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BY LINDA WORTHINGTON
UMCONNECTION STAFF

Without a partnership between clergy and laity, 'fruitfulness just doesn?t happen,' the Rev. Tom Berlin told the participants in a day-long seminar on 'The Fruitful Congregation,' at Wesley Seminary Sept. 23.

Berlin has experience to back up his words. He has served churches of every size, he said, and for the past nine years his average worship attendance at Floris UMC in Herndon, Va., has grown from around 300 to about 900.

Using an image of an apple orchard from his native Winchester, Va., Berlin led the audience of about 60 people, including more than a dozen Baltimore-Washington clergy and lay people, to understand fruitfulness. From the first chapter of Genesis to the final verses of Revelation, the Bible abounds with images of fruitfulness, he said.

A healthy, fruitful congregation has five characteristics, he said. They are: worship, growth, service, giving and sharing.

The fruitful congregation starts with consistently attended and vital worship. Growth is within, through members developing a deeper sense of prayer, in relationship to other believers, and in Bible study.

'Everyone should be connected to the poor,' Berlin said as he spoke of service. And everyone?s gifts should be put to use.

Members have 'a longing to be good stewards,' he said of the characteristic of giving. It took him quite a few years to realize his own concerns for money, he said, until he and church members became involved in a mission in Sierra Leone, where they raised over $100,000 to support an orphanage, when they were seeking $25,000. 'I?m in recovery of worshiping money,' he said.

'When the Holy Spirit works in our church, we?ll tell others,' Berlin said of the fifth characteristic, sharing.

A fruitful church practices all five of these, or comparable characteristics. They are similar to the five essential elements of the Discipleship Adventure.

To move towards fruitfulness, Berlin listed five steps:
? Become of one mind and mission.
? Use the pulpit as the helm of the church, to steer it towards the goals and mission.
? Set a standard for new members: 'Please leave your old church culture at the door, you?re in the new church culture,' he tells them.
? Find the next big thing in church. What adventures are you creating in your church?
? Invest in your pastor, staff and key leaders. The best money you?ll spend is in continuing education, he said. 'It?s excellent stewardship.'

Attendees took two of six workshops during the day, each led by professionals in the field. The morning workshops included 'Reaching out to people beyond the church,' led by the Rev. Scott Kisker; 'Music as ministry and mission,' led by Eileen Guenther; and 'Stewardship ? encouraging faithful generosity,' led by the Rev. Lovett Weems, who also led the afternoon plenary on 'Assessing the Fruits of Ministry.'

'Churches focus on who we are and what we do,' Weems said, 'but we don?t focus on what we accomplish.' To move toward fruitfulness we need to focus on outcomes, not just inputs, he said.

Steering the group to thinking about accomplishment as a measure of fruitfulness, he said the two most important words are 'so that,' and led the group in an exercise to understand how using 'so that' language changes one?s view. Fill out this sentence, he said: We have worship on Sunday so that ...'

The afternoon workshops included 'Making every ministry a prayer ministry,' with the Rev. Young Bong Kim; 'Small churches: Building self esteem for transformation,' led by the Rev. Lewis Parks; and 'Communications strategies for fruitful ministry,' led by Ann A. Michel.

'The Fruitful Congregation' was sponsored by the Lewis Center for Church Leadership. See www.churchleadership.com.