If you are a Presbyterian the minister’s house is a manse. If you are an Episcopalian, the residence is the Rectory. If you are a Methodist like me, your minister’s house is called the Parsonage.

It was in discussing our parsonage that I found that most of my church is not marching to the same drummer as I am.

First, with an elderly and shrinking congregation, the large question that looms on my mind is whether we can afford to provide a residence for our minister. Would we be better off to provide him or her more money and let him or her find their own lodgings?

That thought has gone t...