Leechburg minister to co-pastor churches from different denominations

A Leechburg pastor is prepping for double ministerial duty at Protestant churches that cross denominational lines.

With The Rev. Sue Washburn preparing to leave her post as interim pastor of Leechburg’s Cross Roads Community Presbyterian Church in mid-February, church leaders on Sunday approved naming the Rev. James Arter as part-time minister of Cross Roads and his home church, First Evangelical Lutheran Church.

The Cross Roads congregation voted unanimously Sunday to approve the church partnership with First Evangelical.

The two churches are a block from each other on Main Street in downtown Leechburg.

Church officials said a shortage of clergy prompted them to share a pastor and evenly split Arter’s salary.

“The number of seminary graduates has decreased significantly since my graduation in 2011. In addition, the rising costs of health care are playing a major part in congregations not being able to support a full-time pastor,” Arter said. “No church was in conversation about closure. The greater problem is rising costs.”

Arter stressed this is not a merger.

“Each congregation will function independently. This is about collaboration, not competition,” Arter said.

After serving for 13 years as a full-time pastor at First Lutheran, Arter described his upcoming mission as a “huge change.”

“The calendars at both congregations are full of ministries and events, and it’ll be impossible to be a part of everything all the time,” said Arter, 43.

Each church has about 130 members.

“I look forward to participating in both of these ministries and building even more relationships with our neighbors,” Arter said.

Karen Disciscio is the treasurer at Cross Roads and described Arter’s preaching style as “engaging.”

“I’m excited. I’ve known Pastor Jim for many years and know him from a Lutheran sense, and now we’ll get a Presbyterian sense. He wanted to stay in the same community, so here we go,” she said. “It’s a win because it comes down to finances and not enough pastors to fill the slots. The fact that we get a gentleman that’s already familiar with the community as well as with a lot of people at Cross Roads is a win.”

Both churches partnered after the pandemic to host large-scale community events such as an Easter egg hunt and the Back-to-School Block Party, held last August.

Upcoming partnership events include a Good Friday Cross Walk and Vacation Bible School this summer. Arter also will continue working with Leechburg Food Bank.

Arter will preach the same sermon at both churches, beginning at 9 a.m. March 10 at Cross Roads and 10:30 a.m. at First Lutheran.

“Each church has a different worship style,” Arter said.

The service at Cross Roads is less formal than First Lutheran’s service, and Arter said he plans to arrive early on Sunday mornings at Cross Roads to be available for pre-service fellowship.

Washburn said both congregations might encounter challenges having only a part-time minister, stressing a church is not just a building, but instead a group of people responding to God’s call to worship and mission.

“Churches around the world meet in homes, coffee shops, school gyms and buildings with chancels, organs and steeples,” she said. “Some churches have guitars, some have organs and some people just use their voice to glorify God.”

Washburn will continue working as the interim director of field education at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.

“This Presbyterian-Lutheran church partnership is a great story of churches finding ways to serve Jesus and their neighbors in a time of church decline,” Washburn said. “The churches decided to cross denominational lines to stay local, rather than partner with a church in their denomination that is outside of Leechburg.”

Washburn is trained to help churches evaluate their practices, finances and mission.

“As you know, this leads to big changes,” she said. “I truly think Pastor Jim and the partnership with First Lutheran is the best choice the leaders could have made.”

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Presbyterian Church (USA) became full communion partners in 1997.

That means both churches might have some doctrinal and confessional differences, but congregations of each denomination can worship together, share clergy and form partnerships such as Arter’s new position.

Arter said he’s thrilled for the opportunity to serve two churches so close together.

“We can pull together the gifts and strengths of both churches to make even more of a difference in the Leechburg community and beyond,” he said.

Before attending seminary, Arter worked as a manager at Barnes & Noble Booksellers.

He grew up in the South Hills and graduated from Bethel Park High School. He graduated from Gettysburg Lutheran Seminary and Grove City College.

Gary and Antoinette Cockroft of Leechburg have worshipped at Cross Roads for more than a decade.

Both are church elders and said Cross Roads had considered having a lay pastor or joining another Presbyterian church to save thousands on health insurance and pastor salaries.

“We’re saving the church,” Gary Cockroft said. “We’ve done very well in trying to maintain the church as it is. We cut our budget and have been strict with our spending. But church membership is declining, and the Lutherans are in the same boat. The thing that’s neat is that both of our churches have a good outreach, and I think we’re going to mesh well.”

Arter said he plans to pursue educational opportunities to learn more about Presbyterian Church governance.

“We worship in two separate buildings, but we all want to continue to do the work of God,” Antoinette Cockroft said. “We hope, when we do our community work, we do more things together. It’s almost uncharted territory. Cross Roads is very excited about it. I just imagine us as making friends. Churches are supposed to build bridges.”

Although his workload will increase, Arter said, he has provided pastoral care for other Lutheran congregations throughout the area when those churches were without pastors.

“I certainly feel up to the task,” he said. “Both churches have talented and dedicated lay leaders, without whom none of this would be possible.”