Issues Encountered in Growing Churches Willow Creek Community Church And New Hope Missionary Baptist Church Overview Willow Creek Community Church The case studies on Willow Creek discussed several issues that were addressed by the leadership. Those issues included burnout of the leadership, overloaded ministries, and the need to expand the buildings for a growing membership. Willow Creek tackled the leadership burnout issue by sharing the teaching duties among several teaching pastors. The explosive growth of the church brought about additional issues such as overloaded ministries and a need for more physical space. The overstressed ministries were relieved by restructuring the leadership over the ministries. This restructuring brought about a means of organically producing additional leaders within the ministries themselves. History of New Hope Missionary Baptist Church New Hope Missionary Baptist Church (NHMBC) began in 1987 in the living room of Reverend and Mrs. Leroy Mitchell. After pasturing a church in Sycamore for nine months, Rev. Mitchell and all members from Dekalb were excommunicated due to underlying friction between African-Americans from Sycamore and those from Dekalb. For the next year, the core members held services at numerous locations, finally settling at a local Seventh Day Adventist Church which became New Hope home for the next twelve years. During this twelve year period, New Hope purchased tens acres of farmland and began developing building plans. In 1998, construction started on the building New Hope would call home. In 2000, the members of New Hope moved into their new home without ever missing a Sunday worship service. Time heals and New Hope reconciled with North Ave Baptist having regular fellowships together. Explosive Growth It is apparent that the issues are similar at Willow Creek and New Hope, as both have experienced great growth. They are addressing these issues by adding additional services and by assignment of small groups or small ministries to meet their congregation's needs. They have been successful in addressing the issue based on each church's individual needs. Willow Creek has added services to accommodate the service seekers or the un-churched. New Hope attempts to match congregation member's needs through joining auxiliaries or other ministries of the church. Willow Creek's strategy can be summed up simply in three steps Plan, Align, and Learn. This constant process signifies where each step supports the next step, yet relies on the previous to carry on. New Hope's strategy is to mentor young people into positions of ministry leadership for New Hope's future. Willow Creek faces the challenge of keeping up with the un-churched services and helping integrate the un-churched to the Willow family.
The New Salem Association of the Old Regular Baptist was established in the year of 1825 in Eastern Kentucky. The New Salem Association is still going strong today. Most associations today are a branch from the New Salem Association. There are a few Old Regular Baptist churches that are private; basically they do not belong to any association. The New Salem Association is in correspondence with several other Associations which is as followed Union, Old Indian Bottom, Sardis, Philadelphia, Northern New Salem, and Friendship.
Although the history of Haslett Community Church may not be as long and storied as other churches, it is nevertheless a rich history. The roots of our community church began to grow on March 23, 1954 when several persons met at the home of Conrad and Rose Haney to discuss the need for a new church in Haslett. An open meeting was held at the Township Hall on March 31, 1954 to plan for a church. At that meeting, forty-nine people elected a steering committee and planned for services. One month and two days later on April 25, 1954, and one week after Easter, one hundred forty five people attended the first worship service and Sunday school above the old Township Hall and fire station on the northeast corner of Haslett and Okemos Roads. For the first year or so, guest ministers provided most of the sermons. Occasionally there would be a fire call and the siren would blow, interrupting the service. This always delighted the young children.
“Mother Bethel AME Church.” Independence Hall Association, February 21, 2012, www.ushistory.org/tour/mother-bethel.htm.
LifeWay Research focuses on topics such as church leadership, theology, church practices, and ethnic issues. However, they do not limit themselves to the betterment of the Church. There is also a strong emphasis on the unchurched in their projects. They have and continue to focus on outreach, evangelism, and missions. With that being said, it is the opinion of this writer that because of the phenomenal work of LifeWay and their dependence on God, the future of the Southern Baptist Church is in good hands.
The original church was built in 1804 and was for both white men and Indians alike. The first preacher was Joseph Brady who was pastor for 17 years. It wasn't a greatly populated area but people came from miles around for the services. As the settlement grew so did the congregation and they soon built a new church on High Street in 1841. Even with the main church there were still occasional services held in the old one until is was blown down by a storm in 1866 (Hein, 957).
“Reaching Out without Dumbing Down” seems to be constructed for the church leader, elder, or pastor who is considering altering their current, historic worship style for a more modern one that may attract greater numbers of unsaved people. She provides excellent standards to help Pastors and Worship Leaders plan, execute, and evaluate worship services. These same standards provide a great opportunity to educate the church family on the reasons behind the use of certain worship elements. Although written for church leadership, the everyday church member would also benefit from understanding the very concepts that Dawn is directing at God-empowered leaders.
Spirituality was very important to the residents of Seneca Village. Three churches were built in the Village along with three cemeteries. Not much is known about the first church, the African Union Methodist Church, which is believed to be founded in 1837. It contained a school in its ba...
There was a period of religious revivalism known as "awakenings." With previously enslaved people experiencing freedom, the tasks of organizing communities, finding jobs and figuring out how to live as an American citizen came about. Blacks were no longer property. Having already gained freedom, northerners wanted to bring their black churches to the south. History with Antislavery and political activity convinced Northern black Protestants that they could play the major role of adjusting freed slaves to the American life. Between 1865 and 1900, there was growth of independent black churches in the Southern states. In the 19th century, protestant religion grew among African Americans leading to the birth of "black churches" in the U.S. Predominantly white churches, also sponsored missions to help freed slaves, opening schools and aiding the general welfare of Southern blacks. Within a decade, two churches (the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AMEZ)) acquired Southern memberships by hundreds of thousands, surpassing any other organizations. In 1894, black Baptists formed the National Baptist Convention, the largest black religious organization in the United
Friendship Baptist Church is a small, religious organization operating under the 501(c)3 Religious Non-Profit Organization as defined by the Internal Revenue Services. It was established in 1972 by Joseph Simpson. He also served as the organization’s first leader. It began with 25 initial members and over the next 43 years grew to a membership of about 126 members, during that same time span, Friendship has been led by 3 different leaders. The organizational demographic
Availability to provide assistance is essential when dealing with such a large population in need. Spirit & Truth Ministries operates Monday through Friday all year round (S&TM Pamphlet). Help & Hope operates Tuesday through Thursday each week (H&H Handout). Although a two-day difference appears insignificant at first glance, it can equate to a 104-day gap of availability to assist those who may depend on it. Additionally, each client can only collect food once a month with Help and & Hope (H&H). As stated in Help & Hope’s handout, “[a] major problem is having enough food to last through the whole month” (H&H Handout). With Spirit & Truth Ministries’ Soup
Young, D. S. (1999). Servant Leadership for Church Renewal: Sheperds By the Living Springs. Scottdale: Herald Press.
Jefferson, Charles Edward. The Minister As Shepherd. By Thomas Y Crowley Company 1912 ISBN 0875087744
After the civil war, protestant churches began to ignore the significance of emotional expression in worship. According to historian Thomas Nicole, American churches transformed into ‘dignified, rational, middle class congregations’ which limited emotional expression. In contrast, various fringe groups fought the cold formalism that had developed in American Christianity as they believed that the power of the Holy Spirit would soon move in charismatic power as prophesied in Joel 2:28-32. By 1906, great anticipation had built up in such groups located in Los Angeles as Menzies explains that several congregations held prayer meetings which cried for ‘a Pentecost’ in Los Angeles’. It appears that ministers began to represent Los Angeles as the centre, out of which a charismatic outpouring would inevitably occur. Frank Bartleman for example reported that the people of Los Angeles would soon find themselves ‘in the throes of a mighty...
In this regard, the churches in the Reynoldsburg community are receiving “the goodwill of all the people.” At current, the Reynoldsburg church is preparing to propose a shared service event (weekly meals) together with a proposal to initiate a shared Eucharist experience with the various churches in Reynoldsburg. We realize the complexity of such a proposal, but we feel that even though we are a small church, God is moving this church toward becoming influential and impactful in these