Two Flocks, One Shepherd

Ashfield, tucked in the Massachusetts hills, has only two churches, but even they are more than the town (pop. 900) can afford. Last October it found a way: one shepherd for its two flocks. Philip Humason Steinmetz, rock-hewn rector of tiny, white-framed St. John's Episcopal Church, took over as minister also of the Congregational Church that, with its Greek Revival portico and bell tower, dominates Ashfield's elm-bordered main street.

(Each busy Sunday morning, Mr. Steinmetz preaches at the Congregational Church* (membership 205); in the afternoon he holds services at St. John's (membership 45). This nimble quick-change act taxes none of Steinmetz' doctrinal convictions. He must be wary only not to lapse into the formalized liturgy of the Episcopal Church on the premises of the freer, more evangelical Congregational Church. "When I enter the Congregational pulpit," says he, "I become a Congregationalist--and vice versa."

Of this working example of Christian unity, the vicar-minister said last week: "I can think of the whole community . . . and not feel that I'm poaching someone else's ground." Said Episcopal Bishop William Appleton Lawrence, father of the Ashfield project: "I heartily approve and enthusiastically endorse. . . . It's a good idea and significant in finding a solution to the problem of overchurched communities."

*Last fortnight he was "recognized" as a Congregational pastor.

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