wfn.org | Small church has big impact on community's children

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Aug. 1, 2001   News media contact: Tim Tanton·(615)742-5470·Nashville, Tenn.
10-31-71B{337}

NOTE:  This report is a sidebar to UMNS story #336.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - A small local church can make a difference in the
lives of children in the community. Hobson United Methodist Church is proof.

The inner-city church in Nashville is becoming known across the denomination
for the way in which it found new life during the 1990s through ministries
with neighborhood children.

"In discovering that children are not objects of mission but partners in
ministry, we have found life," said the Rev. Janet Wolf, Hobson member and
former pastor of the church.

Children and adults from Hobson brought the Focus 2001 crowd to its feet
several times during a July 31 session. The children sang, danced, recited
poetry and gave testimonials, and the adults lit a fire under the 1,100
people at the event with sermon-style messages about kids' ministries and
needs.

Hobson, which marks its 150th anniversary this year, was a church in decline
when Wolf was appointed there in 1993. After peaking at 1,700 members in its
heyday, the church had seen its attendance drop to about 30 people on
Sundays, a result of the movement of whites to the suburbs in the 1950s and
1960s, according to Wolf.

"Somehow, God was not done with us yet," she said. 

The church began opening up its building. Next, it opened up the adjoining
land, leading to the construction of five Habitat For Humanity homes. With
the construction of the Habitat homes, children began showing up at the
church.

Hobson members who didn't like the changes left. God sent new members from
people who were on the streets, men who'd been released from prison, women
who were living in shelters, Wolf said. The children brought more kids into
the church, and the number of young people became so large that
"immediately, adults started getting more serious about getting more adults
into our church," she said.

A children's committee was formed and new programs were born, such as the
Youth Empowered for Service, Survival and Self-esteem. YESSS offers
tutoring, enrichment, recreational activities and conflict resolution help.

The church, which has grown to 120 members, had 240 people in vacation Bible
school this year, said Garlinda Burton, an adult leader at Hobson and a
staff member at United Methodist Communications.

Carissa Day, 11, recalled how her involvement in the church began through
her mother. "She started taking me to Hobson because it's a church where the
grown-ups teach the kids to believe in themselves." Day, who preached a
sermon at age 9 and is active in Hobson's ministries, plans on being a
lawyer and a preacher when she grows up.

She told the Focus 2001 participants that they must open their doors to
families and their problems as well as their possibilities. "You have to
realize God created people in all colors and that one person's ghetto is
another person's neighborhood."

Jeffery McElrath, 14, offered words of advice for getting teens into church.
Just because teens wear baggy clothes and bandanas, "it doesn't mean we're
in a gang or that we don't have potential," he said. He told his listeners
that they had to come to his church and recognize that they need him as much
as he needs them.

Most of the children at Hobson have been victims or witnesses of violence on
the street or at home, Burton said. For many children, church is the only
place where they can bring their trials and terrors and get support, she
said.

The Rev. Sonnye Dixon, Hobson's current pastor, called on the Focus 2001
participants to use their church resources for children's ministries, and to
challenge the mayors, judges and other influential people in their pews to
change the system that keeps children "locked out." 

"I hope and I pray that you don't feel good when you go back home," he told
the audience. He encouraged them to dirty their hands and empty their
pockets.

Affluent churches can get involved in these kinds of ministries by
partnering with congregations such as Hobson's, said John Page, a Hobson
member and former youth director at a number of affluent churches. One of
those, Brentwood United Methodist Church, is in partnership with Hobson. 

"Wouldn't it be great if every church had a partnership like this?" Page
asked. "My next question is, why don't you?"

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United Methodist News Service
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