The Rev. Christopher Mietlowski, Assistant to the Bishop
Delaware-Hudson, Hudson, Manhattan, Staten Island, and Tappan Zee Conferences
After 26 years of parish ministry in three locations, I accepted a call to serve on the bishop’s staff as a deployed assistant. The 5-1/2-year journey has been exciting and wonderous, to see God’s people living out their unique baptismal callings (both individually and as part of a faith community) with grace, compassion, and resilience. I’ve also experienced some difficult situations that were disappointing, even hurtful. In and through it all, including the COVID years, I’ve felt the Spirit’s presence providing blessings and guidance, enabling me to walk with and help those in my charge, to the glory of God.
We all recognize the radical, fast-changing world we are living in… politically, culturally, and within the Christian Church. There is a serious decline of participants for religious and non-religious membership organizations. We are living in the messy middle of an age of major transition. Hard-working church leaders (lay and ordained) are growing weary, worried, and frustrated. We need to remind each other that on a particular Friday long ago, the disciples saw their beloved Jesus slaughtered. They were plunged into darkness and fear. They huddled in a room with all kinds of questions and pain. Is this really happening? What now? What’s next? Where do we go from here? Their world was suddenly, radically upended. Their sense of purpose… washed away by uncertainty.
Amid their extended silences… a voice spoke… saying, “Peace be with you.”
Something changed… something big, something life-transforming. Bearing wounds on his hands and feet… the scars of hatred and violence… the resurrected Jesus showed up to reveal a new truth… that sin and death no longer have the last word! But, rather, life. Life. “…for I have come down from heaven,” Jesus said, “not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me…”
God, in Christ Jesus, came to rescue… to heal and make whole… to draw in the outcast and create welcome for the unwanted… to pour out abundant love and grace and mercy for all this broken creation. Regardless of our circumstances and hardships, we are a people constantly immersed in hope and possibility because we are immersed in the love of the Risen Christ, always. And beloved, we are compelled to proclaim that good news in our communities, especially in this age of messy transitions.
Here are some highlights associated with the congregations I’ve served in my time on staff:
- Completed 19 call processes
- Coordinated 35+ appointments (interims, intentional interims, coverage, term calls)
- Worked with 91 congregations in various stages and phases of their “life together”
- Served 8 Conferences:
- Hudson
- Delaware–Hudson
- Staten Island
- Peconic
- West Suffolk
- East Nassau
- Manhattan
- Tappan Zee
- Currently in my portfolio
- 39 Congregations have a settled pastor
- 17 are being served by coverage/interim pastors
- 5 are in the call process
- 20 congregations are “at risk”
- 7 settled pastors may retire in the next few years
- Potential clergy candidates to fill calls
- At the time of this writing, the ELCA community login page has 309 Rostered Ministers Profiles (RMPs) of pastors seeking calls. (Total ELCA congregations = 8,600)
- 43 identified MNYS as one of the synods of interest
- 5 match our synod priority of “having community-oriented pastors in viable congregations”
- Much time has been spent in conversations with congregational leaders about creative ventures, exploring partnerships, collaborations, mergers, sharing a pastor, repurposing facilities, and launching new outreach in the local community
- I’ve led 4-session workshops in various locations in our synod entitled, “Church then and now: adventuring off the map”
- A significant amount of time has been invested with congregations that have had serious issues or have come to the end of their ministries
- I serve on the board for Koinonia and the Synod Diaconate Council
This has been an incredible journey. I’m grateful to my friend, Bishop Paul Egensteiner, whom I’ve seen pour out the whole of himself in serving this church. I offer thanks to the staff in the synod office, to the Conference Deans I’ve been privileged to work with, the deacons, congregational councils, call committees, clergy, and to the countless disciples I’ve talked with, texted, emailed, visited, prayed with, and was prayed for… for the many worship experiences, retreats, fellowship events and the unexpected “changes and chances” of life and ministry.
Peace be with you.