Church of the Resurection and Ottawa FUMC
There is a certain buzz in the air and it has nothing to do with bees and honey. The buzz that you hear has everything to do with a pilot program that is in the development stage between the Church of the Resurrection (COR) and Ottawa First. Many members are getting excited about the possibility of what this can do for Ottawa First and also the potential for other United Methodist Church around the world. For the members who have not heard or need more information, I have included a excerpt of the email that I sent to Rev. Hamilton of COR regarding this possibility.
“It has been a long time since we talked at Jurisdictional Conference. Specifically, I approached you with a mentorship plan for church revitalization. The plan basics are to take churches who are ready to move to their next level of leadership, faithfulness, vitality and growth, and partner them with a mentoring congregation that will facilitate their next steps in faithful discipleship. I would like Resurrection Church and Ottawa First to be a prototype for our annual conference and our denomination in this effort.
While the decision of the denomination to establish new faith communities is critically necessary, I strongly believe that there should be continued and aggressive progress toward revitalization. As an adjunct faculty member at United Theological Seminary, Dayton Ohio, in the area of establishing new faith communities and redeveloping existing faith communities, my research has led me to a finding that I believe would excite you. My research has shown that revitalization historically has less than impressive long-term results because we have not selected the appropriate congregations to revitalize. Historically we have poured tremendous resources into congregations that are on the verge of death ignoring those congregations who have the necessary ingredients for moving to the next level. My research has also shown that the churches we typically ignore are ignored because of a faulty presupposition of their inherent strength without analyzing the detrimental effects of long-term dormant conditions. History reveals many congregations had tremendous “hey days” but now, are either barely keeping their doors open or have closed. Dormant congregations are dying as well, just at a much slower rate.
I believe we need to nurture congregations who are at a dormant state, like Ottawa First and other top 40 churches within our annual conference who have good worship attendance, sufficient financial resources, a viable plant and facilities, ongoing ministries and multi-media capabilities and assist them in reaching their next level of growth and vitality. We should not be satisfied with our congregations just maintaining even though they appear healthy. If we are not growing as local churches, ultimately we are dying.”
As you can see, there are no details regarding where we are headed. However, our goal is to grow our church beyond where we are utilizing many of the techniques outlined in Rev. Hamilton’s book, Leading Beyond the Walls. If nothing else, we need between 350 – 400 people in worship each week to FULLY provide ongoing upkeep and vital ministries for this community based on our current financial needs and giving record. Currently we are between 225 – 250. We know that many of you are giving the most you can give, and many of you have been giving sacrificially for a very long time. By increasing the number of people who give, will ease the burden by increasing the number of people who actually participate in meeting our financial needs. Please pray about this phenomenal opportunity of God and get excited about where God is taking us.
