "ministry of all the baptized," and focuses on reviving a structure similar to that of the early church where distinctions between laity and clergy were not nearly as notable as they have become in more recent times.
The second development is the growing number of dwindling congregations, especially in rural areas, which can no longer afford to pay a full-time priest or minister. Total ministry offers a creative response to both of these developments.
Total Ministry is just one of a number of phrases used to describe this growing movement. Some of the other phrases are "Mutual Ministry" or "Team Ministry." A total ministry team is made up of various positions to which an individual lay person and their parish agree that they have been called by the Holy Spirit. These positions would include such areas as administering the sacraments, preaching, Christian education, outreach and evangelism, pastoral care, crafting of liturgy, administration and coordination, and stewardship of gifts and talents of the church. Hence the team assumes the various tasks which have traditionally been performed by paid clergy.
Team members serve in their various ministries on a non-paid basis as a way of fulfilling their baptismal vows to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. At the same time, church revenues, formerly tied up in salaries and benefits, are freed up to focus on the actual ministry of the church to its members and to its community. Total ministry churches are reversing the trend of dwindling congregations. Whether on the actual ministry team or not, members of total ministry congregations are finding many new and exciting ways of sharing their talents with the church. These congregations are growing as they offer lay people the necessary training and support to engage in rewarding opportunities to follow in the footsteps of the earliest mothers and fathers of the church.
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