After five years without a rector, Ascension Episcopal Church in Amherst has come up with a novel plan ”“”“ the church has installed a ministry team of three clergy for the congregation’s pastoral care.
The Rev. Kathy Chase, who was ordained in 2006 and has provided pastoral care for the congregation, now will be joined by two veteran clergy members who were installed Sunday ”“”“ the Rev. Glenn Busch and the Rev. Christine Payden-Travers.
Chase now has the title of parish coordinator, which recognizes the tasks she has been performing as a vocational deacon. The Episcopal Church has three orders of clergy: deacon, priest and bishop.
The innovation is a new solution for this church that has not been attempted previously in the Roanoke-based Diocese of Southwest Virginia, as far as she knows, Chase said.
Does the use of the church structure for community functions get to up the ASA?
If memory serves me correctly (since the Rt. 29 bypass was finished, there is no reason to drive through Amherst any more) this is a very small, old church. I would imagine it has been declining for a long time. Amherst is the land of independent Baptists, Southern Baptists, United Methodists, and a sprinkling of other Protestants, with a smattering of Catholics. TEC was never much of a force here, even in the “good old days.”
ASA dropped from 65 in 1989 and has been stable at about 35 since 2004 – last figures 2008. There is an Anglican Catholic congregation with mass twice a month and St. Paul’s mission with ASA of about 20.