Small Church and Community
Ministry Stories
Reaching out in Foley
Members of the First Presbyterian Church of Foley, Minnesota. Photo by the Rev. Allen C. Jergenson First Presbyterian Church of Foley, Minnesota, is a church experiencing spiritual renewal and growth because it claimed its missional niche. First Church has been served by its pastor, the Rev. Allen C. Jergenson for 17 years in a big aging building in downtown Foley, a community of about 5,000 residents. Its church home was inaccessible to its members with physical disabilities. This smaller membership congregation explored a variety of options such as merging or yoking with another church to stay near its downtown location since it was “dying at its current location.”
Five years ago, the church decided rather than renovating its building, it would build a new handicap-accessible building about one and a half miles away from their original site. This site was next door to a new family housing development. In choosing its new location, the First Church thought its mission would primarily be focused on reaching out with new families living next door but it ended up refocusing its mission back to serving older adults living in downtown Foley. The population of Foley was slowly growing because retirees from other communities were moving in. [Read more]
Changing Lives
God is changing lives through First Thai-Laotian Presbyterian Church in Las Vegas, Nevada. This smaller membership congregation, led by its organizing pastor Prachuab Dechawan and his wife, Gloria, is reaching out with people of all cultures and situations in life.
One of the lives that has been changed is Ron Waters. Ron, a drug user who spent 17 years in prison, was homeless. He camped out behind a bush at Westminster Presbyterian Church, where the Thai-Laotian church nests. He bathed with the garden hose when no one was around. His food came from the Westminster Food Pantry.
One Sunday night when Ron was sitting on the patio in front of the church building, Carey Allen invited Ron inside for the English language Bible study class. When Ron walked in, a young girl met him. Ron says, “Heather jumped into my arms and said, ‘I’ve missed you so much.’ Later I realized that was God speaking to me. From then on my life changed. I no longer had any desire for drugs. Now the church is my family.” Ron is currently training to be a lay pastor.
A member of the Thai-Laotian church provided work and a place to live for Ron and two of his homeless companions, Mark Perez and Robert Schrader. All three continue to be drug and alcohol-free and active members of the congregation. This congregation now has a special concern for changing the lives of the homeless.
To close or not to close: that was the question
By Diana A. Stephen
Deacon Jody Goodwin, her daughter, Aimee, her granddaughter, Nola Grace, and
Elder LaVerna House. Photo by Ann Marie Simone To close or not to close? Three and a half years ago
that was the question facing the members and friends of the North Turner Union
Presbyterian Church, a congregation in Androscoggin County, Maine, that had been
serving its community since 1878. Attendance at worship had dwindled to six and
the Presbytery of Northern New England had appointed an Administrative Commission.
This group of faithful and committed members was not very happy about this action
of presbytery. Rather than getting stuck in their displeasure, they marshaled
their energy and resources with the determination that North Turner Union Presbyterian
Church would live.
As a member of The Mission at the Eastward (MATE), a cooperative
parish of eight churches in central Maine, this congregation had an immediate
resource. If the church at North Turner was determined to live, the people of
MATE would surround it with their loving support. A team from the MATE churches
was formed to be present with the North Turner church as it began to move through
a process that proved to be transforming.
This team, together with representatives from the presbytery,
joined the members of North Turner as they began this time of transformation.
Members of the team demonstrated their commitment by regularly attending the
meetings. This required them to travel great distances. Distance is one of the
characteristics of rural communities. The geographical scope of this cooperative
parish covers 60-100 miles and the geographical breadth of the presbytery is
far greater.
Goals were set for the congregation. Challenged by how they
might be fulfilled in the specified time, the larger group began to exchange
ideas about ministry and mission. Participants from the presbytery and
other MATE churches began to show up for worship to demonstrate through their
presence support of the North Turner Church. The congregation began to realize
that God wasn’t finished with them yet. The Holy Spirit was truly present
and empowering them. Keep reading this story.
The Transforming Spirit
BY Diana Stephen
A baptism at the First Presbyterian Church in Sisseton, S.D. Photo by The Rev.
Peter Reynen Sisseton, South Dakota, with a population of 3,000, is located in the northeast
corner of the state, just west of I-29. During the past three years, the First
Presbyterian Church of Sisseton has witnessed a transformation.
In May 2005, the attendance averaged 15 to 20 per Sunday. Today, attendance
averages about 80. In 2005 there were about three youngsters attending Sunday
school. Today there are multiple classes serving young people and adults.
What
has contributed to this transformation?
After a period of time when it was served by pulpit
supplies, in May 2005 the congregation called a part-time tentmaker (bi-vocational)
pastor, Peter Reynen. Peter serves the congregation 20 hours per week from Friday
through Sunday. During
the rest of the week Peter is a family physician in Milbank, S.D., 51 miles away
from Sisseton. The church, medical practice and hospital respect this schedule.
Today members of this revitalized congregation talk eagerly about their congregation
and invite others to join them in worship and other church activities. Keep
reading this story.
Friends of the Carpenter
“Wood crafted into a community of Christ”
by the Rev. Duane L. Sich
Church volunteers work together one of their woodcraft activities with homeless
guests. Photo by the Rev. Duane L. Sich, program director. A ministry in Vancouver, Washington, has found a creative
and constructive way to connect persons who are homeless (or at risk) with volunteers
from faith communities. Friends of the Carpenter is a nonprofit, faith-based
ministry that uses woodcraft as a way to create a safe and supervised setting
for friendships to be formed. It’s a sanctuary of a different sort — more
like the stable in which the Christ-child was born, where shepherds and kings
were equally welcome. Participants (volunteers and homeless) gather in
the warehouse (the Friendship Center) to fit and glue wood pieces together. During
the woodcraft activity, God’s grace guides and glues new friendships together.
As rough edges are sanded from the wood, simple conversations of care, kindness
and compassion smooth the way for friendships of encouragement, assistance and
accountability to be formed. Keep reading this
story.
Small churches thrive with shared ministry
Many small churches are thriving today because they share
ministry, mission and/or leadership with other small churches. Once just a model
for the rural church, shared ministry is becoming an effective approach for urban
and suburban congregations as well. Keep reading this story.
Immanuel Presbyterian Church started as a Sunday church school class in a house.
Photo by Bert Tom. Immanuel Presbyterian Church was organized by the Presbytery
of the Yukon with 19 chartered members in 1961 and is located in Anchorage, the
largest city in Alaska (population c. 300,000). The congregation was started
as a Sunday church school class in a house purchased by the former Board of National
Missions-UPCUSA. The house was to be the future manse of a new congregation and
it was used to hold Sunday church school classes and Sunday morning worship until
a first unit was constructed with supplemental funds from the denomination’s
Fifty Million Fund. Keep reading this story.
The Garden of Hope
The Westminster Presbyterian Church Garden of Hope now has 17 renters. Much of
the produce is collected and shared with local food pantries. Photo by Michelle
Parsons. Westminster Presbyterian Church, a smaller-membership congregation
located in Belleville, Ill., on the outskirts of St. Louis, is celebrating its
50th anniversary. Westminster’s congregation has been involved with the
Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy’s congregational transformation training
program, focusing its mission on the surrounding neighborhood. Westminster’s
young, dynamic pastor, the Rev. Michelle Parsons, is leading the congregation
in its transformational ministry effort that includes a community garden, an
archery program for kids, a martial arts ministry and an older adult ministry. Keep
reading this story.
The biggest little church in Kalamazoo
North Church has been located in Kalamazoo County since 1919. Photo courtesy
of North Presbyterian Church. A chuckle rose from everyone gathered under the shade of
the ancient oak on a late summer afternoon at Curtis’ description of North
Presbyterian Church. Then it dawned on us; he just might have described this
congregation very well!
Never large by numerical standards, never flush with financial
resources, North Church has been big — generous when it comes to its life
together and its life within the community of Kalamazoo County. Keep
reading this story. |
