by Billy Lewis | Gary Memorial UM Church Council President
Anthropologist Margaret Mead famously pronounced that we should “never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed individuals can change the world, indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Some say to me “We only have 12 active members. What can we do?” Well, we can change the world, that’s what. Remember, Jesus and His disciples was a small group of 13. They certainly changed the world and so can we. And who doesn’t want to change the world, right!
Many tend to define our church by the number of congregants we can attract to our building; or how much is in the collection plate each Sunday. Those are certainly real-world considerations but are they the reason for our existence?
Just for a moment, let’s suppose we look to Jesus as our example. Jesus occasionally drew large crowds but most of his time was spent ministering to 12-20 people and often to just 3 people. We all seem to believe that our ministry needs to take place within our building. Well, 99% of Jesus’ ministry took place outside the walls of the temple. He went where the people were and His teaching was focused on helping people build a stronger relationship with God and with each other.
The Peninsula-Delaware Conference/Baltimore-Washington Conference Vital Pathways Newsletter says one of the traits of a vital church is that they listen to the broader community; realign their mission; and repurpose their resources for the greater good.
Let’s suppose we all pray mightily and trust in God. I’m certainly not suggesting that we forget about the budget and throw all caution to the wind. Budget concerns will always be with us. That just comes with the turf. I’m suggesting that Gary Memorial UMC thoroughly re-evaluate our ministry approach and our worth to our community.
We need to ask ourselves…
- Why would someone want to become a member of our church community?
- What has our little church on a lonely hill in Patapsco Park done for our community lately?
- What is our community?
- Just who are our neighbors?
- Who/What are we?
- Are we faithfully fulfilling God’s plan for our church?
Once these and other questions are answered in an honest and straightforward manner, we will be ready and able to move forward.
Perhaps the next step for us is to look at our grandchildren. What decisions can we make now to help our church serve them better. We all talk about needing younger members. Have you looked at the kids today? My teenage grandchildren never go anywhere without their cell phone. My granddaughter is a social media queen. My grandson is the king of on-line gaming. Do you recognize your grandchildren here too?
My point is simple… If GMUMC is to be more relevant to the youth of our community, we must all become more familiar with the Internet, social media, and all things electronic. We have already begun broadcasting our services on Google. The first weekend in October, 21 folks watched our church service on the Internet. In the grand scheme of things, that’s not a very big number. But it’s a promising start and we are working to upgrade our Internet activities to greatly expand that number. Once we are ministering to more and more folks; we will provide electronic giving opportunities for those watching on-line. Then we will work to get our on-line audience more involved in our ministries and, hopefully, draw them into the church itself.
We all remain aware that our most recent new members have come from those who were visiting the Park; saw the church and stopped by on Sunday. So, we cannot abandon our activities to draw members from the surrounding park and nearby neighborhoods.
Finally, Covid has had a dramatic effect on all churches. We will be working to reconnect with those who have not returned to church. They are valuable. Some have not returned because of physical and/or medical issues. We will encourage them to participate on-line. All are valuable in God’s eye and in ours too.
I welcome your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions on anything in this article.
My email address is SingTenor@comcast.net and my cell phone number is 443-745-5576.