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Friends United Meeting |
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October 1998
Revitalizationa Pressing Need
By Mary Glenn Hadley
Membership down by 11% in the last five years: this was the stark fact that faced me after my first five years as a staff person at FUM. I tried to discover why this downward trend was so prevalent. I studied materials on church growth. I read from well-known authors who were more knowledgeable on a broader scope of the church in North America. I talked to our Commission members and was puzzled at the apparent lack of concern. I spent much time seeking God's direction for Friends. I wasn't so much concerned that we become mega churches. My concern was that Jesus expected the body of Christ to carry on His ministry throughout the world. Were we being faithful? Were we available to reach the lives of those who had not encountered Christ personally? Were we allowing the values of the world to dictate the direction of the church and were they leading us into contentment, quietude and maintaining our tradition? Where was God at work among us? Were we joining God at that place?
I was invited to lead a session with Xenia Friends in Ohio to help them do some serious thinking about what God was calling them to be as a church. I wanted to see what happened when a meeting seriously created a timeline of the significant events, both positive and negative, from the present to as far back as they could remember. From that, I hoped we could develop "meaning statements" that would describe the meeting and from which the group would get both a sense of the good things they wanted to project for the future and what they would hope to change to meet new goals they felt called to.
As we began the process, people carefully skirted a very difficult situation they had just gone through. I sensed God's nudgings to refrain from asking about it; it was important for them to bring it upit couldn't come from me. So we kept going back in time. Somewhere along the way, they had experienced a very serious split. When I asked what happened after the split, they recalled that their Sunday School had grown to over 400 and they had to build the present meetinghouse. We moved back in time and they told the story of another split. About that time, one of the women quietly said, "Perhaps we should talk about the crisis we are facing right now." How important it was for them to talk about the difficult time they were experiencing.
When the meaning statements were put on the blackboard, several important observations were made. The comment that stayed with me the longest was that those statements could be said of any club. That began a serious search to identify goals that were closely aligned to their understanding of where God was leading them as a faith community.
A year later, I was invited back to see how they were doing. When we began, I simply asked, "What's different now from a year ago?" One said she enjoyed coming to committee meetings because they had a purpose and direction. Another said that worship had taken on a deeper experience as more people shared meaningful messages during the open worship. As Friends shared, over the next hour or so, I thanked God in my heart for the way this meeting was finding new vitality.
Several meetings provided opportunity for me to listen and learn of their yearning to be more vital. Some anticipated the need to close their doors within a few years. Others had plateaued and thought there should be more. Some were at a standstill because of conflicts and difficulties. Still others were in the process of a pastoral search and hoped they could get better handles on what skills the pastor could bring to help them move forward.
The Revitalization Program emerged out of these experiences. It was designed to help a meeting look at itself realistically, to set some goals, to discover the spiritual gifts available within the meeting, to equip leaders for change, to find how to become "user-friendly" and to discover God's calling for ministry outside the church walls.
I would go to each meeting with high expectations that I would find a sincere group, willing to try new ventures that would energize them into vital faith communities. I was unprepared for some of the reactions. Some hoped that they would be "fixed" just by going through this process, and it would be done. A few didn't want to accept the findings from the questionnaires in which individuals were able to say what they felt about their meeting. Others were enthusiastic until they realized that they might have to make changes to accomplish their goals. Some resented the biblical teachings because they smacked of unfamiliar or "too spiritual" matters. Still, several utilized the experience to take a hard look at themselves and make the decision to be intentional both about the ministry they were offering to those within the meeting and to impact the community with the gospel message.
Have the many hours of study for each meeting been worth it? Has it made a significant difference to the meetings that participated? That has been hard to assess. Often there would be steps to be taken before the church could begin to address its goals. Factors other than the Revitalization Program could impact the faith community.
As the years slipped by, I began to hear comments such as this one from Motor Friends, a very rural meeting in Iowa. While participating in the Revitalization Program, they discussed that they hadn't started a new ministry since 1920. Today they are a vital, active meeting that is attracting an increasing number of young families. They remark that it began when they did the Revitalization Program.
Friends of Corinth Meeting in North Carolina look back over the five years since they utilized the program. They are a small rural meeting and care a lot about keeping up their meetinghouse and grounds. At the time, however, one member commented that if they didn't do something their chances for survival were slim. They thoughtfully identified quality of life goals and made genuine efforts to meet them. Little by little they have seen results. Developing a statement of purpose was an important step for them. One year out from the program they recognized that some members showed a deeper commitment to Christ and the meeting. Monthly breakfasts sponsored by the Sunday School began to attract new attendees. By two years out, they had sponsored a couple to work in Bible School ministry in Jamaica. They saw God at work in the miracle of life and recovery of one of their members. By 1996, they had experienced a deepening in their spiritual life-prayer held a much more dominant place in their life together. Attendance picked up as they were more intentional about visitation. They commented in their annual Spiritual Condition Report that they could feel an excitement at Corinth Friends. By 1997, four years after going through the program, they reported a 24% increase in worship and Sunday School attendance. The average age of attendees had dropped as they involved younger families. Leaders emerged for various projects. Today they see spiritual growth which they credit, in part, to an increased focus on Bible studies and prayer. Along with that has been a noticeable commitment expressed through increased offerings for both local and foreign ministries. They refer with appreciation to the way the Revitalization Program gave them tools to help them move forward. They continue to be available to God for touching lives in their area.
Mooresville Friends in Western Yearly Meeting participated in the program just two years ago. They comment that visits with key leaders in the community such as the police, superintendent of schools and town government led to hands-on ministries. Now they are not only supplying food to their local food pantry, but people from the church regularly give time to help with the distribution. They have made some significant changes at their facility to make their facility more user friendly, including a new nursery, a handicapped-accessible rest room, improved signage both inside and outside the church. Just this year 215 gathered to celebrate their 175th anniversary. They credit the information gained during the FUM Revitalization Program as a vital factor in that success. They hope that some of this enthusiasm will translate into renewed hope for the future of their meeting.
I have been experimenting with a less structured approach: perhaps meetings should determine when they were ready for the different parts of the program. Recently, Liberty Friends in Indiana Yearly Meeting went at their own speed in looking at their meeting and setting goals. Later they chose to host a Prayer Seminar out of which they became more purposeful as they strive to blend two meetings into one.
Today Friends United Meeting offers a variety of seminars or workshops through its Revitalization Toolkit (see box). The six-hour seminar on Becoming a House of Prayer has been the most requested. Several meetings indicate that this has been a turning point for them.
Have we stopped the decline in membership? Not really. Perhaps more meetings would benefit from the Revitalization Toolkit offerings. The 11% rate of decline during the first five years of my tenure with Friends United Meeting has dropped only by 1%we have declined 10% in the last five years. Membership figures are the only hard numbers provided by all North America yearly meetings within Friends United Meeting. For those yearly meetings that also provide attendance, 1985-1990 showed a slight increase, but there has been a continuous decline since then.
We are concerned that our meetings be places where people experience
the transforming power of God's love in their lives and where their faith
is matured. Then we can trust God to gather others to join in, continuing
to expand God's purposes and plans.
Mary Glenn Hadley is Friends United Meeting's associate secretary for Meeting Ministries.
Copyright (c) 1998 Friends United Meeting
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