\nGrowth in this little church seemed impossible. The First Christian Church\nin Albany, Kentucky, was started by sixteen people in 1834. Descendants from\ntwo of the original families are still members. The original church building\nwas destroyed by fire on March 20, 1926. The congregation, broke and in despair,\nmade their own bricks, built a new church, and moved in it November 6, 1927.\nToday that same building is in use.<\/p>\n\n
\nThe church suffered a split in the late 1950s. By the late 1980s, attendance\nhad dropped to an average of twenty. The Sunday school was in the low teens.\nThe youth program had two members (a 12-year-old girl and a 5-week-old boy).\nMost members were retired.<\/p>\n\n
\nThis small church is located in a non-growth town. Albany (pop.: 2,500) is\nin south central Kentucky. While the scenery is breathtakingly beautiful,\nthere is little industry in the county, and unemployment runs high. The nearest\nmedium-size city is fifty-five miles away. Almost all our young people leave\ntown when they graduate from Clinton County High School.<\/p>\n\n
\nI asked church members how long it had been since the last family moved into\nthe area, and no one could remember. This church was only two or three funerals\naway from closing.<\/p>\n\n
\nMy assessment of this church’s potential, however, needed to factor in the\npower of the Spirit of God. That power touched the small group of mostly\nsenior citizens left in the Albany church. They decided enough is enough.\nThey decided to grow.<\/p>\n\n
\nOurs is not a rags-to-riches story of church growth. It is a story of a small\nchurch that struggled to stay alive under the leadership of a new but aged\npastor who should have been thinking about retiring instead of leading a\nsmall church in a no-growth town.<\/p>\n\n
\nIn our first four years of effort, we added fifty-seven members. We keep\nstruggling to maintain our growth, hoping and praying for just one more new\nmember. They keep coming from somewhere. It’s not a mad rush, but growth\nis steady. Sunday worship attendance is now in the fifties rather than at\ntwenty. There are twenty youth active today, rather than two. The congregation\npurchased a new Allen organ and new choir robes. An old garage next to the\nchurch was purchased, and renovation is planned to connect it to the church\nbuilding.<\/p>\n\n
\nFor what they’re worth, I’d like to pass along the simple ideas that put\nour church into action and broke the bonds that held us back.<\/p>\n\n
\nThree weeks after I arrived, I was looking through some old church files\nwhen I found some old record books. I read that “Raccoon” John Smith, one\nof the founding fathers of our denomination, preached in this church. He\nand fifteen others founded the church. His grandson helped make the Communion\ntable and pulpit, which are still used every Sunday.<\/p>\n\n
\nI could not believe this great church, a house of worship and a community\nlandmark since 1834, was so close to closing its doors. Yet I wasn’t sure\nI had the energy to lead the people in a church growth program, or sure the\ncongregation was up to it.<\/p>\n\n
\nIt just doesn’t seem right that this church should close its doors,<\/em>\nI thought. If it is closed, who will have the dubious honor? Me? One of\nthe relatives of the founders?<\/em><\/p>\n \nThrough an afternoon of tears and prayer, I came up with the sermon I needed.\nThat Sunday I preached on, “Who’s going to turn off the lights in The First\nChristian Church?”<\/p>\n\n \nDuring the sermon, I read this statement from the display case downstairs:\n“From the beginning it was a church of vision, a church that tried and succeeded\nin living out the gospel as Jesus set forth. They lived through some of the\ntoughest times in American history. They survived. Their flames may have\nflickered as the winds of the Civil War blew around them, but the light remained\nbright, and has continued to burn.”<\/p>\n\n \nThen I said, “We will not say to our children, ‘The last one out, blow out\nthe lamp and sell the building. It’s all over.’ Let us never let that happen.\nInstead, let us say to them, ‘Take this lamp and handle it well, because\nit will light your way as it has for those before you.’ Let history record\nthese words, ‘In 1989, a small group of servants known as The First Christian\nChurch in Albany, Kentucky, fought back. Because of them, the flame of the\nlamp glows brighter than ever!’ “<\/p>\n\n \nWhen we sang the hymn of commitment, “O Jesus, I Have Promised to Serve Thee\nto the End,” nine people came forward, saying, “We shall never close this\nchurch.” The first to come forward were the descendants of our founders.<\/p>\n\n \nIt was in the church’s history that we found hope for the future.<\/p>\n\n \nMost small congregations feel threatened by growth. They may lose their identity:\n“Do we want these new people coming in here and taking over?” Or they fear,\n“If we grow, I may have to give more money and do more work.” And some people\nare just opposed to change. Change is difficult for many, and we do what\nwe can not to hurt them, but we still must build Christ’s church.<\/p>\n\n \nI tried to help people see the reality if they didn’t<\/em> grow. I told\npeople, “Don’t be afraid to become involved in church growth! Instead, be\nafraid of a declining church. Church growth is a lot more fun than turning\noff the lights in your church.”<\/p>\n\n \nI’ve used a modern retelling of Luke 5:17-20 to encourage people, “Be like\nthe four friends who brought their neighbor on a stretcher to Jesus.” I tried\nto help people see the positive motivation for church growth-to bring others\nto have an encounter with Christ. This has become our theme.<\/p>\n\n \nBefore growth can occur, you must have prospects, and you cannot get prospects\nif you don’t have a friendly and receptive church. Visitors who come to a\ncold, unfriendly church are not likely to return.<\/p>\n\n \nMost small churches are quick to tell you, “Why, we’re the friendliest little\nchurch in town.” Most really are friendly to their own members, but in truth,\nthey often ignore the lonely visitor. They’re so busy being neighborly to\ntheir neighbor, they pay no attention to others. For some reason, many small\nchurch members are afraid they are going to bother the guests.<\/p>\n\n \nTo break the ice, we began having people greet others during worship. Following\nthe opening hymn, I say, “Would you please remain standing and greet those\naround you, especially our guests.”<\/p>\n\n \nThe first Sunday I tried this, people looked at one another, and no one moved.\nI then stepped down from the pulpit and greeted two people in the second\nrow (my mother-in-law and father-in-law, who were visiting with us).<\/p>\n\n \nThe next Sunday I again asked people to greet each other, especially guests.\nMy wife, Linda, greeted someone, and then two choir members and two from\nthe congregation joined in, and we were off and running. Now people look\nforward to this time of greeting.<\/p>\n\n \nI’ve also learned that if you don’t have a record of your visitors, you can’t\nfollow up your best church-growth possibility. Many small churches use a\nguest register, which is a great idea for funerals and weddings but a total\nfailure in churches. I know how beautiful the gold-lettered guest book is,\nand it was given in memory of Aunt Ada, but many guests walk past the register\nand never see it. Those who do sign it usually list just their name and city.<\/p>\n\n \nWe began having deacons or ushers pass out visitor cards, along with pencils,\nduring the time of welcome. The cards give our guests’ full address, ages\nof children, and more.<\/p>\n\n \nWe follow up with what we call “pie evangelism”—taking a pie, cake, cookies,\nor home-baked bread to the person. We don’t, though, let the person who baked\nthe pie take it to the prospect.<\/p>\n\n \nThe delivery people say, “Hi, we’re John and Kathy from First Christian Church.\nWe just wanted to stop by and tell you how happy we are to have you visit\nour church. We keep saying we’re the friendliest church in the world, and\nto prove it, we brought you a delicious apple pie.” People say thank you,\nand then our delivery people have their opening. They say, “I’m just the\ndelivery person. Mrs. So-and-so baked this pie for you. I’ll be happy to\npoint her out to you this Sunday.” That way, the prospect meets two church\nmembers rather than one.<\/p>\n\n \nFor us, this has been the best way to reach prospects who visit our church\nmore than once. And it has helped us to build friendliness, which is the\nfoundation for growth.<\/p>\n\n \nAnytime you have a crowd in a small-town church, it’s a big deal. It gives\nyou a positive appearance in the community.<\/p>\n\n \nOne event that helped us was Friend Day. We used the program from Church\nGrowth Institute (800-553-GROW). At first, I had my doubts about the program,\nbut that one day (and the follow up) did more for our growth than any single\nevent.<\/p>\n\n \nA committee of our best workers met every Monday night for eight weeks, prior\nto the target day of April 1. After the first meeting, I announced to the\ncongregation we were going to have a Friend Day on April 1. They all smiled;\nthey had heard this kind of thing before. The next week, I said that our\ngoal for Friend Day was ninety people. One lady said, “You’ll never get ninety\npeople in here.” I agreed with her that we should change the goal; we made\nit 110.<\/p>\n\n \nThen, every Sunday I began to read letters from the town’s VIPs—the mayor,\ncounty judge, school principal, and bank vice-president—who were accepting\ninvitations to Friend Day. The program began to gain credibility. On that\nSunday, after having twenty-nine people Sunday after Sunday for nine months,\n151 showed up! We followed up Friend Day by making seven contacts with each\nprospect within seven days.<\/p>\n\n \nMost people don’t feel comfortable evangelizing their neighbors. I’m often\ntold, “Pastor, he’s my neighbor, and he’s definitely not interested in being\na member of our church.”<\/p>\n\n \nSo we have tried to relieve that pressure by teaching people how to bring\ntheir neighbor to an encounter with Christ.<\/p>\n\n \nWe tell people: “Bring people you know. You will be most effective in reaching\nyour mother, father, brother, sister, son, daughter, cousin, co-worker, or\nfriend. No one in the world can reach this group as well as you.”<\/p>\n\n \nThe process takes time. We have found that it takes an average of thirteen\nmonths for a visitor to unite with our church. These old foothills people\nare slow about making commitments.<\/p>\n\n \nThen we teach people to ask a simple but specific question: “Do you attend\nany particular church on a regular basis?” The last four words are key. We\ndon’t ask, “Do you belong to a church?” or “Do you go to church anywhere?”\nMost people belong to some church, even if they haven’t attended in the past\nforty years. When a person responds, “On a regular basis? No, we don’t attend\nchurch very much,” you can talk about your church.<\/p>\n\n \nOn my first Sunday evening service at First Christian Church, I asked our\ncongregation, “What changes do you want to see in this church?”<\/p>\n\n \nThe majority said, “We want a lot of young people.”<\/p>\n \nI then asked, “Who will work with them?”<\/p>\n\n \nThe excitement came to a crashing end. No one, including the preacher, wanted\nto take on the role as youth leader. I had served a large church as minister\nof music and youth, but that was twenty-two years ago, and there’s a great\ndifference in being a 36-year-old youth worker and being a 58-year-old youth\nworker.<\/p>\n\n \nI finally realized, Our problem is not a lack of leadership. Our real\nproblem is finding young people.<\/em><\/p>\n \nThere is one sure way to get young people: take them on a trip. Albany is\nabout five hours from the beautiful Smoky Mountains, so we decided to hold\na youth retreat in the Smokies. I’m still not sure where they came from,\nbut we found six teenagers for our retreat. Following the retreat, all six\nwere baptized and received into the church.<\/p>\n\n \nIn addition, we added a children’s sermon in the worship service. Parents\ngo to a church where their children are happiest.<\/p>\n\n \nReaching young people has been our most difficult task. But over time, things\nhave happened. We now have youth activities, three children’s Sunday school\nclasses, and a nursery.<\/p>\n\n \nA well-prepared organist truly lifts the spirit of the worship. Yet so often,\nwe try to get by with a person who can’t play, and the music program is stuck\nuntil he or she is replaced.<\/p>\n\n \nWe often continue to use incompetent musicians because of relationships.\n“Aunt Ada has played for us for sixty-five years. She was good enough for\nus in the past when nobody else would help us, why not now? She would never\nthink of charging us to play. Now you want to spend all this money by paying\nan outsider when we could continue using Aunt Ada for free.”<\/p>\n\n \nAunt Ada has been a dedicated servant to her church music program, and we\nneed more like her. And a servant should never be hurt and made to feel unwanted.\nStill, sometimes a pianist or organist is simply not musically or physically\nable to continue.<\/p>\n\n \nHiring a pianist could solve the problem. Use organ and piano together. Select\nchoral music that will challenge the older musician to work harder. One of\ntwo things will happen, and both are good. The extra practicing will make\nher a better musician, or she will decide it’s time to retire. If she makes\nthat decision, host a church-wide retirement dinner in her honor. Award her\nwith a certificate of appreciation and a nice gift. If she has played free\nfor many years, the church owes her a great debt of gratitude.<\/p>\n\n \nHere are some ways to make a small choir sound great:<\/p>\n\n \n—Start singing simple unison music, if need be.<\/p>\n\n \n—Hold a music school to teach people who can’t read music. This could be\nheld immediately following choir rehearsal for about six weeks.<\/p>\n\n \n—When the music calls for a soprano solo, and you don’t have a soloist,\nuse all the sopranos, or all the women, to sing it.<\/p>\n\n \n—Select music that employs a big sound. It’s easier to sing out on “Onward\nChristian Soldiers” than on “Nearer My God to Thee.”<\/p>\n\n \nOur growth committees are diverse: some people in their eighties, some in\ntheir fifties, and a few younger. But all are dedicated to one goal: “Bringing\nothers to have an encounter with Christ.” Although some people are opposed\nto change, almost everyone has enjoyed seeing our church come alive and grow-even\nthose who might have originally been opposed to it. An unusual thing has\nhappened in our community: even people from other churches are enthusiastic\nabout our growth. The talk around Albany is, “First Christian is really on\nthe move.” That gave our people a lift. It’s a pretty encouraging statement\nfor a small church in a no-growth town.<\/p>\n\n Charles L. Yarborough recently retired as minister of First Christian Church in Albany, Kentucky. <\/p>\n Adapted by permission from Jump Starting the Small Church by C. L. Yarborough, 104 Church Street, Hookerton, NC 28538.<\/p>\n \n 1996 by Christianity Today\/LEADERSHIP journal<\/p>\nBuild friendliness<\/h2>
Hold special events<\/h2>
Teach members how to reach neighbors<\/h2>
Minister to young people<\/h2>
Improve the music<\/h2>
Motivation for growth<\/h2>