Eulogy for a Faithful Church
The Story of a Congregation’s Courageous Ending and Enduring Legacy
- History & Biography
- Publisher: Resource Publications (Wipf and Stock)
- Published: 2026
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Publisher's Description
On All Saints’ Day in 2009, St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in North Plainfield, New Jersey, closed its doors for a final time. This book is a love story, a eulogy, good words spoken from and about the last years of a congregation’s ministry. This book is not an instructional handbook, it’s a memoir of a pastor and her people written to provide comfort and encouragement for others walking through similar journeys. The chapters narrate the challenging conversations, bold generosity, and faithful witness they chose in closing. Eulogy for a Faithful Church speaks of a congregation who looked at their resources and capacity and asked, “Given this reality, how do we be the church? How can we best make the gospel known?” Then, with grief, sacrifice, and trust in God, the people chose to say goodbye to both a sacred place and a beloved community. Their story, woven together with Scripture, names the faithfulness of a community of faith which chose to die and, in doing so, found new life.
Endorsements (4)
“Sara Olson-Smith bequeaths a faithful and beloved congregation’s treasury of comfort, courage, and hope to every pastor, leader, and congregant facing the reality that their faith community can no longer be a church the way the church is meant to be. Beautiful vignettes interwoven with Scripture touch the heart, move to tears, and inspire conversation that empowers discerning with faith that trusts the promise of the Gospel. Congregations should read this book together!”
“The best eulogies tell the truth about the person who died, honoring the complexity of being human. Olson-Smith gives the best kind of eulogy in this book, not only in her truth telling, but in the ways she helps us see churches we have loved in all their complexity. This book is a must-read for clergy as we navigate the painful work of knowing when ministry is coming to an end, while helping a church to close with faithful courage.”
“Eulogy for a Faithful Church offers heartwarming and heartbreaking testimony to the reality of grief, the persistence of faith, and an abiding trust that God is faithful to the promise of resurrected life. Most of all, it is a story of love. A must-read for all who wonder whether a lasting legacy remains when a congregation comes to the end of its life. The answer is a resounding yes!”
“With so much shifting underfoot, congregations often cling to life as they once knew it. Sara Olson-Smith offers a more Jesus-shaped way in this tender memoir. This is a beautiful story of everyday, faithful people who once met in a brick building in New Jersey. Weaving together stories from scripture and from kitchen tables, Olson-Smith finally weaves us all into a grieving, trusting, and hopeful people called Church.”
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