Wednesday, August 26, 2015
The Church That Wouldn’t Die by Faith Fowler
Detroit is almost surgically separated into east and west by Woodward Avenue. Woodward stretches northwest from the Detroit River downtown all the way up through the suburbs until it dead-ends in Pontiac.
Both sides of Detroit have been plagued with church closings during the last 40 years. Some of the congregations have merged and others have moved, but far too many have simply ceased to exist. The buildings are sold or sit empty. This is not to say that all the churches in Detroit have disappeared. There are a good number of vital ministries, including hundreds of storefront churches and a handful of thriving cathedrals, but church closings have played a part in the deterioration of the neighborhoods. Read more…The Church That Wouldn’t Die by Faith Fowler
Both sides of Detroit have been plagued with church closings during the last 40 years. Some of the congregations have merged and others have moved, but far too many have simply ceased to exist. The buildings are sold or sit empty. This is not to say that all the churches in Detroit have disappeared. There are a good number of vital ministries, including hundreds of storefront churches and a handful of thriving cathedrals, but church closings have played a part in the deterioration of the neighborhoods. Read more…The Church That Wouldn’t Die by Faith Fowler
Detroit is almost surgically separated into east and west by Woodward Avenue. Woodward stretches northwest from the Detroit River downtown all the way up through the suburbs until it dead-ends in Pontiac.
Both sides of Detroit have been plagued with church closings during the last 40 years. Some of the congregations have merged and others have moved, but far too many have simply ceased to exist. The buildings are sold or sit empty. This is not to say that all the churches in Detroit have disappeared. There are a good number of vital ministries, including hundreds of storefront churches and a handful of thriving cathedrals, but church closings have played a part in the deterioration of the neighborhoods. Like removing tent stakes from the ground, without an adequate number of the anchors, a canvas structure or a local community collapses in on itself.
Sixty United Methodist city churches are gone. St. Mark’s was eliminated in 1972, but unlike the closed churches, Richard wouldn’t let it die. Who was Richard? An experienced clergy person? A lifetime pillar member? A wealthy benefactor? A community organizer? An area activist? No, Richard Kwiatkowski was the custodian at the eastside church.
Because he was the janitor, many were tempted to dismiss him. Without exception, Richard wore a military-style buzz cut, horn-rimmed glasses, and a pressed button-down shirt with cigarettes in the chest pocket. He generally rolled up his sleeves, exposing a Timex watch, and his shirt was always decorated with a green “Jesus Loves You” button. Richard was apt to give you a big bear hug, even if you were meeting him for the first time.
Congruent. That’s what I call people like Richard. They are the same inside and outside, identical with poor folks and affluent people. What you see is who they are all the time. Richard began befriending the men and women who started coming to St. Mark’s during the week. They lived in the adult foster care (AFC) homes surrounding the steepled church. Some were put out during the day and others voluntarily escaped. The problem was they had nowhere to go. They tended to be ignored or ridiculed and abused in the neighborhood. They were victims of crime and violence, so St. Mark’s allowed them to come in, and RichardOFFERED
them radical hospitality.
When St. Mark’s closed its doors, Richard scrambled to find an alternative site for the weekday people. For about a year they shifted to the YMCA. Then, Richard convinced the United Methodist bishop to sell him the associate pastor’s parsonage from St. Mark’s for a dollar, so it could be used as a drop-in center. The two-story house became a safe haven where adults from AFC homes enjoyed donuts, coffee with way too muchSUGAR, and cigarettes. They met there to assemble puzzles, watch television, to play cards and bingo. Five days a week, they came to the building to eat lunch and receive toiletries. A couple of hundred participants would cram themselves into the downstairs living quarters for holiday parties.
East Side Ministries, as it became known, wasn’t a church in the conventional sense. There wasn’t a pulpit. There weren’t any pews or hymnals or stained glassWINDOWS. God knows Richard never preached or took up a collection. In fact, he was always giving things away — food, clothes, magazines, bus tickets, hygiene products. When burglars constantly broke in to pilfer things, he would complain only that there was no need to steal because things were free for the taking. When Jesus told his disciples that they should surrender their coats if someone asked for their shirt and that they should walk a second mile, Richard took him literally.
The people at East Side didn’t look like churchgoers either. They didn’t arrive in “church clothes.” They came casual and comfortable. Some were clad in tattered things, and a few wore three or four layers of clothing, even in the summer. These people never came by car. They walked the blocks between their group homes and East Side. They didn’t worry about holding offices orNURSING grudges the way that some people do in traditional churches.
Still, Richard rescued the mission of St. Mark’s. He recognized that the people were at risk on the streets. The STORES and restaurants threw them out like bags of garbage. Hoodlums physically attacked them for no particular reason. Crooks robbed them of what little they possessed. Richard created a sanctuary for a couple hundred mentally ill men and women, and he nurtured their community. To be sure, there were disruptive days when someone lashed out due to paranoia, irritation, depression, hallucinations. Occasionally someone heard voices or suffered the side effects of their medication. But mainly they enjoyed a safe place to belong. The people called him Rev. Richard. He didn’t have a diploma, a robe, or a church building, but it was not lost on the people that his love was as unwavering as the green button on his shirt.
Faith Fowler is the pastor of Cass Community United Methodist Church and has served since 1994 as executive director of Cass Community Social Services (CCSS), a Detroit nonprofit agency that responds to poverty with programs for food,HEALTH CARE, housing and employment. This article is excerpted from her book This Far by Faith: Twenty Years at Cass Community (Cass Community Publishing House, 2014). It isAVAILABLE from the publisher as well as Cokesbury and Amazon
The Over-Stuffed Bulletin by Jonathan Malm
Both sides of Detroit have been plagued with church closings during the last 40 years. Some of the congregations have merged and others have moved, but far too many have simply ceased to exist. The buildings are sold or sit empty. This is not to say that all the churches in Detroit have disappeared. There are a good number of vital ministries, including hundreds of storefront churches and a handful of thriving cathedrals, but church closings have played a part in the deterioration of the neighborhoods. Like removing tent stakes from the ground, without an adequate number of the anchors, a canvas structure or a local community collapses in on itself.
Sixty United Methodist city churches are gone. St. Mark’s was eliminated in 1972, but unlike the closed churches, Richard wouldn’t let it die. Who was Richard? An experienced clergy person? A lifetime pillar member? A wealthy benefactor? A community organizer? An area activist? No, Richard Kwiatkowski was the custodian at the eastside church.
Because he was the janitor, many were tempted to dismiss him. Without exception, Richard wore a military-style buzz cut, horn-rimmed glasses, and a pressed button-down shirt with cigarettes in the chest pocket. He generally rolled up his sleeves, exposing a Timex watch, and his shirt was always decorated with a green “Jesus Loves You” button. Richard was apt to give you a big bear hug, even if you were meeting him for the first time.
Congruent. That’s what I call people like Richard. They are the same inside and outside, identical with poor folks and affluent people. What you see is who they are all the time. Richard began befriending the men and women who started coming to St. Mark’s during the week. They lived in the adult foster care (AFC) homes surrounding the steepled church. Some were put out during the day and others voluntarily escaped. The problem was they had nowhere to go. They tended to be ignored or ridiculed and abused in the neighborhood. They were victims of crime and violence, so St. Mark’s allowed them to come in, and RichardOFFERED
them radical hospitality.When St. Mark’s closed its doors, Richard scrambled to find an alternative site for the weekday people. For about a year they shifted to the YMCA. Then, Richard convinced the United Methodist bishop to sell him the associate pastor’s parsonage from St. Mark’s for a dollar, so it could be used as a drop-in center. The two-story house became a safe haven where adults from AFC homes enjoyed donuts, coffee with way too muchSUGAR
, and cigarettes. They met there to assemble puzzles, watch television, to play cards and bingo. Five days a week, they came to the building to eat lunch and receive toiletries. A couple of hundred participants would cram themselves into the downstairs living quarters for holiday parties.East Side Ministries, as it became known, wasn’t a church in the conventional sense. There wasn’t a pulpit. There weren’t any pews or hymnals or stained glassWINDOWS
. God knows Richard never preached or took up a collection. In fact, he was always giving things away — food, clothes, magazines, bus tickets, hygiene products. When burglars constantly broke in to pilfer things, he would complain only that there was no need to steal because things were free for the taking. When Jesus told his disciples that they should surrender their coats if someone asked for their shirt and that they should walk a second mile, Richard took him literally.The people at East Side didn’t look like churchgoers either. They didn’t arrive in “church clothes.” They came casual and comfortable. Some were clad in tattered things, and a few wore three or four layers of clothing, even in the summer. These people never came by car. They walked the blocks between their group homes and East Side. They didn’t worry about holding offices orNURSING
grudges the way that some people do in traditional churches.Still, Richard rescued the mission of St. Mark’s. He recognized that the people were at risk on the streets. The STORES
and restaurants threw them out like bags of garbage. Hoodlums physically attacked them for no particular reason. Crooks robbed them of what little they possessed. Richard created a sanctuary for a couple hundred mentally ill men and women, and he nurtured their community. To be sure, there were disruptive days when someone lashed out due to paranoia, irritation, depression, hallucinations. Occasionally someone heard voices or suffered the side effects of their medication. But mainly they enjoyed a safe place to belong. The people called him Rev. Richard. He didn’t have a diploma, a robe, or a church building, but it was not lost on the people that his love was as unwavering as the green button on his shirt.Faith Fowler is the pastor of Cass Community United Methodist Church and has served since 1994 as executive director of Cass Community Social Services (CCSS), a Detroit nonprofit agency that responds to poverty with programs for food,HEALTH CARE
, housing and employment. This article is excerpted from her book This Far by Faith: Twenty Years at Cass Community (Cass Community Publishing House, 2014). It isAVAILABLE from the publisher as well as Cokesbury and AmazonThe Over-Stuffed Bulletin by Jonathan Malm
Do you remember those prank peanut cans? You would buy one at a novelty store, and then give it to one of your friends. When they opened the can, a fake snake exploded out of the can and flew toward their face.
Maybe I’m remembering it more dramatically than it was, but there were a few Sundays when our church bulletin felt like a prank peanut can. There were so many inserts and announcements in the bulletin that it felt like a ticker-tape parade in the lobby. So many flyers shot out of the overstuffed bulletin that there were papers falling all over as the greeters handed them out. Read more…
The Over-Stuffed Bulletin by Jonathan MalmMaybe I’m remembering it more dramatically than it was, but there were a few Sundays when our church bulletin felt like a prank peanut can. There were so many inserts and announcements in the bulletin that it felt like a ticker-tape parade in the lobby. So many flyers shot out of the overstuffed bulletin that there were papers falling all over as the greeters handed them out. Read more…
Do you remember those prank peanut cans? You would buy one at a noveltySTORE, and then give it to one of your friends. When they opened the can, a fake snake exploded out of the can and flew toward their face.
Maybe I’m remembering it more dramatically than it was, but there were a few Sundays when our church bulletin felt like a prank peanut can. There were so many inserts and announcements in the bulletin that it felt like a ticker-tape parade in the lobby. So many flyers shot out of the overstuffed bulletin that there were papers falling all over as the greeters handed them out. Inside the sanctuary looked pretty much the same. It was obvious each of our guests and attendees had big bulletin mishaps and didn’t think it was worthy picking them up.
Besides the fact that it was a huge waste of paper and even more money, we should have been more intentional with what we wereADVERTISING to our people. Our theory was that it would be easier to let each ministry advertise whatever they wanted. It would be less drama and less work on the part of the communications team. But instead, we just made a mess.
Our regular attendees are used to thingsFALLING OUT of their bulletins. But the first-time guests are overwhelmed. Each falling paper is pressuring them to attend an event or give to a project. It’s too much.
Imagine if we loved our guests enough to make things simple for them. What if we prioritized our announcements? What if we chose the one or two things we wanted to communicate to guests and kept it to that? Do you think we would be more effective? Do you think we would get a bigger response by advertising just one event instead of ten? I guarantee you we would.
Jonathan Malm is author of Unwelcome: 50 Ways Churches Drive Away First-Time Visitors from which this article is adapted and used by permission. Published by the Center for Church Communications, the book is AVAILABLE from Amazon.
, and then give it to one of your friends. When they opened the can, a fake snake exploded out of the can and flew toward their face.Maybe I’m remembering it more dramatically than it was, but there were a few Sundays when our church bulletin felt like a prank peanut can. There were so many inserts and announcements in the bulletin that it felt like a ticker-tape parade in the lobby. So many flyers shot out of the overstuffed bulletin that there were papers falling all over as the greeters handed them out. Inside the sanctuary looked pretty much the same. It was obvious each of our guests and attendees had big bulletin mishaps and didn’t think it was worthy picking them up.
Besides the fact that it was a huge waste of paper and even more money, we should have been more intentional with what we wereADVERTISING
to our people. Our theory was that it would be easier to let each ministry advertise whatever they wanted. It would be less drama and less work on the part of the communications team. But instead, we just made a mess.Our regular attendees are used to thingsFALLING OUT
of their bulletins. But the first-time guests are overwhelmed. Each falling paper is pressuring them to attend an event or give to a project. It’s too much.Imagine if we loved our guests enough to make things simple for them. What if we prioritized our announcements? What if we chose the one or two things we wanted to communicate to guests and kept it to that? Do you think we would be more effective? Do you think we would get a bigger response by advertising just one event instead of ten? I guarantee you we would.
Jonathan Malm is author of Unwelcome: 50 Ways Churches Drive Away First-Time Visitors from which this article is adapted and used by permission. Published by the Center for Church Communications, the book is AVAILABLE
from Amazon.
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Quotable Leadership
Perhaps the biggest mistake congregations make regarding teams is a belief that a team can be established simply by calling a few people together and naming them a team.[John Wimberly, Jr.]
School’s Back In. Are You Ready for Mission?
Local schools provide many opportunities for mission within our own neighborhoods, and more and more churches support their local schools through ministries large and small. If your congregation is considering a school-focused initiative, visit “Your Local Schools as Mission” for resources that can help you take the first steps.
The Right Question
Leaders do not need answers. Leaders must have the right questions.
Robert Schnase suggests that we may be asking new participants in our churches the wrong questions. Instead of asking them on which committee they would like to serve, better questions might be:
Tell me about a ministry you have felt God calling you to fulfill.
What difference do you feel God is calling you to make?
What gifts and skills and passions do you have for ministry?
Want more Right Questions? Check out “Right Questions for Church Leaders, Volumes 1–4.”
Editors: Lovett H. Weems, Jr., and Ann A. Michel. Production: Carol Follett
Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary.
4500 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Quotable Leadership
Perhaps the biggest mistake congregations make regarding teams is a belief that a team can be established simply by calling a few people together and naming them a team.[John Wimberly, Jr.]
School’s Back In. Are You Ready for Mission?
Local schools provide many opportunities for mission within our own neighborhoods, and more and more churches support their local schools through ministries large and small. If your congregation is considering a school-focused initiative, visit “Your Local Schools as Mission” for resources that can help you take the first steps.
The Right Question
Leaders do not need answers. Leaders must have the right questions.
Robert Schnase suggests that we may be asking new participants in our churches the wrong questions. Instead of asking them on which committee they would like to serve, better questions might be:
Tell me about a ministry you have felt God calling you to fulfill.
What difference do you feel God is calling you to make?
What gifts and skills and passions do you have for ministry?
Want more Right Questions? Check out “Right Questions for Church Leaders, Volumes 1–4.”
Editors: Lovett H. Weems, Jr., and Ann A. Michel. Production: Carol Follett
Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary.
4500 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20016 United States
lewiscenter@wesleyseminary.edu
Lewis Center for Church Leadership
Lewis Center for Church Leadership
Wesley Theological Seminary
4500 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20016 United States
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