Community as Church, Church as Community

Parishes of all denominations are in decline, shrinking, closing, dying. We know that there are increasing numbers, young and older, who are religious “nones” and “dones.” This book explores why the decline is taking place, why the distancing is going on. But it goes on to examine parishes from all over the country and from various church bodies that are resurrecting. The central theme of death and resurrection shapes the analysis of parishes covered. Parishes are resurrecting by reinventing their ministries, by repurposing their building to better serve their neighborhoods, thus replanting and reconnecting with them. All of this is the Spirit’s doing but through the community of sisters and brothers who make up each congregation of faith. Community as the core of church is the other reality shaping the book’s reflection. And community, a parish being with those around, living for more than its own survival are visions for going forward. Other aspects of congregational life are also examined, most importantly the pastors—how they serve when budgets shrink, how they are trained, how pastors act with the community not above it. No recipes are suggested for parish resurrection, but the stories of the parishes that have revived bear within numerous lessons for us in the future.

Michael Plekon (Yonkers born April 3, 1948) is an American priest, professor, author, sociologist and theologian. He has published more than a dozen books, as well as hundreds of journal papers, book chapters and reviews on faith and holiness. His works include religious social history, social theory and its connections with theology, the works of Søren Kierkegaard, contemporary Eastern Orthodox theology and theologians of the Russian emigration and saints. Living Icons, (UNDP, 2002) was one look at persons of faith in the Eastern Church. His research and publications have continued to explore persons of faith, seeking identity and God in their spiritual journeys. These volumes include Hidden Holiness (UNDP, 2009), Saints as They Really Are (UNDP, 2012), and The World as Sacrament (Liturgical Press, 2017) These studies examine persons of faith struggling for social justice and for ways of rediscovering holiness in ordinary life. He is especially interested in the encounter with God in the everyday.

Plekon's efforts to describe what holiness looks like in our time, the distinctive characteristics of women and men of faith, have been praised by colleagues. They see this work as an important "new hagiography" or writing about saints who are our contemporaries, like Dorothy Day, Mother Teresa, Thomas Merton or Daniel Berrigan.

Plekon has had a long career as an academic, theologian and clergy member. Since 1977, Plekon taught at Baruch College, first as an Assistant Professor, and eventually as a Professor within the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences since 1998. He retired in 2017 and is an Emeritus Professor. In addition to his academic work, he has served as an associate priest at several parishes since being ordained in 1983. He has been a priest in both the Western and Eastern Churches, serving parishes alongside teaching, research and writing. He continues writing about his pastoral experiences and is examining the importance of community, not only for church but for meaning in one's life in The Church Has Left the Building (Cascade, 2017) and Community as Church, Church as Community (Cascade, 2021). This work also deals with our need, in a diverse and conflicted America, to encounter other cultures and religious traditions with respect, learning from them and becoming deeper persons of faith from such experiences. This was something he experienced in his own family's ecumenical sensitivity.

Plekon's book, Uncommon Prayer: Prayer in Everyday Experience, was named by Spirituality and Practice as one of the best spiritual books of 2016 and was the Gold Winner of the 2016 Foreword INDIES book of the Year Award in the Adult Nonfiction, Religion category. In 2024 his book Ministry Matters: Pastors, Their Life and Work Today will be published.

Biography

Plekon's interest in studying religion began early on when he chose to pursue a bachelor's degree in Sociology and Philosophy from the Catholic University in Washington, D.C. in 1970. He later obtained a master's degree and a doctorate in Sociology and Religion from Rutgers University in New Jersey. Plekon's doctoral advisor was the late renowned sociologist of religion and theologian Peter L. Berger, who mentions Plekon in his memoir among his students of interest as an "expert in the Orthodox (Christian) diaspora in the West.". Under several fellowships, including from the NEH, Lutheran World Federation, Fulbright and ACLS, he did advanced research in the Theology Faculty of the University of Copenhagen, focusing on Kierkegaard's social criticism and theology.

Plekon met his wife Jeanne through a long-time friend while she was pursuing a master's in art history and museum studies at The Clark Institute, Williams College. They have been married since 1976 and have two children, Paul and Hannah, and several grandchildren.

Jason Byassee teaches preaching at the Vancouver School of Theology in British Columbia, where he holds the Butler Chair in Homiletics and Biblical Hermeneutics. He is a longtime contributor to Christian Century magazine and the author, most recently, of Northern Lights: Resurrecting Church in the North of England (2020).