P.L.U.M.

PITTSBURGH LUTHERAN UNITED MINISTRIES

P.L.U.M. is a cooperative ministry formed by three churches in the Pittsburgh area, those churches being St. Andrew Lutheran-East Carnegie; Christ Lutheran-Duquesne; and East Liberty Lutheran-City of Pittsburgh. Begun as a trial venture in May of 2004, the PLUM venture bcame official by near-unanimous voting in April of 2007. PLUM is presided over by Pastors Rev. John Gropp and Rev. Beth Siefert, and a 12-member board of represenatives from each of the 3 churches. Items that need voted on are presented to the individual congregations for ratification.

The purpose of PLUM is to provide a model whereby small congregations may continue to exist and provide the necessary ministry in their local area; this is done by pooling financial resources in order to afford pastoral support. PLUM currently has 2 pastors serving 3 churches. Due to the frightening number of small church congregations disappearing and the dwindling numbers of ordained clergy coming out of Seminary, it is felt that this cooperative ministry offers the best chances not only for the continued existence of  the 3 congregations, it also presents opportunities to attract newly-ordained clergy to the small churches; it encourages sharing of worship sites, services, and events; allows cooperative efforts in church-related programs for youth and neighborhoods, and hopefully will provide an answer to a very uncertain and questionable future.

While a formal entity in body, PLUM is still very much a work in progress. It's an exciting, emotional, uplifting, exasperating, and quite unique experience to witness. More information will be forthcoming as this road is travelled. May God bless the work that is ahead, and may He bless us all as well.

PLUM IS GROWING!!

PLUM has been an official entity for over a year now, but has been in existence for over 4 years. During this time the Ministry has been fine-tuned and tweaked as the PLUM Board has seen fit to do. In the past year PLUM has been scrutinized by the Synod as well as others interested in seeing how the Cooperative Ministry is working out. It looks as though PLUM may provide an answer to the challenge of small congregations continuing to minister in their respective neighborhoods as opposed to blinking out of existence. PLUM proudly announces that Trinity Lutheran Church, located in the Mt. Oliver section of Pittsburgh, and Bethlehem Lutheran Church, located in the Allentown section of Pittsburgh, have voted to join PLUM for the initial year trial period.

So what does all this mean? Adjustments will be necessary, of course, as the pastors take on more of a workload and won't be around all the time to see to the little details. Also worship times may have to be changed, lay leadership will have to increase, and additional help in the way of supply ministers and interns will be needed. These changes will not result in additional money being directed to PLUM by the existing churches, but in actual savings as the new congregations pitch in towards the financial packages of the pastors. The direct results of this are: 1) PLUM can finally meet the minimum salary requirements as set forth by the Synod , thus ensuring that a pastor may be called without financial worry; 2) monies that would be put into pastoral care can be channelled into other aspects of ministry; 3) all congregations share the benefits of full pastoral coverage.

More information will be posted on these events as the transpire.

ELLC NEWS

The latest issue of The Parish Item, East Liberty Lutherans' newsletter, as well as the monthly calendar, can be found on the ELLC page. Look for the link at the left side of this page.

Your comments/questions/opinions are always welcome. Please send them to my e-mail address: roofguy1@comcast.net  . You may also post comments on your church, PLUM, the Pittsburgh sports teams, or anything else (in good taste) at the St. Andrew Forum site (www. salctalk.myfreeforum.org. ). Hope to hear from you!!