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The United Methodists at Esperanza Middle School in California, Md., have learned over the last year to do “church in a box.” It’s not always easy, but it’s always meaningful, say the more than 90 members who meet in the Middle School cafeteria each Sunday.

The group has mastered the art of packing and unpacking a hospitality station, sound and computer equipment, band instruments, an altar and 100 chairs. Each week their church in a box sits in a small trailer in someone’s driveway. On Sunday mornings, they bring church to life.

These 90 people are members of First Saints Community Church, a United Methodist church, with its main campus, of four, in Leonardtown. While practicing all the principles of a new church start, those at the California campus are really an extension of the multi-site church.

In 2012, under the leadership of the Rev. Jason Shank, several people from the Leonardtown campus of First Saints agreed to be part of the new campus. They spent a few months alerting the community of California, in southern Maryland, that a new praise and worship experience was starting. In January 2013, the new worshipping community met with 45 members. Today their numbers have more than doubled.

“In many ways we didn’t have a blueprint to guide us each step of the way. We didn’t really know what to expect. We learned as we went,” said Shank.

The faith community also trusts in and responds to the Holy Spirit. “That was a big part of it,” said Janet Smith, a lay member. “We originally set out to attract young adults but we’re getting a bit of everyone. So we welcome everyone.”

“We also don’t take discipleship lightly,” said Kate Mauck, a lay member, who praised the faith community’s small group ministry and their involvement with the school.

About 30 percent of the students at the school live below the poverty level, Mauck said. The church has responded to the needs of these students in a number of ways, including starting an on-site food pantry that the teachers can draw upon to help those children who need it.

This “focus on the outside,” and being involved in the community is one of the things that draws members to the California campus. Evangelism and outreach in the community is an intentional part of the DNA of First Saints, whose mission is to “meet people where they are and lead them to where Christ wants them to be.”

The First Saints multi-site community church started in 2005, when members of First Friendship, St. George Island and St. Paul’s United Methodist churches united to explore what ministry might be like if they joined together. In 2008, they formally implemented the multi-campus ministry concept, said the Rev. John Wunderlich, the lead pastor.

In the multi-campus set-up, resources, leadership, and gifts are all shared in one budget and administrative structure. While the conference has invested funds in the California campus to pay for Shank’s salary and get the faith community up and running, the finances, staff, vision, risks and rewards of operating the church are held in common among the membership.

In church growth, leaders in the Baltimore-Washington Conference are discovering that new birth is always easier than resurrection. In the United States, only about 17 percent of Americans attend weekly worship. However, of those seeking a relationship with a church, most are more likely to visit a new church start than a traditional congregation that has been established for many years.

Shank is finding that his members “have a heart for evangelism” and are eager to share with others the way worship and small group participation are shaping their lives.

The new worshipping community is also learning lessons that will benefit other churches that are intent on growth.

 We’ve learned it’s important to “act your age,” said Shank. “We don’t try to be all things to all people. We’re comfortable with who we are and what we do best.”

The church has also learned that “it’s not always about us. It’s about the community,” Shank said. “And probably most important, we’ve learned not to get too comfortable. We’re giving people opportunities to serve as the hands and feet of Christ. We put people first.”

New Churches benefit existing congregations

When a new faith community is launched, it is not uncommon for members of existing churches to voice concerns that the new group will “take our members.”  Both experience and studies have indicated that this almost never happens and, in fact, that existing congregations benefit in a number of ways when a new faith community is launched in their area.

• When existing congregations see new churches doing ministry in new ways, it challenges them to rethink the way they do ministry. Often, they, too, begin to try new forms of ministry to reach new people.
• New churches tend to reach groups of people who have been turned off by or thought they would be uncomfortable in more traditional churches.  Seeing them become involved in the new church can inspire existing congregations to become more “seeker sensitive.”
• The launch of a new faith community raises the visibility of the United Methodist “brand” in an area. People see something new and different and begin to talk about how “those Methodists are really doing something.”
• New faith communities inspire many people who have been unchurched or been hurt by churches previously to “give church a try.” Some of them will discover that they prefer a style of worship or community different than what is being offered by the new congregation and will find their way to an existing congregation more to their liking.
• A new church increases the “critical mass” of United Methodists in a community and makes it easier to mount mission efforts that impact the mission field.
• The presence of a new church can motivate existing congregations to join together with each other and the new church in ways that haven’t been tried.
• A new church reaching new people can help to remind everyone that more than 80 percent of the residents in our communities do not worship anywhere each week, and inspire all to greater effort to grow the Kingdom of God.

        – Andy Lunt