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Note #6335 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

01016

Redevelopment experts say transformation
happens to congregations that embrace change

Struggling pastors urged to move beyond "mentality of surviving"

by Evan Silverstein

MIAMI, FL - Gloria Williams and the aging members of two congregations she
serves in North Carolina realize time is running out.
With membership rolls down to a scant 30 at each of the predominately
Africa-American congregations, the leadership of Central Presbyterian Church
in Clarkton and Second Presbyterian Church in Elizabethtown refuse to die
one member at a time. That's why Williams, a pastoral intern at both
churches, came here to attend the sixth Churchwide Redevelopment Conference
of the Presbyterian Church (USA) - to learn how to breathe new life into the
two beleaguered congregations.
"The two churches recognize that it's time to change and to bring back
something new and different," said Williams, a 1999 graduate of Johnson C.
Smith Seminary of the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, GA.
Now, after participating in workshops, networking with representatives of
other struggling congregations and hearing from experts in the
revitalization of places where Presbyterians worship and minister, Williams
is excited about the future.
"With some of the things that I've learned here, if we can implement them,
if we can try them as a means of redevelopment for us, it's going to be
exciting," Williams said during the conference, co-sponsored by the
denomination's Redevelopment Training Network and the Evangelism and Church
Development Program Area of the National Ministries Division.
The changing cultural context in the United States, seen in everything from
the evolution of computer science to new categories on U.S. Census Bureau
forms, has radical implications for many congregations. While these changes
have frightened many congregations into retrenchment and survival modes,
others are opting to explore and even embrace the changes.
The four-day redevelopment event, which started on Jan. 14 and whose theme
was "Transformation," was intended to give its 520 participants
opportunities to examine some of those cultural shifts through networking,
workshops, field trips to nearby churches and spirited worship services.
"We have a lot of congregations in the Presbyterian Church that are
struggling with issues of survival and how to reach out to their community,
and they're looking for ways to do those tasks," said the Rev. Steve Boots, 
the PC(USA)'s associate for congregational redevelopment. "They find some
help, they find some support in terms of networks. They find inspiration in
terms of speakers and worship, and they find some tools to actually get that
done in the workshops themselves."
Among the keys for congregations needing redevelopment, according to
conference participants: overcoming fear of change; rediscovering spiritual
energy; coming to terms with the past, present and future; building a
ministry team of leaders; developing a plan to discern a path to the future;
building new ministry by identifying and nurturing lay leaders.
The Rev. Mark Morrison hopes these tips will take members of his Faith 
Presbyterian Church in Kokomo, IN, from "a mentality of surviving to one of
thriving."
 	"They don't accept that they're going to survive," Morrison said of the
congregation, which averages 70 members for Sunday worship. "We have to do
all these things, 'just in case, just in case.' I'm trying to change the
mindset to one of reaching out more. We don't have to take care of ourselves
solely. We can reach out to the community. We can spread God's message to
the environment that we're in."
 	In the five years since Morrison became Faith Presbyterian's pastor, the
congregation has energized its services by adding a "blended worship,"
removing the confession of sin and replacing it with "what I call
'witness,'" said Morrison, who said the congregation boasted a roll of 450
members during the 1960s, the decade in which the church was formed. "This
allows members once a quarter to give their testimony of what God is doing
in their midst, and that's always a quality time."
 	Morrison has brought a fresh approach to his church's program ministries
through a "spiritual-gifts inventory."
"Each congregant conducts a spiritual-gifts inventory and then we match
people with their gifts," said Morrison, who added that his church has been
represented at all but one of the denomination's national redevelopment
conferences. "(For example) finding out that somebody has the gift of mercy,
maybe involve them in making hospital visitations."
Morrison said he hopes one day to see his church add an additional service
and enhance worship more by adding plays and skits, and perhaps multi-media
presentations. But finding the necessary financial resources has been
difficult.
According to one expert, filling a congregation's coffers is simply a matter
of "ask, seek and knock" followed by a matter of "receive, find, open."
That was the message of the Rev. Ana Lugo of First Presbyterian Church in
Dumas, TX, who preceded her co-pastor and spouse, the Rev. Vince Kolb, as
keynote speaker on the final night of the conference.
"We cannot assume that our people will give money to the church without
asking them to do so," Lugo said as her image was beamed across two large
screens in front of the ballroom at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown
Miami. "If we don't ask our members to give to the church, other
institutions and/or services will ask them to give to their programs."
Lugo said church leaders must determine how much funding is required to
operate their congregations and, if necessary, "challenge our people to
consider an increase (in giving). We need to be specific with the increase."
Since 1994, said Lugo, a consultant for the PC(USA)'s Church Financial
Campaign Service, leaders of First Presbyterian have asked members for
specific amounts when seeking more money - prompting a 75 percent jump in
pledges to the congregation.
"And not only has the budget doubled in that time, so has the giving," Lugo
said, adding that the direct approach has had the same positive results for
other congregations with whom she has consulted.
 	She said churches must be specific in telling members how the increased
funding will be used, and pastors must always say "thank you." That's a
simple courtesy too often neglected, she said, which results in alienated
donors. Lugo added that clergy must lead the way if congregations are
expected to give more.
"The congregation is going to follow you," she told the minister
participants in the conference. "How can church leaders ask members to give
and to increase their giving, if they don't do it themselves? Members will
take their cues from those they elected to lead."
Meanwhile, at Memorial Presbyterian Church in Phoenix, Ariz., the hope of
reaching out to the community through specific mission programs aimed at
addressing community needs and thereby bringing new members into the church
is paramount for the congregation, which averages 80 Sunday worshipers.
 	"(We want to become a more) physical, visual presence in the community," 
said the Rev. David Hicks, the pastor. "Doing more things that will affect
outdoor worship services, better signage, better use of advertising, such as
(on the World Wide) Web. Trying to tighten our outreach within a smaller
area and to reach out to more neighbors."
Hicks was joined at his first redevelopment conference by several
representatives of the Presbytery of the Grand Canyon.
"What we hope is not only to use the information for our own congregations,"
Hicks said, "but also take it back to the presbytery and share it with
several members, several churches within the presbytery to network and reach
out to others."
Other presbyteries also are getting into the act. Officials at Shenandoah
Presbytery, which covers portions of Virginia and West Virginia, recently
established a network to provide support for churches pursuing change
through redevelopment.
"It's important for us to build on the sense that redevelopment is more than
just maintenance, it's actually encouraging churches to be engaged in and
enlivened in their work in ministry," said the Rev. John Oldman, a
Bridgewater, Va., pastor and former chair of the Division on Church
Development for the Presbytery of Shenandoah.
"(It's important) to stimulate them and provoke them and challenge them and
comfort them with the possibilities that they can be engaged in good
ministry and meaningful activities in ministry. Growth is all fine and good,
but it's not the key factor. The key factor is understanding that if we're
working with our God in the context of our surroundings and bearing good
news, that some exciting things can happen, and will happen."
The Shenandoah Redevelopment Network provides congregations with such
assistance as in-depth training for elders and pastors in the dynamics of
redevelopment and funding for churches applying for ministry grant funds.
The expenses of the meetings and training materials are part of the
presbytery's budget. Instruction is provided by pastors and lay people who
have received advanced training in redevelopment. Mission grants to local
congregations come from endowed funds held by the presbytery corporation and
from the regular mission budget.
When asked to characterize redevelopment efforts now under way throughout
the denomination, Oldman, who was attending his fifth PC(USA) redevelopment
conference, said, "To be honest with you, I think we've only just begun.
Five of the last six years I've been part of this experience, and I think
we're just at the beginning thresholds of some new avenues and some new
opportunities for congregations, for presbyteries, for the denomination, for
the church across North America.
"I think a new age is dawning, and rather than be scared of it I think we
have an exciting opportunity to go forward. Let's be encouraged and let's be
enlivened to share that good news," said Oldman, pastor of 125-member
Bridgewater Presbyterian Church.
Since the mid-1990s, when Evangelism and Church Development Program Area
officials pioneered a redevelopment program, the model of church-based
community organization has spread rapidly across the nation. In late 1995,
about 40 people representing presbyteries considering or sponsoring
redevelopment clusters came together in Denver to form the Churchwide
Redevelopment Training Network. The first national redevelopment conference,
held in San Antonio, TX, in January 1997, drew about 300 participants.
Redevelopment can eliminate waste and bring about renewal for any
congregation interested in going from "frail and elderly" to "cutting-edge,"
according to Bill Waymer, a deacon at St. Luke Presbyterian Church
in Orangeburg, S.C .
 	"Redevelopment gives you a chance to renew yourself, to rethink what
you're doing," said Waymer, whose congregation recently welcomed a new
pastor and averages 40 members at Sunday services. "To take inventory and to
build on that. To eliminate those things that are extraneous, that are not
needed. And to strategically work on those things that can bring you
improvement."
St. Luke, about 75 miles north of Charleston, has increased its visibility
in the community by providing Thanksgiving and Christmas meals to the needy
and by adding streaming audio "sound bites" to its Website. The congregation
has aspirations of offering multi-media presentations during worship and a
music ministry to attract young people. Among other goals is a computer lab
for teaching congregants and local residents how to log onto the Internet,
while hopefully also bringing new faces through the church's doors.
The church also has an email database of members, which it uses to stay in
touch with daily servings of material from scripture, lectionary and
sermons.
 	"We intend to strategize," said Waymer. "To study what will work based on
our demographics, based on our problems and our needs, and the resources
that are needed to get us going. Not to make us lazy, not to get money from
the outside ... but to get some incentives to get us moving. So that we can
support all of these things ourselves."

For information about redevelopment, log onto www.churchredevelopment.net 
or contact the Churchwide Redevelopment Network, by phone at 1-888-728-7228,
extension 5242, or by email at dlanham@ctr.pcusa.org

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