March 25, 2009

CHICAGO – Starting new congregations is a priority for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), but developing a congregation from scratch can be a frenzied experience.

According to the Rev. Justin A. Grimm, emotions are minute-to-minute in mission development work. "There are highs and lows that come right at you, one after another."

Grimm serves as pastor of Advent Lutheran Church, Lake Ann, Mich. Advent became a congregation of the ELCA in 2007. About 160 members, a third of them children, worship in a renovated firehouse garage. With help from the ELCA Mission Investment Fund, the congregation purchased 10 acres of land to construct a church building. The congregation plans to break ground in 2010 and move in by Easter 2011.

Grimm began his ministry shortly after ordination in 2005. "My bishop asked me if I would consider starting a new church (in Lake Ann)," said Grimm, who wasn't sold on the idea at the time. After talking to his wife and praying about it, Grimm said he soon realized that he could do it. "It's what I was trained to do."

Grimm said he began under the "old parachute drop" model, where the mission developer is dropped into the ministry area and hopes for something good to happen. He quickly assembled a leadership team, made up of an administrative assistant, a musician and an "evangelist to help with reaching out to folks," and began knocking on a lot of doors for months.

Some highs and lows were "literally back-to-back, knocking on doors, moving from one household where the family was excited about a new congregation to the next where there was no interest, maybe even a little hostility at the thought," Grimm said.

But the joys of mission development became "the many Baptisms and the way people who have never stepped foot in a church before become leaders," he said.

It's about "setting a new course, dreaming big and empowering people," he said.

The lows are the constant struggle to find the funds to do the ministry, the amount of energy and work it takes, and the number of evenings away from his family, Grimm said.

The majority of members and leaders at Advent today "are folks who would not be in church if it were not for the excitement of a new church," he said. "Many had come from bad experiences with other church communities, and some had no faith background at all. It's such a raw gift to be able to meet folks where they're at in life and walk with them on their faith journey."

"Although I didn't always like setting up chairs every week," Grimm said, "it was those moments that helped remind me and (others) that the church is not a building but people."

In 2008 the ELCA has identified 70 locations in more than 25 states to begin new congregations. Fifty-seven of those are under way – 41 as congregations under development, and 16 as synodically authorized worshiping communities. There are another 197 congregations under development that started in previous years in urban, suburban, rural and small-town settings. Of the current congregations under development, about 2 percent are American Indian/Alaska Native, 47 percent European American, 1 percent Arab/Middle Eastern, 14 percent Asian/Pacific Islander, 14 percent African/African American/Black, 19 percent Hispanic/Latino and 3 percent are multicultural. There's one prison congregation and one maritime congregation under development.

ELCA Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission (EOCM) rolled out a new plan for evangelism in 2008 that involves the ELCA's 65 synods creating mission strategies, each unique to its regional setting. Plans are designed to unite congregations in serving their communities. "We ant to help congregations reconnect or strengthen their relationships with the surrounding community," said the Rev. Stephen P. Bouman, EOCM executive director.

The Rev. Giselle Carvalho Coutinho started mission development work in 2006 at Bridge of Peace Community Church, Camden, N.J. She said Camden is the second poorest city in the country with the second highest crime rate.

"It was the intention of the ELCA New Jersey Synod to build a multicultural ministry here, reaching out to anyone who needed a church home," Coutinho said. The ministry of Bridge of Peace began eight years ago. It became an organized congregation of the ELCA 18 months ago.

What helped grow the ministry is strong, local lay leadership, Coutinho said. "We do asset mapping with our new members," she said, a process of identifying a person's gifts and cultivating those gifts for leadership responsibilities.

Coutinho also attributes the congregation's growth to its ability to engage community and society. "We have a Peace Center. We do advocacy work, counseling, provide meals and look for ways to reach out to our community," she said. "We're a ‘Reconciled in Christ' congregation, and we work to raise awareness on topics like autism and people living with disabilities."

"We are all created in God's image. We are beautiful. It's also not about what we can't do but what we can do. This is the congregation's identity," Coutinho said.

Bridge of Peace is a multiracial, multiethnic and multilingual congregation. "We worship in three languages – English, Spanish and Portuguese," she said. There are 144 members – one quarter white, another African American, a quarter Latino and another of mixed ethnic background. "We are evangelists. We include everyone."

A great challenge of the congregation is financing some of its programs, said Coutinho. The church is raising funds to hire a full-time director for the Peace Center. Despite the challenge, "we do make our benevolence. People tithe here. How many congregations can say that? We are an example of how it can be done, if you really preach and teach," she said.

"But it's not always about funds. It's about people's gifts and how gifts can be shared with one another. This is my joy," Coutinho said. "The Lutheran church is open, seeking to be a church home for the community. There is so much hope because there's always an ability to help people and share the gospel."

Information about developing new ELCA congregations is at http://tinyurl.com/cjndxj/. on the ELCA's Web site.

Information about Advent Lutheran Church is at http://www.adventlakeann.org/. and Bridge of Peace is at http://www.bridgeofpeace.com/. on the Internet.

ELCA News Service