Finding Healing and Redemption in the Midst of Church Closures with Gail Cafferata

Rev. Gail Cafferata was heartbroken when the church she pastored closed its doors. It may have been the right decision, but it led to a million questions in her mind about her call, leadership, and future. In this episode, Gail interviews Loren about his own experience closing a church, and together they talk about some of the challenges, heartbreak, and experiences learned from their experiences, sharing wisdom from the book The Last Pastor which Gail wrote from a sociological study she conducted of  mainline pastors who served a church that closed. In the book, Rev. Cafferate shares the results of her study and the hard-won lessons learned by these courageous pastors.

The Rev. Gail Cafferata, Ph.D., is a practical theologian and retired Priest Associate at The Church of the Incarnation, Santa Rosa (Episcopal). She spent 25 years as a medical sociologist in universities, the Department of Health and Human Services and Children’s Hospital, Boston before ordination in 2002. After serving a congregation for nine years before it closed, she authored The Last Pastor: Faithfully Steering a Closing Church She continues to write and consult as a Visiting Researcher at Boston University School of Theology, and is available on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/gailleecafferata/. She loves to spend time with her husband Bob and daughters and grandchildren, as well as playing in a community orchestra, birdwatching, gardening and sailing.

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