Greetings, Friends, First, I want to thank both Trinity Church (Gatlinburg) and St. Joseph the Carpenter (Sevierville) for the warm welcome my husband Jim and I have received at both parishes.
As we enter into this adventure in shared ministry together, I find it helpful to think of ourselves as two “sister churches.” This is not an official church term. However, I find it to be a helpful way of thinking about the kind of relationship that is most beneficial for two congregations to have with one another when sharing a priest.
Officially, the partnership among Trinity, St. Joseph the Carpenter, and myself only focuses on our agreement that both churches will share my time as a part-time extended supply priest while the search for a full-time sharedpriest-in-charge continues. However, one lesson I learned from my own experience is this: shared clergy ministry works better when there is also a feeling of spiritual kinship among the members of the parishes involved.
This is why I like to think of Trinity and St. Joseph the Carpenter not only as the two unique churches they are but also as “sister churches”—a relationship that holds multiple possibilities for widening the circle of our spiritual kinship in Christ.
This kind of “sister church” relationship develops over time. And it only evolves as both congregations make time to get to know each other better. We have already begun this work with the Barbeque at St. Joseph the Carpenter on September 13 and the recent Oktoberfest at Trinity.
As I meet with each church’s vestry, I will ask them to consider additional opportunities for shared hospitality over the next few months. So if you have any ideas, please let your vestry members know.
Blessings,
Mother Gayle
