wfn.org | Church Growth Strategy Team Reports Positive Start

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

25-February-1998 
98062 
 
    Church Growth Strategy Team Reports Positive Start 
 
    by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.-Proclaiming its belief that "a great new reawakening is 
happening in the Presbyterian Church," the General Assembly Council (GAC)'s 
new Church Growth Strategy Team presented an enthusiastic initial report to 
the Council here Feb. 13. 
 
    "We may disagree on our A's and B's," said GAC and team member the Rev. 
David Bleivik of Anchorage, Alaska, referring to contentious debates the 
last two years over constitutional amendments on ordination standards, "but 
we all agree on our C's - our commitment to reach the world for Jesus 
Christ." 
 
    The Church Growth Strategy Team was appointed by the GAC at its 
September 1997 meeting in San Antonio and charged to devise a comprehensive 
church growth strategy for the Presbyterian Church for at least the next 
decade. 
 
    The effort has been fueled by recent General Assemblies, which have 
adopted ambitious goals for church growth, particularly among racial/ethnic 
groups.  The 1996 Assembly, for example, adopted a goal of racial/ethnic 
membership growth to 10 percent of the denomination's membership by 2005 
and to 20 percent by 2010.  Major Assembly initiatives have also been 
adopted for growth of Hispanic churches and urban churches. 
 
    The eight-member Church Growth Strategy Team is seeking to knit all 
those growth goals into a unified strategy for the church.  "We have really 
just begun," said team chair Jinny Miller of Mishawaka, Ind., "which is to 
devise a strategy to reach a new generation in new ways." 
 
    She reported on the team's first meeting in Newark, N.J., in 
mid-January, when it met for a day and a half with Leonard Sweet, dean of 
the theological school at Drew University in Madison, N.J., whom Miller 
referred to as "the Billy Graham of the computer generation."  Sweet, 
indeed, has gained renown as a leading theoretician about how the church 
can capitalize on the technological revolution to reach today's young 
people. 
 
    "Change?  Who, me?" said team member Eugenia "Gene" Shannon of 
Bradenton, Fla.  "After being an older-generation, lifelong Presbyterian, 
this Church Growth Team has opened my eyes, ears and mind. ... Len Sweet 
led us in stretching our imagination and dreaming of new ways to keeping 
old tradition but to reclaiming our Reformed theology and packaging it in 
different containers. ..." 
 
    Team member the Rev. John Buchanan described the conversations with 
Sweet as "a shot of theological adrenaline."  Buchanan said, "A church that 
wants to be credible and relevant must learn to think and act in new ways. 
And that begins by listening and learning that we are living in a new 
world." 
 
    The team also discussed church growth issues and programs with 
representatives from the presbyteries of Newark, Hudson River, Long Island, 
New York City, and New Brunswick and visited several church growth projects 
in the Newark area, including the following: 
 
   *   the Korean Presbyterian Church of New Jersey in Bloomfield, which in 
       less than five years has grown to a membership of nearly 400 adults 
       with youth and children's programs that attract another 200 
   *   Clinton Avenue Presbyterian Church in Newark, the product of a 1967 
       merger of a Caucasian and an African-American congregation, which 
       has come to symbolize multiracial worship and ministry in an 
       increasingly pluralistic community and world 
   *   the Presbyterian Center at Newark, an arts and social service 
       community center in the heart of Newark - near the Newark Museum, 
       the Newark Public Library and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center 
       - that is growing in the building formerly occupied by Second 
       Presbyterian Church, a formerly "flagship" church in Newark that 
       closed in 1995 
   *   the Presbyterian Center at Bloomfield, a bustling facility that 
       houses the Presbytery of Newark offices and space for meetings and 
       retreats - "It helps folks feel good about who we are," said 
       presbytery executive Carrie Washington. 
 
    Commenting on the project visits, team member Diane Wheeler of Palmyra, 
N.Y., said, "Church growth means more than numbers on the roll.  There are 
many churches doing work that translates into growth in ministry.  It is an 
important part of our task to hear the stories from these churches, learn 
from them and help others benefit from them.  Then we can look at growth in 
new and exciting ways." 
 
    Members of the Church Growth Strategy Team include Miller; Bleivik; 
Wheeler; Shannon; Buchanan; Aurelio Garcˇa of Hato Rey, Puerto Rico; the 
Rev. Joseph Etua of Starkville, Miss.; and Elizabeth Pritchett Stephan of 
Auke Bay, Alaska. 
 
    Staff working with the team include Rosalie Potter, associate director 
for evangelism and church development in the National Ministries Division 
(NMD); the Rev. Douglas Wilson, associate for Presbyterian evangelism; 
Diana Stephen, associate for rural ministry and church development 
strategy; the Rev. John Haberlin, associate for church growth and new 
church development; the Rev. Stephen Boots, associate for congregational 
redevelopment; and the Rev. Curtis Kearns, NMD director. 
 
    The team is scheduled to meet March 25-28 in Louisville and April 
29-May 1 in Los Angeles.  Miller said the team plans to present its final 
report to the GAC in February 1999 for forwarding to the 211th General 
Assembly (1999) in Fort Worth, Texas. 
 
    "This is the most crucial task before the church today," said Garcˇa. 
Buchanan agreed.  "This is going to be an interesting adventure and a 
helpful one for our church." 

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