| |
Feature Article: Fall 03 |
| |
|
| |
Ministry from
the ground up
The Reading Church crosses the street |
Children’s ministry has been key to the church’s
mission. Left to right: Matthew and Jeremy Feliciano, and
Tyree Young
|
|
| |
By Melodie M.
Davis |
 |
| |
When you look for answers about what it means to
be a missional church and how to lead in that direction, the conversation
is likely to go like this:
Question: How do you define missional?
Answer: You can’t pin it down, exactly.
Question: How do church leaders get church
members to own and participate in a missional vision and ministry?
Answer: It is not something you can direct
or lead, exactly.
While no single person or church has all the answers, South Seventh
Street Mennonite Church in Reading, Pa., is one congregation exploring
what it means to be engaged in the community that surrounds their
church building. They are a church that jumps in and does something,
rather than processing something "to death."
South Seventh began as an urban children’s mission in the 1930s,
with dedicated Mennonites driving 30 or more minutes from eastern
Lancaster County to minister in Reading. Over the past twenty years
it has successfully transitioned to being a church where most members
live in the city.
Steven Good remembers the earlier era. He has attended South Seventh
Street since he was a young child in the early 1960s, when his parents
commuted to church from Martindale, 20 miles away, at least three
times at week, never missing a service. "I think my dad was a
deacon for the Reading churches at the time," Steve recalls.
Eventually the family moved to Reading because his father "felt
a call to be closer to the church work." Steve is now a licensed
deacon himself.
Through the years the church has focused on programs for the many
children who are in the community—children wanting attention
and friendship through a strong Sunday school program, vacation Bible
school, Venture Club, and youth group. In August 2002, South Seventh
joined with a United Methodist day camp program to sponsor their first
multi-racial day camp for children in their area of Reading.
Meaningful relationships at the heart
For congregational leaders struggling with how to infuse missional
vision, South Seventh Street member Grace Weber points to an answer.
"All of us in this congregation have this real desire to connect
and to build relationships—meaningful relationships. I think
that’s why we’re here and why we’re reaching out."
Grace then counts off the kinds of employment people in the congregation
have, illustrating the driving forces present in the congregation:
"We have teachers, social workers, counselors—all people-oriented.
We’re used to relating to people." She feels this spills
over into wanting to do that as a church community, too.
So how do you foster such an environment? Tom Hoover, who with his
wife, Sally, serves as bi-vocational co-pastor of this congregation
of about 50 members, says that South Seventh Street’s change
from a mission station to a community church means that the community
"is employment, it is where you live. So the roots of your life
as a church extend out into other areas as well. Your children go
to the school that your neighbors’ kids do. You’re here
not just to be a church but to live your whole life."
Tom notes that about five years ago the congregation did a self-evaluation
which resulted in a summary of strengths and weaknesses, and also
a list of suggestions for how the church could address the weaknesses,
and build on the strengths. They also began more intentional planning
and worked on a rudimentary vision statement, "but we don’t
feel like we are by any stretch finished with that," Tom says.
The congregation is now striving for a balance between internal group
life and outreach. "We had small groups discuss personal vision
for the congregation, what they desire for themselves, and what their
heart cries are," said Tom. They also conducted a neighborhood
survey that revealed what people thought of the church in general
and why people attend or don’t attend church. The polling provided
useful learnings, such as the fact that most people in their community
aren’t even up on Sunday morning at the hour that South Seventh
Street has worship.
Tabitha McClary has worked in the children’s ministries and agrees
that much of South Seventh’s impetus for ministry emerges from
the passions of its members. Her own dream is that they might start
a service in the evening, since mornings are not inviting for city
people, "Building relationships with people outside of the church
as well as our brothers and sisters inside of the church is every
Christian’s heart cry, or at least it is our church’s heart
cry."
Ryan Forney is now a college student but he has been going to South
Seventh since his grandmother brought him to the nursery and Sunday
school. In fifth grade he started attending on his own and a van picked
him up for church and Venture Club. "One of the reasons why I
started to go here was they really cared for me," says Ryan.
"They’ve been here when my mom and I needed things, and
when my mom died. They really just showed their love and Jesus’
love to the kids here."
"They’ve been here when my mom and I needed things, and
when my mom died. They really just showed their love and Jesus’
love to the kids here."—Ryan Forney
South Seventh has learned to tap the gifts of all—including younger
members—says Ryan, who was invited to preach a sermon on spiritual
gifts. "Through the different spiritual gifts that our congregation
possesses," Ryan says, "we hear God’s voice.".
Finding vision as you go
For Jeanette Christophel, the drive to be involved comes from the
way she was brought up: "Church work was just our way of life.
It was natural to want to go into some kind of ministry, which is
why I ended up going with Mennonite Central Committee to Central America."
She finds her work at South Seventh a natural extension of the work
she was able to do with MCC.
Jeannette says that South Seventh hasn’t had a concerted philosophy
or strong mission statement. "It’s something we’re
working on—goals and things, but, it’s more that you live
here, you get to know your neighbors, you interact with the people
around you at work or at school or whatever. It happens more naturally."
Carol Good says that though the congregation’s vision is not
yet clearly set out, "We’re here to be light and to be salt,
to help people, and hopefully they can come to know God. There are
so many needs with all the drugs, crime, broken homes and families."
Sally Hoover, associate pastor, claims that South Seventh really doesn’t
even have a missions committee as such. "We’ve been to vision
seminars and all that stuff and everyone in vision seminars asks,
‘Where does vision come from? Is it something that comes from
the congregation? Is it something that God kind of lightening-bolts
upon you?’"
Sally answers that they feel vision for God’s mission happens
as they engage in the few ministries they do well. "When you
experience something that is effective and it makes connections with
people, it gives you enough courage to take another step."
When the idea of a day camp came up, the congregation looked at the
fact that they had been successful in conducting a community Bible
school, a long trusted piece. "We asked, can we leap [from that]?
We answered, yes, we can leap, and we did."
"When you experience something that is effective and it makes
connections with people, it gives you enough courage to take another
step."—Sally Hoover
Jeannette tells how, when one member learned of the possibility of
a Day Camp partnership, the leadership did the necessary legwork and
brought the idea to the congregation for discernment rather than waiting
for a committee to be assigned.
Kevin Christophel adds, "We saw lots of kids who don’t have
a lot to do, especially in the summertime when they’re out of
school." The summer day camp in August provided a bridge between
June’s Vacation Bible School and the resumption of regular church-year
activities in the fall.
Sally adds, "We really believe that vision comes from God through
community, and it’s not something that we as leaders can necessarily
impose on people. You nurture the soil that’s already tilled
up in people’s hearts, and stir that up, and dream, and speak
to others in the congregation about those things. Their hearts are
stirred, too, and they say, yes, I’ve had those thoughts. You
act in the midst of seeking clear vision for the future."
Vision comes from God through community.. You nurture the soil that’s
already tilled up in people’s hearts, stir that up, dream, and
speak to others in the congregation about those things. They say,
‘Yes, I’ve had those thoughts.’ You act in the midst
of seeking clear vision for the future."
Some might feel that being missional means having lots of money or
resources to "do" things with. In this regard, South Seventh
Street is stretched pretty thin. Steve Good reflects, "Sometimes
we look at larger congregations and wish we had some of what they
have as far as resources, or wish that some other congregations would
catch the vision for city mission." South Seventh Street is able
to do what it does because most of the adults are passionately committed
and fully embrace the multiple hats of ministry they wear.
Living into the future
Both the leadership and the members at South Seventh see many ways
to grow in the future. Steve expresses the desire for the church to
be even more diverse in racial/ethnic make up: "We’re still
predominately white, but we do have some African American and Hispanic
persons in our congregation."
As co-pastor, Tom hopes the church keeps doing the sort of hands-on
things that the church has always done, but adding a component of
community development. He feels it is important to focus on welcoming
younger single adults and families into the congregation as kingdom
co-workers, and being more relevant to their urban community’s
children and youth as they move into adulthood.
South Seventh members know that being missional is an ongoing journey
of discerning the movement of the Spirit of God in their time and
place. As they explore meaningful ways to make a lasting difference
in the lives of people in their neighborhood, they also realize they
need to attend to the healing and wholeness of themselves as individuals
and as a congregation. When this balance is maintained, the whole
ministry of the whole church will flow outward to their neighbors
across the street and around the world in the name of Jesus. |
|