Rev Dragt began his story of transforming churches by saying that all of us have a story in our lives.  There are people and mentors who have had an effect on all of our lives.

Then he began the story of his career as a minister.  His first church was in Somerville New Jersey. It was there he learned the following

 

•       Justice is important as is reaching out to the community

•       A minister should have passion and compassion

•       Worship should be a celebration and have energy

•       Churches should not be mono cultural

•       Always add programs. Programs that don't succeed can be allowed to die a natural death, but shouldn't be just cut.  New people will come in to run these programs and bring a new vision

 

Chapel Hill, NC, was his next church.  It is a liberal town in the south.  In fact Jessie Helms said the state could have saved a lot of money, by instead of building a zoo, they should have put a fence around Chapel Hill.”

 

Middle Collegiate church.  When he came to the church, it was floundering.  The previous minister had been there 40 years and let the place run down hill and the congregation leave.  Then they had an interim minister who stayed for seven years and a minister who sued the church when he left.  He gave the search committee a guarantee that he would transform the church in five years or he would leave.  There were then 27 members 24 over the age of 70.  He had no idea how he was going to do this but he got the job.

 

Then he told of the Biblical Stories that shaped his ministry.

The Great Banquet

• It means inclusion – hospitality
• Exclusion (of anyone) is wrong
• Welcoming people is the doctrine
• His church holds a “Celebrate Life:” Banquet for people with Aides

 

The Good Samaritan

• Disregarding people because they are different is wrong
• This means assisting, helping and welcoming of people regardless of who they are.

 

Sarah and Abraham

• They are the senior citizens of the bible
• Should honor them

 

The Christmas Story

• It is hard to celebrate Christmas without the arts
• This story means we need to focus on creativity in people
• God calls us all the time to do the impossible
• Each of us can contribute to the church in our own way to express our religious convictions with either music, dance or the arts.

 

Creation Story

• God was having fun when he created the earth
• After everything He did He was well pleased.

 

Other Ideas that he used in his Church

 

People need to have an “important Experience” with each other.  You need to get to know people who are different from you before you can judge them in any way.

 

You need to “Pay the Rent” by which he means you need to build trust in yourself as a minister and your program before you can make drastic changes.

 

You need to rescue the church from being boring.  This means you need to vary the program to keep people on their toes.

 

He uses the arts in his worship services as a backbone of his worship services.  This includes dance and puppet shows as well as music

 

He breaks all the traditional rules of church growth, which say that you should establish a church of like-minded people.  His church is just the opposite and the revel in their diversity.  This is done by use of the arts.

 

Rules for transforming a church

 

• If you keep doing what you have been doing you will keep getting what you have already been getting.  It is easy to return to what is familiar to you, it is harder to transform a church and do something different.

 

• You should avoid wasting time and energy going after members who have left the church

 

• You should spend time opening doors and starting new programs.  Members will come in because of these new programs.

 

The Transforming Process takes three to five years

• It takes 5-7 years before buds begin to appear
• In 7-10 years blossoms begin to bloom
• In 10-18 years growth begins to take place

 

Welcoming Church  (All Churches have welcome signs, but do they mean it?)

What do the following groups see in your church when they come?

• African Americans
• Is the church all White?
• Is there an African American as paid staff?
• Are there African Americans on the Board(s)
• Is the music Euro centric?
• Is the worship inviting?
• Gays an Lesbians
• Do the similar questions apply to them?
• Women
• Is the inclusive language?

 

In other words, EVERYTHING must change for a church to be a welcoming church.  When this happens the church blossoms.

 

Worship as Celebration

• He believes worship is a celebration not a service.  Most worship services are boring which does not invite the age group 20-40.
• Every Sunday is a little Easter.
• He tries to defeat the boredom principal by using the arts

 

Music – his church has five choirs

o      Classical and Traditional choir has 15 people with trained voices

o      Gospel Choir has 65 voices, is multicultural and lead by and African American Director

o      Jazz choir

o      Techno choir (Youth)

o      Children's. Choir

 

 

Important Principals

 

Church Growth and community Outreach must be connected.

• Every Church should have one or two major outreach programs in the community
• This make the church visible

 

A church need to have a regular order of worships that is familiar to the Congregation.

• He uses a traditional order of worship
• Within this order you can do different thing but the order is familiar
• The order must flow well have a beginning and an end.

 

Leadership is important

• Churches rarely grow beyond the help of the minister and key leaders.
• Need to get people in leadership roles who can complement your diffinecies

 

Denominational Identity might not be important to members

• Members come to a church because they like it
• Denomination identity has become less and less important
• Church shopping is not dead

 

Church Web Site

• The church must have one and it should be kept up to date

• People in the age group 20-40 will surf the web for a church and decided on their attendance on this basics

 

Always start 2 or 3 new programs every year in September

 

Advertise your church programs

• There must be a budget for this
• Advertise in local newspapers
• Post flyers, in supermarkets, Laundromats etc.
• If the church does not have an advertising budget you can use the evangelizing or outreach budget

 

Evangelist and Entrepreneur you need to be both for your church.

 

Finally he said you should keep a sense of humor in all things.