Central Wisconsin Episcopal churches are one step closer to finalizing a regional ministry that would provide stability amid aging congregations and tight budgets.
Representatives from seven area churches — in Stevens Point, Wisconsin Rapids, Mosinee, Marshfield, Wausau, Merrill and Antigo — drafted a mission statement and name for the group, the Episcopal Ministries of Central Wisconsin.
The mission statement lays out a commitment for the congregations to work together, but does not bind any one church to the group. Many of the details about how the regional ministry would work have yet to be determined, and not all churches are 100 percent sure of their roles.
These seven churches range from only ASA of 10 and Plate & Pledge of $10K (St. James in Mosinee) to ASA of 80 and Plate & Pledge of $145K (St. John in Wausau) in 2009. Such efforts at teamwork might help explain the rather good record for Fond Du Lac during 2002 through 2009 where Members fell by 8.1 percent, ASA fell by 15.0 percent, and Plate & Pledge (inflation adjusted) fell by only 0.2 percent. (I ranked the diocese at 17 of 95 considered.) But the diocese has a real Money challenge with 29 of its 36 churches in 2009 having Plate & Pledge of less than $150K which means that each “rich” church had 4 “poor” churches to help support. For the longer term the diocese had Marriages decline from 52 in 2002 to 31 in 2009 while Infant Baptisms INCREASED from 101 to 138. Fond Du Lac was the ONLY diocese to have an increase in Infant Baptisms. I shall leave it to others to explain the negative correlation between Marriages and Infant Baptisms. Statmann