Something New

[Pete Vecchi]

For the current church year (which ends at the end of this month), our small congregation (averaging 21 people weekly for Sunday morning worship services so far this year), we have had a church board of 3 people, with a total cumulative 12 to 15 years (or more) of Nazarene Church board experience.

When our nominating committee met this year to consider people for the church board ballot for the upcoming year, the committee asked all 3 current board members, one previous board member who had moved out of the area but recently moved back to the area, and 3 people who joined the congregation (and the Church of the Nazarene) during this current church year to prayerfully consider allowing their names to be placed on the ballot.

The two most experienced current board members, plus the previous board member, all declined. The current board member with two years of board experience, plus all three New Nazarenes accepted. Today, all four of them were elected to the church board during our congregational meeting.

In addition, earlier this month, the NYI met and elected a President--a 17-year-old who is also a new Nazarene as of this church year.

So, it looks as though beginning June 1, our congregation will have a 5-person church board, comprised 80% of people who have been Nazarenes for less than a year, with the grand total cumulative years of Church board experience for the entire board being 2 years.

Exciting.

Scary.

Something new is happening...

[Kyle Borger]

Can you tell me more about your church? When my pastor arrived at our church it was about 30. 3 years later they called me to join them and they were at 60. Now were are 60-70. We are starting a service on Thursday nights to reach people who don't make it on Sundays or are looking for aa different format. We hope it will serve as the launch pad to begin planting a church every year. We are currently training our leaders for that future.

[Jim Chabot]

For the current church year (which ends at the end of this month), our small congregation (averaging 21 people weekly for Sunday morning worship services so far this year), we have had a church board of 3 people, with a total cumulative 12 to 15 years (or more) of Nazarene Church board experience.

When our nominating committee met this year to consider people for the church board ballot for the upcoming year, the committee asked all 3 current board members, one previous board member who had moved out of the area but recently moved back to the area, and 3 people who joined the congregation (and the Church of the Nazarene) during this current church year to prayerfully consider allowing their names to be placed on the ballot.

The two most experienced current board members, plus the previous board member, all declined. The current board member with two years of board experience, plus all three New Nazarenes accepted. Today, all four of them were elected to the church board during our congregational meeting.

In addition, earlier this month, the NYI met and elected a President--a 17-year-old who is also a new Nazarene as of this church year.

So, it looks as though beginning June 1, our congregation will have a 5-person church board, comprised 80% of people who have been Nazarenes for less than a year, with the grand total cumulative years of Church board experience for the entire board being 2 years.

Exciting.

Scary.

Something new is happening...

I'm excited for you Pete! I recall that Manny Chavier viewed his board as his church within the church. He spent a lot of time with his board members, he used it as his discipleship time with them. For many years he maintained a board of 25, and called each of them every morning to pray with and for them.

Sounds like a great opportunity!

[Pete Vecchi]

Can you tell me more about your church? When my pastor arrived at our church it was about 30. 3 years later they called me to join them and they were at 60. Now were are 60-70. We are starting a service on Thursday nights to reach people who don't make it on Sundays or are looking for aa different format. We hope it will serve as the launch pad to begin planting a church every year. We are currently training our leaders for that future.

I'm not sure what type of info you're looking for. The basics are the congregation was founded in a different location under a different name in 1946. In 1963 it moved to its current location (to a building built in 1870) and changed to its current name. It has a history of basically always having been a small congregation, with pastoral tenures averaging about 2-3 years through about 2004, when the pastor who left that year had stayed nearly 6 years. I am now well into my 8th year as the congregation's pastor--the longest any pastor has served in its 66-year history.

Over the past couple of decades or so, 2 of the district's largest congregations (located 3 miles NNW of us and 6 miles ESE of us, respectively) have continued to grow, averaging about 1600 people per Sunday morning between them over the past several years. During the same time, our congregation rarely averaged as many as 30 per Sunday. When I first arrived as the pastor, the average was around 22 or so, and has remained within about 5 of that average annually (both higher and lower) throughout this entire time. But in the past 4 years or so, there has been a major turnover in the make-up of the people attending. Of the 30 or so people who have been involved with our congregation thus far this month, only about 4 of them (plus myself, my wife and my daughter) were there when I first arrived in 2004.

Basically, it has been a long transition time that is still in the process of happening, and it seemed that with each step along the way from trying to do things the "traditional" (written and/or unwritten) way to becoming more up-to-date, we've lost some of the former attendees/members. Basically, none of the changes from traditional to more up-to-date have been just for the sake of change; most of the changes have occurred because the more traditional ways that have been replaced were simply not bearing fruit.

Over the past 2-3 years, we've been more intentional about reaching the community in practical ways--placing a Salvation Army clothes/shoes donation bin in our parking lot, distributing free bread weekly from our building, opening our building weekly for a local 12-step program that needed a place to meet--and we are just now starting to see that we are a more visible presence in the community.

Even more important, we have turned more and more away from the (often unspoken but assumed) legalism that tended to permeate the attitudes of the congregation when I first arrived there. A more "visible" sign of this is that for the first several years of my pastorate, I would generally preach while wearing a suit. My normal attire for services now is slacks and a polo shirt. Attitudinal changes have included going from people literally yelling at children who dared to eat or run in the sanctuary to children regularly eating and playing (including running) in the sanctuary (the running doesn't generally occur during services), and viewing church as a fun place that they look forward to coming to. And the important thing is that they are learning about Jesus!

We weekly have people worship with us who know that they are loved and accepted, no matter what their circumstances. In the past, the unspoken attitude almost seemed to be that people were "accepted" into the fellowship only if they lived up to certain traditional standards; now, we have the attitude of reaching people right where they are, then letting Jesus work with them as they journey through spiritual growth.

All congregations are unique. But this is a brief synopsis of what has been happening with our congregation. Please feel free to continue this conversation or ask about more specifics if you feel it would be of benefit.

[Pete Vecchi]

I'm excited for you Pete! I recall that Manny Chavier viewed his board as his church within the church. He spent a lot of time with his board members, he used it as his discipleship time with them. For many years he maintained a board of 25, and called each of them every morning to pray with and for them.

Sounds like a great opportunity!

Honestly, I am daunted by the possibilities--I feel so inadequate for such responsibility. I know, however, that where I am weak, He is strong.

[Kyle Borger]

Sounds like God is guiding you. My pastor did a similar thing. What he found was that the church was small because no one knew how to build relationships so they had a hard time incorporating new people. It isn't that they didn't want them, they just weren't good at it. He spent a fair amount of time just working on relationship building activities. He also is very intentional about what changes and what doesn't change and isn't looking to be inviting to new people, but rather desires that we would be real.

May God Bless you on your journey. Perhaps we can keep tabs on our churches as they continue to grow.