Category Archives: Church Growth

An Unclosed Church
Standard

Posted by

Posted on

December 9, 2016

Posted under

Church Growth, Congregrational Ministries

A Church Unclosed!

An Interview with Pastor Jerry Crowley of the Harmony Church in Ellsinore, MO.

Every year an estimated 1% of the churches in the United States close their doors. This means that about 4,000 churches annually cease to exist. Many times a new church will restart in the same site but only rarely does a congregation that closed its doors unclose those doors. In spite of National trends, the Harmony General Baptist Church in rural Carter County, Missouri is now unclosed!

We asked Pastor Jerry Crowley to tell part of the Harmony Church story as we celebrate with this UnClosed church.

Harmony GB Church - Unclosed!1 . Harmony Church is an older church. can you tell us about its early history?

The church actually started on Cane Creek about two miles away from its current location in July, 1927. This is actually the third church building that has been there. To find the church from Elsinore take Highway A to County Road 354 follow it about 2 miles, go through a wet weather creek and if the creek’s not too high (occasionally we have to postpone services due to high water), you’ll drive right up to the church.

2. Harmony Church closed its doors. About how long was the church closed?

The church closed for a few months. It wasn’t closed very long. Some folks moved away and others just quit coming.

3. What motivated you and others to reopen the church?

Well this was my old home church. I just couldn’t stand to see it closed. It’s been an old-time General Baptist church for a long time. I just couldn’t see it closed. Some people went there the Sunday before we started and Josh Francis actually got started and 4 or 5 others of us came along to help.

4. The church is located in a very rural area, in a sparsely populated county. Where did you find people to reopen the church?

Continue reading →

Christmas on Sunday
Standard

Posted by

Posted on

December 8, 2016

Posted under

Church Growth, Congregrational Ministries

Christmas Is On Sunday This Year

By Franklin Dumond – Director of Congregational Ministries

It happens only infrequently in the life of the church and the professional career of the pastor but Christmas does come on Sunday once in awhile. When this happens special plans should be made to keep the spiritual impact of the season and to support the witness of the church as expressed in its worship schedule.

This infrequent event occurs once again Sunday, December 25, 2016.

Many Christian churches have established traditions for Christmas Eve services, yet only a few offer Christmas Day services. In our culture Christmas Day is a secular celebration of surprise gifts and family celebrations very distant from most religious traditions.

Across the years, as a local church pastor, I tried many approaches to Christmas on Sunday and then I found one approach that worked best.

Early in my tenure as pastor, I took the approach that Sunday was a sacred day of worship no matter if Christmas or other holidays happened to arrive on that day of the week.

My approach in those days was one of denial, something like: “If I don’t admit it is a holiday we can have ‘church’ as usual.” With a generous amount of guilt along with some promotion of the schedule I found I could gather a little less than ½ of my congregation on Christmas Day if we kept our ‘usual’ schedule.

I have since come to believe that the attitude I held then was one of “They know where the church is so there’s no excuse for not coming.” I have also come to realize that this attitude is not conducive to church growth!

A second approach I took to Christmas on Sunday was one of adjusting the morning schedule. By working with/ through the Church Council we arranged a morning fellowship 30 minutes before the morning worship service. This adjusted schedule resulted in a little more than ½ of the regular attendance on this special day.

Then the next time Christmas came on Sunday I found an approach that worked best. We arranged and promoted two options for Christmas Worship. The first option was a Christmas Eve Service. The second was a Christmas Day Service. By offering these two options I found about ½ of the congregation came on Saturday evening and about ½ came on Sunday morning so that our combined attendance was the ‘usual’ number. With two options family and church celebrations were balanced and everyone felt good about the holiday being both a religious and a family celebration.

To fully reap the benefits of this approach the Christmas Eve Service must become more than the Candlelight Communion so often offered then. When elements of morning worship like special music, the Advent Wreath, tithes and offerings, Christmas sermon, etc. are combined with Christmas Eve communion a meaningful service of worship is offered for the church family and for the community.

Christmas worship on Sunday morning may need a bit different schedule. Perhaps the church that offers multiple services will offer “One Grand Celebration” or perhaps Christmas worship will be scheduled at the Sunday School hour to accommodate family gatherings at midday.

By finding a schedule that will work and by effectively communicating it to the church family and to the community, Christmas worship can be a celebration with a large crowd rather than the depressed assembling of a few faithful saints.

SantaNow about the guy in the red suit coming to church on Christmas…

  1. If he does come, let him come to the fellowship hall or to a location outside the building and make sure he comes after, not during, worship celebrations. Remember Jesus is the Reason for the Season.

  2. If he comes on Christmas weekend have him come after the Christmas Eve Service in the fellowship hall or on the church lawn. Let him go back to the North Pole for Christmas Day!

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

November 24, 2016

Posted under

Church Growth, International Missions, Jamaica

Heavenly Highway Church History, Growth, and Vision

By Rev. Phillip Pusey

To God be the glory for the things He has done. The power and presence of the Lord has always been clear at Heavenly Highway.

The history of the Heavenly Highway General Baptist church is one that is rich and changing. Its history dates back to the time of Reverend Albert Russell and his wife, First Lady Louise Russell, in the year 1965. Initially the church started out with a small congregation. The physical structure was that of wooden walls with a thatch roof and small board benches. Rev. Russell lived on the church grounds with his wife. He was a skilled baker who specialized in baking spice buns, ginger bulla and ‘kuup kuup’. These he sold from time to time by a place called Pen Gate in the community. The community people gave him their support.

Heavenly Highway Church buildingHowever, as time passed on, a transition was made and Reverend Lloyd Hall was sent to continue on the foundation that was laid by Rev. Russell. Rev. Hall with the help of his wife, First Lady Donna Hall, Deacon Wendell Ford, sister Gloria Campbell secretary and sister Sonia Mignott treasurer, the church was led into another phase. Mention must also be made of the involvement of the missionaries such as Brother John Hibbs, his wife, and Brother Terry Howser as well as other missionaries from America that were pivotal in further establishing and assisting this denomination here in Jamaica.

The ministry continued to build and grow, and its membership grew from the thirties to the sixties. The church was also re-roofed courtesy of Brother Terry and his team. This was a huge blessing for which the congregants were extremely grateful and appreciative. As time advanced Rev. Hall was called upon to pastor another General Baptist church and so he handed over the reins to Rev. Phillip Pusey.

Rev. Phillip Pusey and First Lady Sis. Pusey were given the mandate to lead Heavenly Highway into the 21st century. Rev. Pusey’s first stint began in the year 2003 as Minister Pusey, when he was under the tutelage of Rev. Hall. Then in the year 2006 he became the pastor of Heavenly Highway General Baptist. They took over when the church was in transition mode from having a pastor of over twenty years and when the world itself was shifting from the nineteenth century into a new dispensation-the 21st century. As they embarked on their new responsibilities they sought to build on the foundation that was laid spiritually, numerically, structurally and socially. Continue reading →