Massachusetts Conference Edition
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by Marlene Gasdia-Cochrane, Editor
April/May 2009
To borrow from an old Nike sneaker commercial, ‘Just Do It.’ Or in this case, it’s more fitting to say ‘Just Go Out and Do It.’ When it comes to growing local church membership, that was the advice given by the many ‘experts’ in the field.
The Rev. Mr. Paul Nickerson, Associate Conference Minister for Evangelism and Church Vitality, advises churches to go out into the neighborhoods and invite people to join them. He believes that sitting around and waiting for people to walk through the church doors is not an option. Those clergy and congregations who connect with the neighborhood and invite others to participate in outreach and worship activities will help stop the decline in membership.
As has been reported in the Conference’s Spotlight E-Newsletter, churches are ‘hitting the streets’ in many ways for mission and outreach. The Pilgrim United Church of Christ in New Bedford reaches out into the community by hosting the city soup kitchen. As a result, many of the soup kitchen’s former guests are now active members.
The First Evangelical Congregational Church of Uxbridge attracted new worshippers by holding its summer service at the nearby Earth Discovery Center at Southwick's Zoo. South Deerfield Congregational Church attracted non-members to the church when it transformed the church hall into The Fair Trade Coffeehouse.
First Parish Church of Newbury recently found a way to reach out to the community and bring people together during these tough economic times with a Comedy and Music event. “We wanted to provide a reasonably priced family night of entertainment to cure the ‘cabin fever’ many in the community were feeling because of the long winter,” said Stephanie Woods Crawford. “This event is meant to give people an opportunity to see their neighbors, meet new friends, all in the hopes of raising the spirits of the community through friendship, music, and love."
With the help of a tutoring program jump-started by First Congregational Church in Stoneham, adults in the neighborhood who struggle with the English language, are able to communicate more successfully in their daily lives. “When I heard some anti-immigration comments in the community, it hit me that I should look at what my religion says about it,” said Ben Jacques, a member of the Missions Committee. “And I realized our response of welcome and kindness to newcomers should also apply to those from other countries.”
Along those same lines of immigration outreach, Pastor Judy Hanlon from Hadwen Park Congregational Church, UCC in Worcester, reported that Hadwen is a growing church (people and money) because it is an Open and Affirming church and embraces diversity. Recently, the still predominantly white church called Rev. Toni Dipina, an African American woman, as Associate Pastor for Children and Youth. Hanlon and Dipina are the only senior-associate team in the Conference who are white and black.
This team attributes some of the growth to their welcoming of gay immigrants who suffered injustice in their former countries. By forming a Task Force with community leaders and church members working together, they found they could coordinate and support those seeking asylum by finding food, medical care, apartments, jobs, transportation, and spiritual support.
“Church growth occurs in miraculous ways as these men now attend church regularly and are giving back financially, prayerfully, and in many ways of serving,” she wrote. “They bring their new friends, from many cultures, to a church where love abounds!” Hanlon said that she received an email from one visitor who wrote: “I will be back, I didn't know such a church existed!” Hanlon and Dipina imagine this ministry will grow exponentially.
New church start pastor, Jim Scovil, of the Mashpee Congregational United Church of Christ, believes hitting the streets and becoming visible is the only way to grow membership. Whether it’s doing errands in town, volunteering for town events, or meeting with community leaders, he advises
clergy to get around the community and be seen… and then invite people to join.
Visibility is the reason Tewksbury Congregational Church had red shirts printed up for the mission and outreach volunteers. Beth McFadyen, Chairperson of the church’s Missions Committee, said: “We especially like to wear red when serving in our hometown of Tewksbury, as it provides wonderful visibility for our Congregation. When just a handful of us volunteered at our Pantry’s Postal Carrier Food Drive, we were the only group that wore matching shirts and we stood out, even among the groups who had sent many more people. And, after the event, we were remembered by the Pantry staff as the dedicated crew from the Congregational Church. Even in small numbers, the red t-shirts give us a large presence and make quite an impact.”
“In addition the shirts unite us,” she said. “They give us a sense of purpose and ignite a team spirit that we might not otherwise achieve when working on a project together for just a couple of hours. The red shirts provide a ‘jump start’ to all of our service and outreach projects. They are our ‘doing good’ uniforms.
Paul Nixon, author of ‘I Refuse to Lead a Dying Church,’ wrote: “Any church can blossom and grow anywhere if it will become healthy enough spiritually and pay attention to the needs, experiences, and sensibilities of those it seeks to serve.”
Read the other articles in this issue to see more ways to grow membership by being visible in and reaching out to the community.