wfn.org | Purpose, passion drive church growth, pastor says

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Feb. 26, 2002  News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-71B{074}

By Michael Wacht*
	
ORLANDO, Fla. (UMNS) - Purpose and passion among members form the foundation
of church growth, according to the Rev. Adam Hamilton, who leads one of the
fastest-growing congregations in the United Methodist Church.

"If your church is going to be vital, you have to be clear about why it
exists," said Hamilton, senior pastor of United Methodist Church of the
Resurrection in Kansas City, Mo. "... If people can't talk about the purpose
with a certain amount of passion, the church will never grow."
	
Hamilton was at St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Orlando on Feb. 8 for
a seminar on how large churches become regional churches. The Rev. Mont
Duncan, the Florida Conference's director of New Church Development and
Church Redevelopment, said a regional church reaches out to the culture and
population in large numbers.
	
"A regional church serves an area of high population and high diversity,"
Duncan said. "It would be a church with an average attendance of about 1,500
to 2,000 per weekend and serve many different constituencies within a larger
geographical area."
	
Hamilton's church is 11 years old and one of the largest United Methodist
churches nationwide. It has six worship services attended by an average of
8,000 people combined, 2,500 people attending Sunday school, 350 active
small groups and an annual operating budget of $8 million. The campus sits
on 72 acres of land with 114,000 square feet of building space and another
150,000 square feet planned for construction later this year.
	
When he agreed to start the Church of the Resurrection, Hamilton said he was
the first person who had to get excited about the church's purpose. "There
were three questions that I wrestled with," he said. "Why do people need
Jesus? ... Why do people need the church? ... Why do people need this
particular church?"
	
Once the purpose is established, it must be reinforced to the congregation
on a regular basis. "Your folks need to know why your church is the greatest
thing since sliced bread," Hamilton said. "They also need to know that God
didn't call us to build the Christian version of 'Cheers,' where everybody
knows your name."
	
Hamilton said his church has grown because its purpose is to reach
unchurched and nominally churched people. "Twenty percent of the people in
your community know nothing of God," he said. "Most people have some
experience or background in the church. Many are nominally Christian -
almost 50 percent in every community."
	
Inviting people to church is not enough, Hamilton said. The church must be
ready to accept and accommodate visitors. 

"If you invite, but you're not ready, they may never come back," he said.
"How do you personally feel about lost people in your community? Do you look
at them with compassion because they're lost sheep without a shepherd, or do
they just irritate you? Would the people of your church run to meet the
lost, or would they shut the doors and take care of their own?"
	
Facilities, worship and preaching are the three keys to making a church
inviting, Hamilton said. Parking and signage need to accommodate people who
have never been to the church. The interior needs to have an updated look
and not look like "an antique store," he said.
	
"Worship is the main vehicle to which you'll attract people," Hamilton said.
Services should be relevant and connected to people's lives, he added.
	
"Experience is the key word for the younger generations," he said. "They
want to know 'What am I supposed to feel? Help me understand it.' Translate
traditional worship for unchurched people and they will understand and enjoy
it."
	
The job of the senior pastor also changes as a church grows into a regional
church. Hamilton said the senior pastor's job is to pursue preaching
excellence; be the chief visionary; remember the church's purpose; recruit,
develop, motivate and inspire leaders; raise the money; and set the
spiritual tone for the congregation. 

"You cannot lead a congregation where you are not going."

# # #

*Wacht is the assistant editor of the Florida Annual Conference's edition of
the United Methodist Review, where this story originally appeared.

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United Methodist News Service
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