The Titus Project

ural churches in the Diocese of Dallas are important to Bishop Stanton. He created the Rural Church Ministry Commission (RCMC) as the result of a discussion at the Executive Council retreat in January 2006 and appointed the Rev. Jerry Hill to gather a group of people who were interested in finding a way to get sacramental ministry into rural churches.

In the past 40 years, dioceses across the U.S. have experienced difficulties in developing effective rural ministries. When diocesan budgets could no longer afford to supplement clergy salaries, younger clergy began to gravitate toward the cities. The rural churches often ended up without clergy or with part-time clergy, retired supply clergy, or hard-to-place-but-not-very-effective clergy, none of whom were catalysts for growth. As full-time resident clergy became unavailable, congregations' enthusiasm waned. Even a vigorous, committed, and involved church found it difficult to grow when no pastor was available.

The newly formed RCMC has acknowledged these challenges. After several months interviewing clergy and lay leaders of rural churches, the commission began pursuing its goal to place resident clergy in
rural churches.

At the Rural Church Workshop February 2007, the RCMC introduced The Titus Project that would inaugurate new methods for recruitment, discernment, formation, and oversight of rural clergy and implement late vocation ordination specific to rural church ministry. The Titus Project would expedite the ordination process for qualified persons with a mature skill set. Applicants must feel passionately that God has called them to build up the Kingdom of God in rural churches. They must be able to adjust their source of income because most rural churches do not have the budget to provide clergy with full-time compensation.

The Titus Project would provide resident priests to carry out the sacramental ministry of the church and increase potential for growth. Demographics in these rural areas are already rapidly expanding. Fr. Hill pointed out that, "Trying to raise families in an urban area is causing people to re-evaluate their priorities. They are deciding to take a wage cut so they can raise their children in smaller towns. We cannot abandon churches in these areas because, if we do, we're cutting our own throat. In these rural communities, we've become a sacramental church that cannot always provide the sacraments, and we've often been too prideful to admit that the lay ministry is our richest resource. The vineyard is full but the laborers are scarce — and we need to fully utilize those we have."