October 25, 2004
By Steve Smith

DALLAS (UMNS) - For Mario Martinez, 13, the only church he has ever known for the past five years is the two-bedroom apartment transformed each Sunday into a sanctuary, nursery and Sunday school classroom at the complex where he lives with his family.

Lake Highlands United Methodist Church brings worship services to Mario and dozens of other residents of the complex each Sunday because most of the older residents work during traditional worship hours.

"It's time for us to get outside of our little group here and try to reach people outside the walls of our church," says the Rev. Pamela Clark, associate pastor at Lake Highlands United Methodist Church, who heads the church's off-campus ministries.

"The concept is based on the fact that there are a lot of folks that cannot or will not go to the traditional church setting because it's intimidating," she says. "Those who come to our churches in the apartments for the first time wouldn't be able to walk into a church and go through the Lord's Prayer.

"We set up a community of faith right here where people live."

For Mario, being part of that community includes helping the younger children. "Their parents might work on Sunday, or they're probably not at home, and (the children) can come to the apartment community and have a good time for at least one hour," he says.

Clark's apartment ministry, which Lake Highlands United Methodist Church started nine years ago, is one of many imaginative evangelism efforts that United Methodist churches across the country use to reach the unchurched - people who cannot attend church on Sunday mornings for various reasons - and the many ethnic groups now populating most American cities and looking for places to worship.

Lake Highlands' ministry now includes complexes in seven communities, where many "parishioners" continue to worship long after moving out. The owner, who is a Christian, donated apartments for the outreach ministry.

Clark says the apartment ministries have changed the way she views being a pastor.

"I'm able to live out my call to ministry, which isn't in a normal church setting," she says. "It's outside in the community. It's reaching people who may not be thinking what difference they would make or what difference Jesus would make in their life.

"What I have seen is a lot of broken, hurting people who are looking for something to satisfy an empty hole that they have."

Residents such as Edgar Moyo and Norman Madawo say the congregation at their apartment church is like a family where each member feels at home. Moyo, a transplant from Zimbabwe, lives next door to the church and sings its praises.

"We fellowship with each other, we share our problems, whether financially, morally, spiritually. It helps us grow as Christians," Moyo says. "We don't come here and share plastic, cosmetic smiles, but it's more about our day-to-day living, so it helps us a lot."

Moyo and Madawo help lead the worship services, where hymns are often sung in English, Spanish and native African languages common to the complex dwellers.

"To come to church is just one of the happiest things that has happened to me, and we are just so glad to have a church around the corner," Madawo says. "Here, I am part of the family. They know me by my first name, they come to my house."

For more information, go to the church's Web site, http://www.lhumc.com/, send an e-mail to pclark@lhumc.com or call (214) 348-6600

United Methodist News Service
Steve Smith is a freelance writer in Dallas. This story is based on a script by producer Lisa Hampshire for UMTV.