God's remnant churches in the city

The Christian Index published an article entitled “Temples in, churches out?” in the Nov. 8, 2007 issue. The article detailed the decline, departure, and death of more than four dozen Georgia Baptist churches inside the I-285 Perimeter since 1980.

The article stated, “In 1980 the Atlanta population inside the Perimeter was 725,094 and there were 88 functioning Georgia Baptist churches reaching 12 percent of the population. One out of every eleven residents was a member of one of the Atlanta GBC churches. In 1980 these churches were baptizing individuals at the rate of 43:1.

“Comparatively, there are now 80 Georgia Baptist churches inside the Perimeter although the population has steadily grown to more than 836,000, a population increase of more than 13 percent in just 27 years. Only 40 of the original 88 churches are presently located inside the Perimeter.

“Baptist church membership inside the Perimeter has not kept pace with the population growth. In fact, the 80 churches inside I-285 now reach only 4 percent of the population with a baptism ratio of 85:1.”

In 1980 GBC churches inside the Perimeter had a resident membership of 86,713 compared to 33,612 in 2006. The churches inside the Perimeter baptized 1,522 in 1980 (averaging more than 17 baptisms per church) to 265 in 2006 (averaging less than 4 baptisms per church).

“During that same time period worship attendance declined from 22,494 to 9,986.”

Another church that existed inside I-285 for decades, Moreland Avenue Baptist Church, disbanded late last year, so there are now only 39 existing churches of the original 88 that were open and serving the Lord in 1980. Another 40 churches have been planted, but many of them are small and struggling.

 

First Baptist Doraville

There are churches that have made a significant impact upon the city in years gone by, but today valiantly attempt to maintain an effective ministry. Pastor Sam Letson of First Baptist in Doraville commented, “We are a small church, the remnant of a much larger congregation that existed here thirty years ago. As the area changed with a growing international population, the church did not change – at least not with purpose and planning.

“Many of our people have moved to the suburbs. A great number of our older members have moved to nursing homes or died. One of my first years here we lost almost 20 percent of our Sunday morning attendance to death.

“A continuing challenge is maintaining the emotional stability of our people. Those who have been here during the declining years and remember the ‘days of glory’ are having a hard time. They miss the church family they used to have and worry how long we will be able to keep the doors open. We actually are in pretty good shape, but it is hard to see that when you keep comparing today to yesterday.

“The loss of members has not only depleted the number of people attending and available to maintain or develop ministries, but also has greatly impacted our available leadership. Most able-bodied, active members end up performing multiple tasks.”

Letson contends that the decline may have stopped. The Doraville church is beginning to have numerous visitors and signs of growth are evident in Sunday School, adult choir, and the children’s ministry. The church is also engaged in supporting other ministries and shares their facilities with several ethnic congregations.

The Doraville pastor commented, “We consider sharing our facilities with these folks to be a part of our missions effort, just as we do our annual missions offerings in the Southern Baptist Convention.

“We are in the most unique community in America. This is not an exaggeration, but a fact. Nowhere else is there the diversity of languages/dialects (700 plus) and ethnic groups (135 plus) so mixed together as we have here in so small an area. Four bus lines run routes from the Texas-Mexico border to a terminal within a mile of our front door. Immigrants are literally just getting off the boat (bus) on our doorstep.”

Letson continued, “The Buford Highway corridor is a magnet for Orientals each weekend. They travel from all over the southeast to shop, eat, and visit with each other. Much of the new commercial development in our immediate area is being constructed by Koreans and leased to Hispanic business. Some people get on a plane to go to the international mission field; I walk out the front door.”

 

Scott Boulevard in Decatur

Scott Boulevard Baptist Church in Decatur is another church that has experienced a significant decline in the past few decades. Gregory Smith is the relatively new pastor of Scott Boulevard, but is full of energy and enthusiasm and intent upon reversing the trend of the past 40-years.

Smith explained, “The church members often refer fondly to the past days of glory. They currently have a sense of hope, but it is fragile and easily shaken. I want to build their hope by getting them involved in service to others.

“The greatest challenge is to lead the church to be missions-focused rather than organization-focused. Most of our energies and resources are devoted to maintaining the church organization. I want to lead the congregation to look outward to our Decatur neighbors and ask how we can serve them effectively.”

 

Clairmont Baptist in Atlanta

Mike Murphy is pastor of Atlanta’s Clairmont Baptist Church and has seen the community around his church go through a marked transition in recent years. “There is always a nostalgia on the part of older members to see the church full of people the way it was in the 1960s and 1970s,” Murphy admits. “Also, an unmeasured amount of anxiety exists that the church will one day have to close its doors.

“The church is greatly impacted when visitors attend the Sunday morning worship service and see 40-50 people scattered (most sitting where they have sat for decades) throughout a sanctuary that seats about 400 people. In addition, visitors will see, unlike themselves, mostly gray hairs and few people in their age bracket.

“Perhaps the greatest toll is on the pastor; to see many empty pews Sunday after Sunday, to work with a significant number of members who want things to improve, but don’t want change and who want a leader, but don’t want to be led.”

Pastors in growing suburban churches have their challenges and anxieties, but is there anything more discouraging than being in a church that has declined for years and where the congregation is dispirited? Such is the plight of a growing number of pastors in Atlanta, Savannah, Macon, Augusta, and a myriad of other places.

Murphy continued, “Most pastors have a sense of isolation in their ministry, but being in a declining situation makes it more acute. I have spent much time in prayer and meditation trying to find which course to take. At times I have felt burned out, especially as the church tried to continue all it was doing but with fewer and fewer people. At times my morale has been low and I have wanted to leave, but time and time again the Lord has made it clear that He has me here for a reason.”

Murphy’s report of what has happened to neighboring churches is eye-opening. Two Baptist churches have merged and the property of one church was sold. A Christian and Missionary Alliance church became a French-speaking congregation, but now the building is a Tibetan Buddhist temple. A Nazarene church has its building for sale. A Presbyterian church building was sold to a secular organization.

In England there are hundreds of church buildings once housed by Baptists that are now being used as museums, warehouses, mosques, etc. Unfortunately, what has happened in England is now happening in America. Statistics show that there are more churches disbanding and closing their doors than there are new churches being started.

 

Brookhaven in Atlanta

About 20 months ago Don Presley was called to be the pastor of Brookhaven Baptist Church and moved to Atlanta from Kentucky, where he had served as pastor of two churches near Paducah. He remarked, “Coming from a rural setting where Faith evangelism, consistent outreach, and strong conservative preaching will succeed in just about every situation is a universe apart from what we have encountered in Atlanta.

“In my two previous churches we averaged 22 baptisms a year over a period of 14 years. Brookhaven had zero baptisms the year before I came and we have only had ten baptisms since I have been here.”

Brookhaven has approximately $15 million worth of property near Phipps Plaza and Lenox Square in the Buckhead section of Atlanta and an auditorium that seats 800 people with about 80 persons present on Sunday morning. However, the weekly attendance for all church activities has grown from approximately 100 to 200 in the last few months.

Presley added, “Brookhaven has been in decline since about 1985. About five months ago the deacons and I had a long conversation about where we are as a church. We all agreed we had about two years of life left in the church unless we made sweeping changes.”

What the Atlanta metro area needs in regards to the church is a prototype for urban success. When asked for some examples of successful churches and what they were doing in the Atlanta Association, Director of Missions Joel Harrison said, “there are not any successes.”

“Well, I don’t think Jesus is very happy with that,” Presley concluded, “so we have to change that. God willing, this change will occur in Brookhaven. And when it does, it will become a prototype that can be copied and multiplied. After all, isn’t that exactly what Paul did over and over again?”

At a recent strategy-planning meeting at the Brookhaven church the following comments were heard:

“We will have to take some extraordinary steps to reach this community. This church was started in 1922 and the church has been blessed in the past and we look forward to it being blessed in the future.”

“More people live in our area than ever. Everyone is coming this way. We want to see young people in this church again. We are willing to do whatever it takes to see that accomplished.”

“I started coming to this church in the early 90s and I have been here ever since. The people here are so loving, caring, and understanding. Furthermore, there are thousands that pass by this church every day. There is a need for this church to be here.”

The undaunted pastor chimed in, “I’m pumped!”

Brookhaven’s pathway to a ministry that will reach more people and have greater effectiveness will not be easy, but the pastor and leadership share the heartthrob of the Son of God for a growing church and a lost world.

Brookhaven is motivated, strategizing, and working to reach their part of the world for Jesus Christ. They are engaging the help of Apartment Life to make inroads into huge apartment complexes in the neighborhood. They have begun a “Team Kids” ministry to reach the community’s children. They have started a Chinese mission and a Hispanic mission. Presley insists they have only just begun.

 

1027 Church, Midtown Atlanta

Tim Wolfe, a church planter from Miami, Fla., was converted at age 20, called into the ministry, and consequently prepared himself well to serve the Lord. He and his wife, Pam, planted a church in Texas and then another, CrossRoads Church, in southwest Georgia.

Wolfe reminisced, “During our planting time there, we had a vision that one day we would train and equip a planter and send him out from our midst to begin a work. During those amazing years God called us to come join Him at work in Atlanta.

“We realized that we were the ones that would be sent out, so we asked CrossRoads to release us and send us to Atlanta to plant a church with the dream that we could reproduce other church plants in the city, in Georgia, or around the world.”

Once there were several large Baptist churches inside the I-285 Perimeter, but that is no longer the case. Therefore, some people look at Atlanta and see a spiritual vacuum, but Wolfe stated, “I’m not sure it is as helpful to talk about why there are not as many large Baptist churches in the city anymore as what we need to do to plant hundreds of churches today in the city.

“Churches in the city that are started in the days ahead will have different kinds of shapes and sizes, and those shapes and sizes should be determined by the people who are coming. Now, when you say that, it sounds like you are saying people are going to change Scripture or something. But that is not what we are talking about.

“We are talking about churches where the Word of God will be preached, Jesus the King will be worshipped, biblical accountability will be in place, and Jesus will be transforming lives. Some will be big and some might be small, but all will reproduce and have their hearts on fire with the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.”

As goes the cities, so goes the entire country

Presley, the Brookhaven pastor, added, “Many of the folks in the suburbs moved there from inside the Perimeter. If we can’t reach the folks inside the Perimeter now, when they eventually move to the suburbs we will have a higher degree of lostness in the suburbs and declining churches there as well. For the city is typically a preview of what the whole nation will eventually become.”

Butch Butcher, Georgia Baptist Convention specialist in church planting, stated, “The postmodern culture in the urban setting is typically secular, independent, with great earning power and not very receptive to institutional religion.

“We must embed ourselves in their communities, show them we care, build relationships with them, earn the privilege to share Christ with them, win them to Christ, and raise up indigenous missionary leaders from within their ranks. We will not be able to win the cities for Christ until every Christian in the city becomes a missionary.”

 

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What can your church do?

 

Georgia Baptists should be vitally concerned about what is happening in the churches of Atlanta as well as in the other major cities in the state. Many of the pastors of urban churches are crying out for help. If you are asking, “What can we do?” here are some suggestions.

• Try to understand the complexities and challenges of ministering in urban areas.

• Help these churches evaluate their current situation (liabilities and assets) and assist them in developing a strategy for ministry.

• Pray and perhaps even offer to join them in prayerwalking in the area where the church is located.

• Develop a partnership between your church and a church in an urban area.

• Commission some of your families to go to the urban church and serve alongside their members for six months or a year as short-term missionaries.

• Teach English as a Second Language class, tutor children, help with block parties, and assist with Vacation Bible Schools and Backyard Bible Clubs.

• Assist them financially.

 

Related stories:   Five vision trips slated for inside the Perimeter   New church planter for Brookhaven