“It’s kind of a best-kept secret—the church being out there in the world, being the body of Christ, feeding people, giving people a place where they can be safe, where they can interact with one another,” says Michael Plekon in his recent interview with Faith and Leadership.
Michael Plekon, Orthodox priest, sociologist, and Cascade author and editor, here speaks on the challenges and promises of resurrecting American parishes today, many of which are in serious decline. He says, for instance, “The very nice, neat life the congregations were able to provide for their clergy is disappearing even more quickly than the church buildings. And for all the best reasons, sometimes people will not go along with what’s necessary to experience resurrection. It’s a very sobering picture,” he continues, “because for some people, this is news that somehow they’ve been able to overlook or evade—but it’s not hopeless. It’s not a matter of despair whatsoever.
Read the full interview here.
For a closer look at Plekon’s books with Wipf and Stock, including his latest volume, Community as Church, Church as Community (Cascade, 2021), see his author page.