c. 2006 Religion News Service
PLANO, Texas _ Holding a paint roller in one hand and steadying a ladder for another volunteer with the other, Heather Merchant joined 15 fellow members of a local megachurch in helping a widow turn her house back into more of a home.
Merchant and others in her “life group” at Fellowship Bible Church North spent a recent Saturday putting their faith in action, a call that’s being answered throughout Merchant’s church, which draws about 3,200 people each weekend.
Asked what she likes about the megachurch experience, Merchant listed “biblically based” teaching, youth programs for her kids, and fellowship with her small group. But the church’s focus on community outreach, for her, is also key.
Merchant’s church is one of an increasing number of “externally focused” megachurches that experts say are shifting their focus outward to the local community, beyond the massive crowds that walk through their doors each weekend.
“I think the church really does have a heart for reaching out to the community and seeing the need to make bridges to the community,” said Merchant, 51, a city environmental education supervisor dressed in a T-shirt.
“We aren’t just to be isolated and comfortable where we are.”
Dave Travis, executive vice president of Leadership Network, a Dallas-based church consulting group, said there’s been a shift in the last decade, with megachurches getting more involved with the people who live around them, not just those who worship in them.
A recent study by his office and scholars from Hartford Seminary in Connecticut found that about half of churches with weekly attendance of 2,000 or more said they partnered with other churches in the past five years on a local community service project.
“Where a megachurch does choose to engage, they tend to have a very large ministry,” said Travis, whose organization fosters innovation among church leaders. “They don’t do many things halfway.”
Eric Swanson, co-author of “The Externally Focused Church,” said he meets periodically with staffers from Fellowship Bible Church North and other churches to help them determine how they can have a “transformational effect” in their local areas.
“I think many along the way are figuring out that it’s not just about size, but it’s about impact,” Swanson, of Colorado, said of megachurches. “I think many of them are looking for ways really to be blessings to their community that God’s placed them in.”
Fellowship Bible Church North uses a flowchart to keep track of which church leaders direct different aspects of the congregation’s CSI (Community Service Impact) ministry, including work with a local food pantry, a children’s medical clinic and a crisis pregnancy center.
Traditionally, the church’s main mission focus was internationally oriented, but about 31/2 years ago its leaders decided to ramp up its local efforts.
“While we had individuals in our church doing nice things in the community, we didn’t have a coordinated strategy to try to mobilize more volunteers,” said Jim McGuire, director of the CSI ministry.
McGuire sported a black CSI cap as the crew of volunteers from his church repainted Gladys Serrano’s house with cream-colored paint, sealed cracks in the walls and retiled a shower, removing the results of water damage.
“This is a blessing,” said Serrano, who manages a beauty supply store by day and does janitorial work by night. She has lived with water damage for several years because she was unable to afford repairs to her roof that was damaged by hailstorms. “This is a miracle for me.”
McGuire’s church learned of Serrano’s plight from a 150-member church in her neighborhood. The pastor, who aids the larger megachurch in finding people in need of assistance, contacted its outreach leaders after receiving a prayer request from her. In turn, the megachurch worked with other volunteers connected to Rebuilding Together, a Washington-based organization, to help refurbish her house.
McGuire said linking with a much smaller congregation allows members of his church, who live in middle- and upper-income areas of the city, to help those with fewer resources.
“Our whole strategy here is if you can catch people on that last rung of the economic ladder before they fall off into homelessness and drug addiction and alcoholism,” he said, “if we as churches could come and just kind of help them back up a rung or two on that ladder, the long-term cost is minimal to what it’s going to be once they get into homelessness.”
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Without fanfare, McGuire dropped off a $1,000 check from his church at the local God’s Food Pantry on the same day that he and the team continued their work from the previous weekend on the widow’s house.
Some of the same “life group” members who spent the recent Saturday painting the house had previously helped install plant beds in a community garden where vegetables would be grown for a local food bank. In the past, some had repaired cars for single mothers. Upcoming projects include a plan to collect fans for low-income families without air conditioning during the hot summer.
Steve Clark, 48, who climbed onto Serrano’s roof and leaned over its edge to paint the eaves of her house, said the community-related ministry fits his belief in doing rather than talking.
“Talk is cheap and always will be,” he said. “So I have always believed that if you see the leper and you say, `Be healed,’ that’s all right but if you go and help the leper … that makes more sense.”
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That philosophy permeates the megachurch, which is housed in a beige brick building behind a Target store just north of Dallas. A flier distributed at the church’s weekly services mentions opportunities to help a local domestic violence shelter and a resale boutique that benefits the shelter. In the lounge off the sanctuary that serves three different flavors of coffee between services, a mural includes photos of past outreach activities. “Make an impact: Discover your divine design and how you can make a difference in our church, community and world,” the mural reads.
The Rev. George Mason, pastor of a Dallas church that draws about 1,300 each weekend, said megachurches historically have tended to focus more on saving souls than serving their neighbors.
“You have to balance and do both the Great Commission, which they do extremely well, with the great commandment, which is … love God and your neighbor as yourself,” said the pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church, referring to biblical mandates to evangelize and be charitable.
He credits California megachurch pastor Rick Warren with changing some mind-sets by directing attention to AIDS and Africa’s poor after writing his best-selling “The Purpose Driven Life” book series.
Bishop T.D. Jakes, whose Potter’s House megachurch is in Dallas, said people may incorrectly judge megachurches by what they see of them on television.
“The misconception is that people think that all you do is what you do on TV,” said Jakes, who worked with other megachurches to help Hurricane Katrina survivors, and whose ministry also has been active in Africa. “Most churches grow because they have outreach.”
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Glen Brechner, adult ministry pastor at Fellowship Bible, said $450,000 _ almost a 10th of the church’s $5 million budget _ goes to global and local outreach. He estimates that about $150,000 is invested locally.
“We really feel like we have a responsibility to our community, not just talking about the love of God but demonstrating the love of God to other people,” he said.
At Serrano’s house, church member Roger Holland, drill in hand, said he feels like he’s living out ministry when he helps people in Plano.
“It makes me feel that Christianity is a faith of action,” said the 51-year-old manager for defense contractor Raytheon Co. “We’re called to ministry throughout the community, not just grow ourselves but extend the blessings that Christ has given us.”
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Editors: To obtain photos of Holland, Merchant, McGuire and Serrano, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.
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