Kicking off Quarter 2: Sustainability
This week we came live on Wednesday - because Cathie and Sierra were both in North Carolina!
We started with defining our individual ministry and names.
As Cathie pointed out, your ministry name is not the name of the church you serve (like St. John’s or Grace Church).1
Your individual ministry is about who you are, what you do, who you serve, and how you bring people closer to God—it prevents us from being over-invested in a single location.
Ministry Identities and Structures
Sierra is actively grappling with separating her identity from her roles, recognizing that her local church, the new denomination, and her personal ministry are all separate things.
She bought the domain for her denomination, New American Orthodox, after Cathie encouraged her to create that separation.
Her local church is St. Jacob’s: a place to wrestle with God, and her Substack, The grappling with God, aligns with that branding but serves a different audience.
The goal is to formalize these separate entities so they are sustainable and don’t solely depend on Sierra.
Loren is exploring different names to capture his work:
His current podcast is Future Christian.
He bought the domain for New Era Pastor, a name suggested by a colleague, which speaks to operating “on the edge of institutional bounds” (also, Taylor Swift!)
His blogging site is The Church Nerd.
Cathie organizes her multiple efforts under her “umbrella ministry”:
The main ministry is Free Range Priest.
Sub-ministries include Substack Seminary and Trexo (a “gym for your soul”).
She holds the domains Trexo.church and Substackseminary.org.
Her service to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church is structured as a contract with Free Range Priest, clarifying that it is St. Paul’s ministry, not Cathie’s.
Naming our ministry and how it forms us
Defining our ministry clearly helps set boundaries, stating what we are not doing—like fixing the boiler or being constantly stuck in budget meetings.
Loren shared the story of the drummer who lost his hearing as an analogy, illustrating that our core purpose must transcend any specific church job, so we’re not lost if we lose a position.
We discussed the frustration over the ease of getting ordained online, which Cathie and Sierra agree devalues the formation, preparation, community support, accountability, and licensing required for professional ministry. Cathie compared this specialization to medical specialization.
Should your ministry be your website?
Cathie is focused on organizing all ministry efforts into one place and creating a network to connect people across different channels.
Sierra noted that her Substack content creation is “haphazard” but admitted she could combine her efforts more.
On the Substack vs. Website debate, Sierra finds traditional websites easier for practical information (like service times), while Cathie suggested ways to structure Substack to serve that function. Loren emphasized the importance of recognizing tool trade-offs and focusing energy where it counts.
Cathie believes 21st-century ministers need technical skills and an interactive online platform to engage people outside their hyper-local area, especially as church attendance declines.
Sierra doesn’t like streaming full church services but sees value in sharing sermons online to serve her “outlying congregation”. She celebrated the internet’s ability to connect and build niche communities with very little effort.
V. Substack Seminary Retreat
We plan to hold an online, half-day retreat this summer - looking at dates
We hope this online retreat (and Cathie and Sierra’s visit) will be a precursor to an in-person retreat in the near future.
Anyone planning to join Substack Seminary in Quarter 3 is welcome to sign up for the retreat when it happens.
We look forward to seeing everyone’s responses to this week’s discussion!
