A Love Letter To The Church
Rev. Allen V. Harris,
Regional Pastor and President
My Dearest Friends and Colleagues,
As a new year begins, I wanted to set all the tasks of ministry aside and write a simple note to you, the lay leaders, congregants, clergy and staff, and ministry partners with whom I have the privilege and delight of serving as Regional Minister for almost five years. May this love letter help you know that you are seen, heard, known, respected, supported, and appreciated and that you are never alone in this calling to which Christ has called each of us.
I know that naming this a "love letter” may come off as seeming either sentimental or calculated. I would wish you to know that it truly is meant to be neither, but simply an honest reflection of my affection for the Church of Jesus Christ and all those who work diligently to help the church be its best self.
First and foremost, I love how you work to be a community that cares for one another and supports each other through thick and thin. In an era where mobile devices, self-service kiosks at restaurants and stores, and political and cultural tensions pull us apart one from another, the church still places a high value on coming together, being there for one another, deepening relationships, praying for each other, and smiling when we see our church family members again, all despite our differences and peculiarities (and some of us are quite peculiar, myself first and foremost!) And we've learned how to gather together virtually as well as physically, which has expanded our embrace so that many more of our members, friends, and visitors can feel included. (Romans 12:5)
Secondly, I also love how you care for the world around you and seek to meet the deep needs of your community, regardless of who receives your acts of service. From filling Blessing Boxes and pantries full of nutritious non-perishable foods, to running coat and blanket drives during the winter months, to filling disaster relief buckets and period packs, to hosting community health and wellness fairs, to leading Bible studies at the community center, to stuffing backpacks with food for children on the weekend, to…, to… Your light shines brightly and you care so deeply and do so much good for God's Beloved Children and for that, I thank you. (Matthew 5:16)
Thirdly, I celebrate that your witness to the God of the ages, to Jesus Christ our Savior, and to the wily Holy Spirit, is deep and heart felt. From worship services that reflect the best gifts and graces your leaders have to offer, to the powerful sermons your pastors and lay preachers painstakingly and prayerfully prepare and preach, to the prayer circles, fellowship groups, and online devotions in which you invest yourselves so deeply, your spiritual depth inspires me and helps me stay firm in my faith.
But even as I am profoundly grateful to you for who you are as Church, I am also painfully aware of how much stress you are under, and how this stress is affecting your physical, mental, and spiritual health. I trust you know that I do not sit in some ivory tower disconnected from what is happening in our churches and the world around us. I am blessed by a Regional Church leadership that supports my desire to be with churches and in the midst of the ministry you are doing rather than sitting in a big office behind a fancy desk issuing orders. That is why your Regional Finance Committee has seen the wisdom in increasing my travel budget each year so that I have the ability to drive to where you are and be present with you as much as one person possibly can. It is why we have a full complement of Regional Elders who are connecting with congregations and leaders weekly and report to me what they learn. One of my primary commitments in 2026 remains the same as in 2025: to visit as many of our 130 congregations I have not yet visited to get to know you and to learn from you and grow closer as members of the Body of Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:12)
A day does not go by that I am not painfully aware of the declining numbers of people in our pews, or the increasing age of many of our church members and leaders, or the bone-deep exhaustion so many of you have been feeling – for years now – as fewer and fewer leaders have to do more and more work to do just to keep the doors open. Likewise, I am keenly mindful that giving to support the minister's salary, pay the utility bills, or fulfill the obligation on a mortgage, is in steep decline. Every time the Regional Church Office puts out a social media post inviting our members and congregations to support the mission and ministry of the General or Regional Church, I know in my heart I am asking faithful members – many who are now on a set retirement income – to choose between supporting their local congregation and supporting the Regional Church. That dilemma hurts my heart so much, and we never ask for financial support without being deeply aware of how challenging such giving is for many people. My deepest hope is that when you do give to the Regional Church, you do so knowing deep in your heart we are partners in this ministry in Jesus' name. (Philippians 1:5)
It also has not escaped me that the political divisiveness of our world has seeped into our congregational life and has caused tension, if not outright splits, in our churches. Where once many of us felt the church was the "safe space” from the strains of the world now it feels like the very same debates we witness on social media and the television are happening in our church board rooms and sanctuaries. I am not so dense as to be unaware that some point to my own preaching, newsletter articles, and social media posts, or that of your own clergy, are viewed as contributing to the tensions. Some of you have told me this outright, and I hope you know that I am listening. I do remain firmly committed to my belief that the Jesus we follow in scripture addressed the real-life concerns of the people with whom he ministered, and he calls us to do the same. But this particular "muscle” in the life of the church, that is prophetic preaching and rigorous debate, has not been flexed much in the last 50+ years in many – though not all – of our churches. And so, like any muscle that has atrophied without use, the call for the church to move from its comfort zone to a place of honest deliberation and transforming action hurts like heck. (1 Peter 5:9)
What I mean to say in all of this is that I am aware of the beauty and the pain, the possibilities and the challenges, the hope and the despair of being church right now. And I am committed to continuing to receive your feedback and shape our ministry as the Christian Church in Ohio to best serve you as well as to move the church forward faithfully.
I don't write this love letter accompanied by a neatly packaged gift of a solution to all the problems you – our churches – are having. I'm not sure such a resolution even exists, and I'm darn sure that there is no single answer that will help every single congregation turn things around. From the first days of creation God made it patently clear this thing called life was going to be as complex as it was beautiful, and that partnership with each other and with God meant learning some things the hard way. The Apostle Paul said it simply but eloquently in 1 Corinthians 3:9 when he wrote, "For we are God's coworkers, working together.” This work can be messy, it can catch our breath with its wonder, it can be confusing and up for discussion, but it is the work to which we have been called, and we will serve together as best we can in order to follow God, live like Jesus, and trust the Holy Spirit into and beyond 2026.
If I want you, the reader of this love letter, to gain anything from it, I want you to know that I, as your Regional Minister, your Regional Staff, Council, Elders, and Commissions, Committees, and Teams, are doing our best to be coworkers alongside you. We may disagree on exactly what ails the church… We may differ on what solutions might be most faithful or effective… but we do believe pressing on toward the goal, toward the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus is best done together.
Faithfully and Gratefully Yours,
Rev. Allen V. Harris
Regional Pastor & President