California Pacific Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church - New Ministries EMT "Toluca Lake and Normal Heights: New Ministries News (May 20, 2015)" for Wednesday, 27 May 2015
Do Something New - New Ministries Cal-Pac
Welcome to our New Ministries Newsletter! Here we hope you'll find inspiration in the stories of new and revitalizing churches, people and places to hold in your prayers, and exciting opportunities to learn how to do new things with God.[The New Ministries Essential Ministries Team]
New Faith Communities:
Toluca Lake
Launching a new ministry in Toluca Lakedepended on one part serendipity and two parts good DNA. Hollywood United Methodist Church’s efforts to reach young, progressive, “mildly churched” households was growing its community so much, the leadership had started looking for expansion sites, Rev. Kathy Cooper-Ledesma said. But nothing seemed the right fit...
Spotlight on New Ministry: Toluca Lake
Rev. Kathy Cooper-Ledesma blesses a dog outside Toluca Lake UMC
Launching a new ministry in Toluca Lake depended on one part serendipity and two parts good DNA. Hollywood United Methodist Church’s efforts to reach young, progressive, “mildly churched” households was growing its community so much, the leadership had started looking for expansion sites, Rev. Kathy Cooper-Ledesma says. But nothing seemed the right fit – until the California-Pacific Annual Conference approached Hollywood about planting a new ministry at the previously closed Toluca Lake.
When that happened, says Cooper-Ledesma, now in her 9th year as Senior Pastor at Hollywood, the next steps fell into place. She applied for a new ministries grant, engaged a coach, gathered a lead team and hired a worship leader. Gathering the launch team, now numbering seven, was easy thanks to Hollywood’s DNA, she says.
“We’ve got a group of people who really believe in the mission, who believe there are people out there just waiting to hear about the love of God in a new way,” Cooper-Ledesma says.
The Toluca Lake launch team worked two years to research the new ministry and get to know the community through events like the CicLAVia, where 20-22 volunteers gave out water bottles at their stop in front of the Out of the Closet AIDS benefit thrift shop. They planned, practiced, and previewed everything needed to launch weekly worship on February 8.
Weekly worship at 5 p.m. Sundays in Toluca Lake now averages 45 people. Of those attending each week, 25 percent are new.
Cooper-Ledesma preaches the same sermon in the evening at Toluca Lake as she does in the morning at Hollywood, but the two campuses look and feel completely different. The mother congregation is a gothic beauty in the heart of Hollywood right behind the Dolby Theater, which hosts the Academy Awards. Pipe organ, choir and hymns lead worship there. The Toluca Lake campus 4 miles away sits in a bedroom community just north of Universal Studios near no other Protestant churches. The pulpit was full of termites when the launch team acquired the little white steeple structure that played a cameo role in the movie Ed Wood. They replaced pews with chairs and added carpet to create a comfy space for a less formal worship led by a piano and guitar band.
Members of the band at Toluca Lake lead worship
Toluca Lake is also a community where people love to walk to church, so the leadership team plans to soon extend the interior hospitality to the exterior grounds by installing benches and water bowls. “Walking dogs is huge in Toluca Lake,” Cooper-Ledesma says. Further out on the horizon, in 1-2 years, Toluca Lake wants to expand the current childcare to a more robust children’s programming. They also hope to add a ½-time campus pastor or seminary intern.
“Right now, what we are doing is working,” Cooper-Ledesma says, “but we’re always open to how the Spirit moves.”
The amount of work it took to get launched surprised everyone on the team. But one thing surprised Cooper-Ledesma even more.
“I spent a lot of time being apprehensive because it’s just so new,” she says. “But there’s also so much joy. I wish I would have known to anticipate joy.”
Read more...
Growing In Vitality:
Normal Heights
Before a single pew moved, the first sign of revitalization at Normal Heights United Methodist Church appeared outside the sanctuary: babies played with bright balls and toys while their grown-ups chatted on the floor of what used to be a formal church parlor.
Spotlight on Revitalization: Normal Heights UMC
May 19, 2015 — California Pacific Conference, Community Organizer, Normal Heights, revitalization, San Diego
Worship in the round at Normal Heights UMC
Before a single pew moved, the first sign of revitalization at Normal Heights United Methodist Church appeared outside the sanctuary: babies played with bright balls and toys while their grown-ups chatted on the floor of what used to be a formal church parlor.
Playgroups started meeting in the renovated playroom thanks to a crucial year of groundwork laid by community organizer Nancy Palmer. Palmer, pastor Brent Ross and other church leaders learned during that preparatory year that family ministry needed to be central to their vision of revitalizing Normal Heights as a neighborhood church.
Ross points out that young parents struggle with a poverty of spirit, and Normal Heights’ neighborhood included a significant population of people parenting children under age five. “These are tough years,” Ross says. “So, how can we be church for them in these years?”
Little people and their grown-ups talk and play in the former church library now remade into a playroom.
The playgroup became one answer. Another was to open the church building in the summer so people could use the restrooms and the water fountain.
The church sits shouting distance from two elementary schools, a middle school and a preschool. A park draws people of all ages directly across the street. A community center buzzes with activity on one side of the church, and a recreation center draws people for sports and other fun on the other.
“It’s the most ideal place for a church I’ve ever seen,” Ross says.
Ross’s vision of the church becoming as integral to its neighborhood as the surrounding small businesses and schools is not just a missional dream; it’s also a logistical necessity. Normal Heights UMC owns no parking lot. How did the land-locked 100-year-old sanctuary go from sheltering 20-30 people on a Sunday to welcoming 170 this past Easter? It took a daring move by the annual conference and a lot of partnership.
Ross had started a new worshipping community, Sacred Ordinary, while working as an associate pastor in San Diego. When the larger church found itself no longer able to fund his associate position, the California-Pacific Annual Conference then attempted a congregational transplant: It moved Ross and Sacred Ordinary to Normal Heights, where a very small elderly congregation still owned a half city block in the middle of a young, creative and largely immigrant community.
On April 13, 2014, the revitalized congregation moved the pews into a round that better reflects its community mission. As Normal Heights approached the 1st anniversary of that move at Easter this year, 170 people worshipped in those pews. The revitalization looks like a success.
But the transformation took months of preparation and partnership. And it hasn’t been perfect.
“We didn’t get the opportunity to do as much groundwork as we should have,” Ross says. When 150 people showed up on his first Sunday, “it was shocking to the existing congregation.” The congregation also missed some opportunities during key summer months while it was still trying to clarify its identity.
Of the 50 or so members who originally came from San Diego to help get the Normal Heights revitalization off the ground, a number have begun returning to their original church. Ross sees that as “a sign we’ve got our feet under us.” About 70 people now worship on an average Sunday at Normal Heights; 50 people is the new low.
Worship in the round at Normal Heights UMC
In addition to its open-door policy during summer months, the church lends unused space within the walls to the staff of another church without their own building. Ross’ investment in community relationships also goes beyond the church walls. He knows the owners of the local coffee bar and trades stories with them about entreprenuerial ups and downs. With a main road lined by 90 percent small businesses, Ross says, Normal Heights is a community that understands how hard it is to start something new.
“I think it took a lot of courage for the Bishop, the Cabinet and the District Planning and Strategy team to take a chance on this very different sort of revitalization,” Ross says. “Moving a younger community into a church… that’s hard, that’s hard on everybody. I’m not even sure it’s a model that should be replicated. But I’m really grateful that they valued this church and this community enough to try it. Had they not done that, we would have lost two churches, I think.”
A third congregation’s partnership in the revitalization made it possible. Neighboring First United Methodist Church of San Diego initially helped fund the 30-hour-a-week community organizer position, together with the San Diego District and Planning Committee and Normal Heights UMC. In subsequent years, the District and Normal Heights UMC provided the salary. Having that person with one foot in the church and one foot in the community was crucial.
“If it was up to me, I’d have a community person on staff at any church,” Ross says. “It pays huge dividends.”
Normal Heights UMC’s Nancy Palmer in action, signing people up for news about the revitalized congregation’s community events.
New Ministries Gallery
God is Doing New Things in Cal-Pac!
Messy Church is a multi-generation worship gathering that meets monthly.
Trailhead an introduction to doing new ministries - was hosted at Redondo Beach First UMC, Nov 2014.
Paso Robles Ministries is becoming Paso Robles UMC! This ministry is moving from a storefront to church property in Paso Robles. Congrats to them and we join in praying for them at this exciting crossroads!
People We Are Pulling For...
This year, five churches from the South District - San Luis Rey Valley, Murrieta, Vista, Trinity, & Pacific Beach - are taking part in the pilot year of Readiness360+. R360+ is a 15-month process to move churches into greater vitality through focusing on the four vitality drivers...
Resources...
Launchpad is coming! Are you planting a new faith community? Cal-Pac will host this yearly Western Jurisdictional opportunity for church planting teams. Find out more!
Discipleship Huddles make disciples who make disciples. New Huddles will be forming following Conference. Read more here.
Discipleship Huddle
A disciple is a learner, an apprentice, in the way of Jesus. Following Jesus is what the life of faith is all about.
This gathering will give you a handle on several simple and profound tools that will deepen your faith.
You will also learn how to start your own church-based Huddle.
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Registration Required
Two Sessions (pick one) – Both offered Mondays starting April 13, 2015 on Google Hangout (Computer based, live video).
2015 Dates: 4/13/2015, 4/27/2015, 5/11/2015, 5/18/2015, 6/1/2015, 6/8/2015, 6/22/2015
Huddle 1: 9:00am-10:30am
Huddle 1: 4:00pm-5:30pm
Commitment: Weekly attendance (cannot miss more than 2 sessions)
Questions: Rev. Nicole Reilley - nreilley@calpacumc.org
Huddle 1 (9:00 AM - 10:30 AM)
This Discipleship huddle meets 4/13, 4/27, 5/11, 5/18, 6/1, 6/8 and 6/22 in a Google Hangout. More information will be provided before the huddle begins.
FREE
Quantity:
Huddle 1 (4:00 PM - 5:30 PM)
This Discipleship huddle meets 4/13, 4/27, 5/11, 5/18, 6/1, 6/8 and 6/22 in a Google Hangout. More information will be provided before the huddle begins.
FREE
Quantity:
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CONTACT
Rev. Nicole Reilley
Director of New Ministries
nreilley@calpacumc.org
(626) 568-7353
RELATED EVENTS
From the New Ministries EMT:
Find Out More
Would you like to find out more or participate in New Ministries? We love to share with churches, talk with individuals and meet with people who will pray and support new ministries or serve on our New Ministries Essential Ministry Team. Contact Us!
Thank you,
Rev Nicole Reilley, Director of New Ministries
The California-Pacific Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church · 110 South Euclid Avenue
Pasadena, California091101 · United States
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