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Melissa Lauber
UMConnection Staff

'If you knew you could not fail, what would you do for God?'

It?s not a new question, said the Rev. JoAnne Alexander, but it has opened unusual doors for discipleship at Oakland UMC in Charles Town, W.Va.

The church?s most recent off-beat activity is a restaurant -- Paul?s -- which opened in the church in March. More than 140 people have lined up for the Friday night fish fry, and diners trickle in steadily for lunch and dinner during the five days each week the restaurant is open.

Paul?s also offers carryout service from its comprehensive menu, and Alexander imagines parents picking up dinner on their way home from work and being able to settle in around the kitchen table with their families for a meal together.

The community is made up of about 70 percent commuters to Washington, D.C., but it doesn?t have many restaurants,' Alexander said. Within the next decade, she imagines, Paul?s will expand to include a full-size commercial kitchen and a dining room that seats 70 in the church?s new building/community center.

Iwayan Rata, a well-known area chef and lay leader of the church, manages Paul?s, which he foresees growing to become a type of training academy for area youth interested in learning about food services.

Meeting the needs of the community is the focal point of the congregation.

'We?re not playing. This has got to be real,' said the Rev. Kent Tice, co-pastor of Oakland UMC and Alexander?s husband. 'If it?s genuine, we?ll be making a difference in the community. We?re not going to play at being church.'

Five years ago, Alexander said, the church received a compass for its vision when it went to city and county leaders and asked for an assessment of what the community most needed.

The leaders responded that there was a need for a place for people to eat and for large community groups to gather, as well as before and after-school care for children, ball fields for sports and assisted-living facilities for seniors.

Last fall, the church started Upwards Sports League. A hundred children signed up for football and cheerleading. One-third of them attended Oakland UMC, one-third went to other churches and one-third were unchurched.

This spring 100 children have signed up for soccer.

With a campaign of imaginative partnerships, the church recently purchased land for $5.4 million on which they intend to build a sports complex with soccer, football and baseball fields, bleachers and a concession stand.

They?ve also met with representatives from a retirement community to study the land and the community, and plans are in the making for an assisted-living facility to serve 70 seniors.

'Hospitality is what we are about. We want to take the fear out of church,' said Alexander. 'I ask myself, ?What can we do to reach secular people? How can they come into contact with the church? How do we bring the community here??'

Every aspect of the church, including the architecture, is designed to offer a sense of comfort and welcome to the unchurched. There?s no steeple in sight on the church that looks more like a community center. The narthex is laid out like an upscale hotel lobby, with an information desk and huge fireplace.

There are no pews. The 250 worshippers sit in large white comfy chairs for the contemporary worship service.

It?s actually biblical. The apostle Paul recommends being all things to all people, so that the work of the people glorifies God, Alexander said. 'It?s the same thing here.'

Glorifying God and adding to God?s kingdom is 'absolutely the point,' said Tice.

Ten years ago a small, traditional, declining congregation wanted to ensure that its children and its children?s children would have a church they could love. So, the congregation took a risk and moved down the road, beyond what was comfortable. 'They realized a church can?t stay in the same place. You move forward or you decline,' Tice said.

Choosing to move forward, they adopted the sentiment that nothing is impossible. The church?s role, Tice explained, is to help people discover their passion and then provide the structure and resources so that passion can be transformed into ministry.

When people join Oakland UMC and want to become involved, they are led through a series of five classes that teach them about spiritual disciplines, identifying their gifts and teaching them about leadership.

Alexander also conducts an interview with them to discuss the results of Myers-Briggs tests and other kinds of personality and gifts inventories. That?s when she asks them the question: 'If you knew you couldn?t fail, what would you do for God?

'We believe in dreams around here. We also believe in action. We work with what God has put in our hands,' Alexander said. 'You shoot for the stars. You never know, you might just hit something.'