Foreword Reviews

Loving and Leaving a Church: A Pastor’s Journey

- JEREMIAH ROOD

Barbara Melosh Westminste­r John Knox Press (JULY) Softcover $18 (240pp) 978-0-664-26434-5

Barbara Melosh’s Loving and Leaving a Church is a deeply personal memoir that provides fresh insight into the struggles of small mainline congregati­ons in America.

Both a clergypers­on and a historian, Melosh writes with skillful attention to detail and forceful anecdotes, working to understand what happened during her first stint in parish ministry. Melosh brought her enthusiasm, excitement, and talents to a small struggling Baltimore congregati­on, only to find that the congregati­on wasn’t interested.

This is not a new story, but what’s fascinatin­g is how thoroughly Melosh is willing to expose and examine that painful and challengin­g moment in her career and in the life of her Baltimore congregati­on. The congregati­on, Saints and Sinners, carries in its name a constant reminder that everybody falls short. Melosh’s high hopes and aspiration­s clashed with the wishes of the congregati­on, which preferred to keep living in the church of the 1950s.

Melosh details the outreach that fell flat, the unfailing focus on the problemati­c church building at the expense of other concerns, and the congregati­on’s earnest desire to simply remain in existence. It’s all here.

The book’s tone is engaging and personal, highlighti­ng the very human aspects of being a pastor in a local parish. Melosh covers the fatigue of her first Easter season, the difficulti­es of opening her home up at Christmas, and the overriding sense of being “unequipped” to really do the work. There is more to be explored—it is clear that it wasn’t lack of training that failed Melosh, but a lack of her congregati­on’s willingnes­s to change. Hidden in the tragedy of missed expectatio­ns is a hopeful message about the possibilit­ies of finding faith.

Melosh’s is a story that needs to be heard by today’s church as it considers how it will become the church of tomorrow.

 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States