In 2001, I was called to pastor at Altona United Church. The church had grown in the late 1980s, but had begun a decline with an aging and graying population?and no replacements in the nursery! The congregation were afraid they soon would not be able to support a full-time minister's salary.
The church has a unique history. In 1952, six years after the end of World War II, a group of young Mennonite servicemen returned to their home in Altona to find that they were no longer welcome within the Mennonite churches in which they had grown up unless they were willing to apologize for their efforts in the war. These young men, along with some people whose contemporary lifestyle did not fit with the Mennonite denomination, decided that they would form a new United Church. In 1953 the Altona United Church was born.
When I arrived in 2001, there were many challenges ahead. I saw many elderly folks in the pews, and a small, aging choir. They did not accurately reflect the demographics of the community, since Altona does have a large publishing plant, an oil seeds manufacturing plant, and much industry within the area. Where there is employment, there are young people.
The church had moved to a council system in 1987, but committee membership had remained static since that time. The "power centres" of the church now consisted of people in their late 40's and early 50's whose children had grown up and moved away. There was one committee called "Fellowship and Outreach" which did have wonderful representation from all age groups, and this committee made a point of finding a youth representative, a senior representative, and representatives from young families. It appeared to have the most energy and the most effective ministry in the church.
I felt the first place for change was in worship. I overhauled their heavy order of service, which included reading the creed every Sunday, and reams and reams of written material. I freed myself from the pulpit, and use a clip-on mike. I only gown on Communion Sundays.
One member of the Worship Committee asked if we could find easier music for the children, since the hymns in the hymnal just did not cut it! I agreed. I have always used choruses with the children in worship, and so we turned immediately to contemporary Christian pieces from our curriculum and from other sources. We had one drummer in our congregation, and I went searching for some guitarists. We eventually got a praise and worship band together that consists of people of varying ages, from 16 to 50 years. We have drummers (including someone who plays the jimbwe), bass and acoustic guitarists, soloists, and a sax player.
At first, I decided to blend our music styles?have the band play for the first two songs, and then choose two hymns for the end of the service. Some people thought it worked well, but it left the choir looking silly, gowned and sitting in the choir pews behind the minister for the whole service. Presently, we decided to blend our worship in a different way, with the choir leading music for two Sundays per month, the praise band playing once a month, and then either the praise band playing again or different instrumentalists leading us musically. The choir now gowns only when the minister gowns, and I vest only for communion services. We recently had a young woman in her 20's join the choir, because, as she said, "without their gowns, they didn't look like a closed group. They looked like a group I could join."
Moving Out From Music
I spend much time on the music ministry because music is such an effective tool for evangelism. I was so tired of hearing that the young people whom I had mentored for years in the rural area had entered into non-denominational churches in the city, and when asking them why they hadn't tried a United Church in Winnipeg, the response was always the same: "The music is so bad!"
My next step was to overhaul the committees and open them up to some of the newer people who have entered the church. We now have fairly effective representation on each of the committees from newer and older members and adherents. Each of the committees has set up terms for their involvement that largely correspond with the board's term for membership.
We also realized that while we had an excellent Sunday School program, we had no mid-week groups for our young people, and were losing them to other churches in the area. We began a mid-week group for Grades 3-6 that I lead with a young man who is new to our church. A Senior Youth Group was begun by two young men and one young woman who are also fairly new to our church. We have yet to establish a Junior Youth Group, but I'm hoping that leadership will come in time.
I have many ideas for the future. I would like to put each member of our congregation into a "care group". We have begun some small groups that are leading to others. I began a book club when I first arrived, since there seemed to be no interest in Bible study. Now that group is looking at beginning their own faith issues study group. If you are looking to establish small groups in your church, always seek to find something that will be non-threatening, and know that it will lead to something else.
Growth
We now have 21 new families in our church in the past two years, many of them young people with children. Others are singles in their 20's.
It has not been without pain and tears. Some of the power brokers (that baby boomer group) have stayed away because they don't like seeing the changes. I remember Bill Easum and Tom Bandy writing that if you are going to make change expect to lose 20% of your old guard, but in the long run those changes will keep your church alive.
One of our "power brokers" told me that we shouldn't be listening to our newer families because "they don't pay the bills!" True, but some day they will pay those bills, and so better to make the changes than to let people go somewhere else.
I believe that what is working for us is recognizing our heritage and founding principles. In a small community with 15 Christian churches, and most of them either Mennonite or very evangelical, we needed to emphasize that we have something unique to offer. We offer inclusiveness. We offer the Gospel in a very welcoming way. We have welcomed people who live common-law, people who have had children prior to marriage, divorced, and re-married people, and all kinds of other unique variations of family that haven't found a place in the other churches. In effect, we have come full circle, since we are still the only non-Mennonite church in the community, and we have continued to make "inclusion" our most significant Christian principle. We have learned from the other churches that music is a key to reaching the next generation, and we share much contemporary Christian music in common.
If you are seeking to make changes in your church, look to your story and what makes your church unique and special. Build on that story, and then do expect that with change comes heart-ache and some losses, but those losses can build a more vibrant faith community.
Rev. Lesley Calder is minister of Altona United Church in Manitoba and will
shortly complete the Doctor of Ministry program at St. Stephen's College, Edmonton.
Congregational Life Newsletter Vol. 10 No. 1 October 2003