Town & Country e-mail newsletter   

Welcome to the e-newsletter from the Northwest Conference Town & Country Commission aimed at resourcing and encouraging our Town & Country churches.

The Town & Country Commission has recently been working on its goals for the coming year. Out of that discussion it was decided that we start an e-newsletter and a web presence for our T & C churches. The goals of our newsletter will be to offer articles on topics related to Town and Country church settings, and to highlight different ministries or events that our Northwest Conference T & C churches are doing.

On our web page, which is hosted on the NWC website, we will work on building a list of resources ... books, webinars, seminars and trainings ... available for T & C churches, as well as links to other sites that could be helpful.

Bethlehem Covenant Church in Wheaton, MN, sent 17 students to CHIC.

Census down, Vitality up
Co-Op Coaching plays a key role in the Town & Country church

Can a Town & Country church, located in a community that has seen its population decline for 40 years, experience vitality and renewal? The simple answer is, of course-with God all things are possible.

Seven years ago I was beginning my first full-time call to ministry at Bethlehem Covenant Church in Wheaton, MN. I was eager to fully embrace the sentiment of the call committee when it stated that, "in this community, our church is in the best position to grow?" All of the signs suggested it was only a matter of time. Yet after four years our church was not realizing that potential.

So, the leadership team agreed to attend the first Veritas event in the Northwest Conference. This became a catalyst for our church to engage the revitalization process. We discovered that indeed, as was thought, Bethlehem had V.I.M. (vision, intention, and means). And although the vision was vague, we discovered a church-wide commitment to move toward becoming a healthy missional church.

We engaged the Congregational Vitality Pathway using EPIC and PULSE. Each of these tools proved to be very helpful to me as a pastor in a Town & Country church. With common language and understanding, I was much better equipped to lead the necessary change toward vitality.

However, on this journey, I was told again and again, Veritas is not the answer. It simply raises the questions then invites the church to seek the leading of the Holy Spirit for direction. My dilemma was how to put traction to the movement we sensed God was showing us.

The missing piece for me as a solo-pastor came into focus when I first heard about Co-Op coaching. In my rural context, the plan, the pathway and even the best vision I could articulate for ministry, sounded something like this: "We will faithfully and adequately fill most of the holes in our ministry until Monday morning when we start all over again. And by God's grace, to grow."

In this rich and rewarding, but too often rushed context of ministry, vision and strategy don't get the needed attention. Yet, those of us in the Town & Country context realize as much as anyone that without a vision, we don't move forward.

I couldn't visualize a pathway that would help me systematically process a strategic plan from beginning to end-from getting a hold of God's vision all the way through its implementation.

Co-Op Coaching, through the department of Church Growth and Evangelism, provided that opportunity. As a compliment to Congregational Vitality, the Co-Op Coaching experience helped provide the needed traction. It has helped me, and our leadership, to focus on the specific strategic priorities that God has equipped our ministry to accomplish. And the results have been encouraging.

Bethlehem has experienced attendance growth for three consecutive years. This past year we celebrated 11 baptisms with seven new professions of faith. Two-thirds of our average Sunday attendance participated in 12 or more hours of Christian Formation. And our Town & Country church is seeing more kids participating in children's and youth ministries, with 17 students attending CHIC in Tennessee last year.

By God's grace, we are experiencing renewed vitality. And I believe by God's grace, Town & Country pastors in the Covenant Church have been given a great opportunity to receive personal vitality coaching.

Top three advantages of Co-Op Coaching

First, a personal ministry coach. I was uniquely matched with a personal coach who really understood the unique challenges and opportunities of my Town & Country setting. Every week I received a one hour scheduled phone call. My coach understood that the solo pastor sometimes feels isolated. And it was comforting to connect regularly to bounce ideas, discuss victories, and process the challenges of weekly pastoral leadership. Helpful encouragement was balanced with truthful insight - sometimes saying the difficult things I needed to hear from a trusted advisor. Having completed my coaching, I honestly miss the weekly calls.

The second advantage of Co-Op coaching is customized material with proven components. Seven topics of course work allowed me to focus on the areas of leadership that were most urgent and applicable to our current situation. Designed to extend 12 to 18 months, the material is flexible yet thorough. It provides fresh insight with proven strategies, focusing on leadership areas that compliment the pastoral arts. It offers practical tools needed in the field with measurable results.

Finally, it's an affordable tool for Town & Country pastors. The Dept. of Church Growth and Evangelism (CGE) has made this revitalization tool accessible for pastors in smaller churches. By bringing this tool in-house, Covenant pastors coach Covenant pastors. And it's much more affordable than comparable coaching services. The cost is $150 per month with a $200 startup fee, which includes assessments and inventories. Currently, the Denomination is offering a $500 scholarship to Town & Country pastors. The Northwest Conference is matching that with a $500 scholarship. There has never been a better time to enroll in Co-Op Coaching.

If you and your church are engaged in the Vitality Pathway through the Dept. of CGE, I want to strongly encourage you to consider Co-Op Coaching as a tool. Like Veritas, it's not the answer. But in my experience, in a Town & Country church, it has given good traction to God's vision for ministry.

Check out more about Co-Op Coaching- at  covchurch.org/vitality/co-op/ 

May God's vision find you.

This is an idea that Prairieview Covenant Church in New Richmond, WI, started in January. For more information contact Nancy King at rudynancy.king@gmail.com.

In January we had a large team of teachers and staff attend Recharge in the Twin Cities. Recharge is a training and encouragement event for those who work with children and teens. The Northwest Conference is one of the sponsors of this event.

After attending, we invited everyone to come to a Christian Formation meeting and share what they learned. One of the reoccurring themes from those sharing was including children in worship in a meaningful way. We already had little blue chairs up front in the sanctuary that younger kids could sit on for our puppet songs and skits during worship, but we decided to take it a step further.

We created the Joyful Noise Dugout. It is for preschool and elementary children and is right up front in the sanctuary, in front of the worship team. We have two moms help out and direct the kids. At 9:55 a.m. we have a children's song to invite everyone into the sanctuary. During the worship team songs and hymns the kids are given scarves, shakers or hand puppets to use during the songs. Pastor Rudy encourages them to participate and thanks them for their help. They each have a journal and colored pencils that they can use after the worship team songs until it is time for Children's Church, which is during the sermon.

It has been a very effective outreach tool. The kids are telling their friends about how much they love being in the "Dugout." We have also noticed that many children that came very sporadically are now there every Sunday, and we have picked up some new kids. Our number of children has increased, parents are happy because their kids are excited about church, the kids are better behaved, our children feel much more a part of worship, and the adults are very happy and blessed to see the kids enjoying worship.

Before we started the "Dugout" we practiced one Wednesday night and went over the rules. This is what we sent out to the parents:

Joyful Noise Dugout

The Christian Formation team has started a new thing with our preschool-elementary children. We want our children to experience worship with the larger body. We want them to be a part of the worship service. Thus, during the first part of the worship time-our music, prayer and offering time-our children are invited to come to the front of the sanctuary and sit in "The Dugout." We have chairs for them to sit in and hands-on ways for them to participate in the music. One or two of our adults will serve as the weekly "Dugout Managers."

"Let the little children come unto me and do not hinder them."