The UCC . . .

Th e N ew Chur ch L e a d e r ship T e am

NewVolume 3 n Issue III

NEW I d e a s f o r NEW Chur ch e s

Church Multiplication l Shining A Guiding Lightl Churches Birthing Churches: Facts to Knowl NCLI ‘09 Highlights

God is still speaking,ready, set, grow!

CHURCHES Birthing CHURCHES

Church Multiplication 101UPCOMINGEVENTSFebruary 12 - 13, 2010CONGREGATIONAL VITALITY TRAININGGod is Still Speaking! Learn about exciting new online tools to help churches getting vital and staying vital. Ready, Set, Grow! This meeting will be hosted in Cleveland, OH. For more information contact Vivian Santiago-Riccio at santiagv@ucc.org

February 19 - 20, 2010SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NEVADA CONFERENCE, UCCWorshipping Into your Congregation’s Future: An event for pastors, lay leaders and growth teams led by Rev. Anthony B. Robinson, consultant and coach in church leadership, and former pastor of Plymouth UCC, Seattle; and Rev. Michael Piazza, Dean and National Pastor, Cathedral of Hope. Look for details at www.scncucc.org.

February 26-28, 2010UCC WEB UNIVERSITYA three-day Congregational Vitality event! Join us for workshops on:l Build effective websites at low costl Increase traffic to your websitel Develop cost-saving email newsletters l Best practices for safety on Facebook.l Best practices for online fundraisingl Social media: the next wave

August 2 - 6, 2010NEW CHURCH LEADERSHIP INSTITUTENCLI gathers potential and practicing new church developers and revitalizing pastors for one week during the year for an intensive training in the latest tools and theories for church planting and redevelopment. For more information, go to www.growtheucc.org

That congregation is now called Church in the Cliff, a mostly heterosexual emergent congregation whose ministry centers on art and artists. They worship in Oak Cliff in a city recreational facility, and they office in our building. Our accounting staff pays their bills and keeps their books, but they technically are a partner congregation that we hope soon will seek affiliation in the UCC.

Cathedral of Hope Houston

Through the years, several hundred of our members have relocated to the Houston area. Naturally, many of them had found homes in existing congregations there, but many of them had not. In fact, several significant leaders live there now, and they had been appealing to us for some time to start a Cathedral of Hope in Hous-ton. We again started by of-fering monthly workshops. We have been wor-shipping since January 2009 and have a con-gregation of about 50-65 core people who already are sustaining the church financially. The other amazing thing about that congregation is that 100 percent of them already are involved in ministry. Again, as in Oklahoma City, we have organized things there in such a way that no one really has to do any management, but can give all their energy to their ministries. In the preliminary workshops, we made it clear that if management and control are their values when it comes to being involved in church this probably isn’t the place for them. It is vital that the Birthing Church allow the new congregation to focus its time and energy on developing programs and ministries that enhance the growth and stability of the new congregation. One vital piece is that the senior pastor (or perhaps a long-term associate) takes responsibility for being the coach of the pas-tor of the new church start. This doesn’t require a great deal of time, but to have someone to talk to and ask questions of when you are getting started is critical for a new pastor. The Birthing Church also has resources and answers that the new church does not. For example, the senior pastor likely will know off the top of their head who the new church pastor should talk to about real estate issues. In addition, the new church likely has little in the way of music, but the sponsoring congregation probably has a whole library to share. They also probably know people who can be called upon to lead music, and, in our case, we have more soloists than we have opportunities for them to sing. Being able to share the gifts of these folks helps everyone. This list could go on and on, but the point is that the Birthing Church has a lot to share. While it may not cost much to share old hymnals with a new congregation, it would cost the new congregation a fortune if they had to buy them. The value received far exceeds the cost of what is given. Much of what an established congregation knows was learned at a high cost of time invested and mistakes made. To share these insights and resources with a new congregation is invaluable. These are just a few of the many reasons why church multiplication is so much more successful than sim-ply parachuting a leader in to start a new congregation under the authority of the conference or association. The money and other resources spent go much, much farther in a multiplication setting because the existing church provides a lot of support that costs them little but is very valuable.

For more information contact Michael Piazza - mike@progressiverenewal.org.

By Michael Piazza, Dean of the Cathedral of Hope UCC in Dallas, Texas

The Cathedral of Hope has planted several new churches through the multiplication process. Our three most recent efforts have been very different experiments: one is a seven-year-old UCC in another conference; one is a one-year-old congregation that has not yet af-filiated with the UCC; and one is a six-month-old parish extension of the church in Dallas.

Cathedral of Hope Oklahoma City

Cathedral of Hope Oklahoma City began with one man who moved there from Dallas and couldn’t find a church that met his needs. He and his partner started a small group that we call a “Circle of Hope.” When the circle had grown large enough to multiply, we hosted a service just prior to Christmas, and then, several months later, we returned with the choir and orchestra and led a service on Easter Sunday evening. During May, June and July I drove up to OKC to lead workshops for which we averaged between 50 and 60 people. We were clear about the purpose, and, after the second one, asked people to begin signing up for various volunteer posi-

tions. After my third workshop in July, we announced we would gather for our first service at the Unitarian church the first Sunday evening in August.

The first month we averaged between 50-65 in worship, and we were very quickly financially self-sustaining. We began almost immediately looking for a person who could serve as pastor of that congregation. Within a year, the congre-gation had a pastor and had grown to around 120 members. At that point, I came up to preach on special occasions or when the pastor was on vacation. I mentored their new pastor, and we provided the congregation with administrative support, produced their bulletins, and did their accounting. The pastor was a hired member of the CoH staff. I located the person, and we flew them in to preach and spend a week with the congregation. I then invited the congregation to make their views known to me and based my hiring decision entirely on their input and feedback. They technically did not elect their pastor, but, in actuality, they did. This was important because that congregation didn’t have a board or church council to provide management leadership. In order for the pastor to be account-able at all they had to be under the personnel policies of the Cathedral of Hope in Dallas and its board. We were very deliberate in this. With any new congregation you have a limited number of people who have strong leadership skills, deep commitment or significant healthy church experience. We believe it is a strategic mistake to take that limited number of your most devoted people and put them into management. Our priority was to take our best and most devoted people and make them

leaders of ministry. This sent the clear message that the heroes of this new church were those who invested in and led ministry. Rather than having a board gather to argue about financial or management decisions, we had a Council of Ministry that gathered to strategize about how to mobilize the congregation to serve the needs of that community.

Church in the Cliff

While doing some demographic research, we discovered that we had about 850 people in our database who live in the South Dallas area called Oak Cliff. We de-cided to try to gather a group of those folks together to see if there was an interest in starting a parish extension in that area. As we were doing this work, we were ap-

proached by another local congregation that had lost its lease and was looking for a new home. They

asked if they might attend our inquiry session. The group that gathered was made up of about half their folks and half ours. Since the pastor of that congregation was a friend, and someone with congruent values and theology, we decided to partner with them on this new adventure. - continued on next page.

O

NEW TIMES:New Ideas for

New Churches

Rev. CameronTrimbleEditor

UCC New Church Strategistcameron@progressiverenewal.org

The United Churchof Christ

700 Prospect AvenueCleveland, Ohio 44115

Office: 216-736-2100www.ucc.org

New Times is a bi-annual publication of the Congregational, Vitality & Discipleship Team of the United Church of Christ.

Contributing Editor:

David Plunkett Editordplunkett@cathedralofhope.com

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Churches Birthing Churches: Facts to KnowBy Bob Townsend

Mayflower Congregational UCC Births A New Church in Naples, Florida

n the fall of 2007, Rev. Bob Townsend, then pastor of Mayflower Congregational UCC in Naples, Florida, and the Florida Conference’s New Church Development (NCD) committee had a crazy, yet inspired, idea: plant a new church 13 miles north of the existing congregation. Begun in 1990, Mayflower is a predominantly senior citizen congre-gation located on a 10-acre campus

that includes a 400-seat sanctuary and a family life center. The congregation had served as a pro-gressive witness to the people of Naples, Florida for 17 years, yet they noticed a large community of progressive people living in an area about 13 miles north of their church. So the conference NCD committee asked Rev. Townsend and the Mayflower congregation to plant a new church to reach these new people. Rev. Townsend recalls, “The Church Council at Mayflower approved the idea on the basis that Mayflower would free up time from my schedule to start the new church, and the conference would provide financial resources: $30,000 the first year and $41,000 the second. Lighthouse Congregational United Church of Christ held its first worship service on Novem-ber 2, 2008. Lighthouse is a mission of Mayflower Congregational United Church of Christ and the Flor-ida Conference UCC.” Of course, there is much more to this story. Here are Rev. Townsend’s reflections: n I was asked and made a three-year commitment to start the new church. As a beginning place, I asked the people in the Mayflower congregation to pray for the new church start. We prayed during worship, during council meetings, during all important gatherings of the church. Those prayers continue to this day.

n With the help of the Florida Conference, we conducted demographic studies of the area using a denominational service. We then gathered people from Mayflower who lived in the area and asked them to help us “seed” this new church. That night, one dozen people commit-ted to Lighthouse Congregational UCC. We then went on to hold meetings to discuss how, when and where, as well as to put voice to hopes, dreams and needs.n With a gathered “core group” of volunteers, we began the formation phase. We articu-lated our core values for the new church and wrote a vision for the congregation. We also sought training at the New Church Leadership Institute in Atlanta, GA. In 2008, the Florida Conference approved the new church at the annual meeting and asked other churches for their spiritual and financial support.n Having created a clear vision of the church that we were dreaming of birthing, we set out to find a worship space, eventually renting space from a Seventh-day Adventist church. We formed a worship team from people in the community and purchased most of the resources that we needed for worship: computers, sound equipment and a projector. We then set a date

and time for the first worship service. Since Mayflower’s service is at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, we designated our service at Lighthouse to start at 11 a.m.n During the same time, we also were developing our website, www.lighthousenaples.com, and building our logo/brand. We developed a series of three postcard mailings to our target area announcing the church opening and inviting people to worship with Lighthouse. We also talked with the local paper, which featured the start of our new church in an article. We advertised everywhere—in local papers, the local high school’s basketball program, and in football programs. We also ran an ad on cable TV using the “Steeple Ad” from the United Church of Christ and added a Lighthouse tag on the end. Today, we have a healthy, growing new church. It has been a long and wonderful road filled with learning, inspiration and courageous leadership on the part of the people at Mayflower, Light-house and our conference. Perhaps our greatest surprise was that we encountered real excitement about birthing a new church. It often is said that everyone should be part of a new church at least once. This is my second experience in starting a new church, and that joy has been overwhelming. To contact Rev. Townsend, go to www.lighthousenaples.com.

Shining A Guiding Light

“Today we have a healthy, growing new church. It has been a long and wonderful road filled with learning, inspiration and courageous leader-ship on the part of the people at Mayflower, Lighthouse & our Conference.”

I

By Cameron Trimble, UCC New Church Strategist

f someone asked your church to birth another UCC church, would you do it? This is the piv-otal question that is now facing all of our healthy, growing churches. If the United Church of Christ is going to have a significant impact in the future, we must get serious about starting new churches. We can be a growing denomination … if you will help. In 2006, the UCC set a goal of planting 250 new congregations by 2011. It seems like an

audacious goal, a bit like when Nehemiah asked his people to help rebuild the ruined walls of Jerusalem. He could see a future that embraced progress, innovation and faith as its guiding values. I wonder if, in our most courageous and visionary moments, we can imagine the United Church of Christ as a progressive leader in rebuilding the faith of liberal people. Can we imagine the United Church of Christ present in every community across our nation? Can we imagine the United Church of Christ being the fastest-growing, most innovative and relevant mainline church in our time? If you can see that vision, then I want you on my team. Here is our current reality: Every week in the United Church of Christ we lose or close three churches; every week we start less than one. In other words, we are standing at the base of a crumbling wall, piecing it together again, brick by brick. However, we live in a world of skyscrapers. We have the capacity to build walls that stretch for thousands of miles and far into the sky. We do not build these walls with bricks and mortar. We pour concrete into forms that are reinforced with rebar. We have blueprints, large machinery and trained craftsmen who know how to build strong, solid walls that stand the test of time. It is time to rebuild the United Church of Christ using our best resources. While conferences and national settings have served as the primary drivers for starting new churches, we know that these settings are not the best places from which to start new churches. Just as rabbits give birth to rabbits, churches give birth to churches. You do not have to be a large church to help in this effort. Any size congregation can help to start a new congregation. Here are some standard models for church multiplication: • Daughtering: a single local church initiates and leads the birth of a new congregation. • Partnership/Network: when two or more congregations work together to parent a church. • Satellites: off-campus ministry sponsored by local church with goal for self-sustaining church. • Restarting: a local congregation, in partnership with a conference, comes alongside a struggling congregation. The struggling congregation is closed and a new congregation is started in its place. Don’t see a model that would fit your setting? Then develop your own! Starting a new church is an art, not a science. Each setting is different and requires contextualization. The important thing is that you start. Here is how your church can birth a new church: G - Grab the vision. R - Reflect and discern as a congregation how God is calling you to act. O - Obtain congregational support through a congregational vote. W - Work with your most creative leaders to envision the specifics of the new church. T - Train your core leadership team in basic church planting. H - Hire a new church planter and secure the needed resources to make the church start successful. E - Equip your core leadership team to manage both the birthing and parenting processes. U - Utilize “Rent-A-Member” - ask your congregation to visit the new church to build critical mass. C - Commission the new ministry and your leaders in a Sunday morning service. C - Celebrate the Birth! These suggestions are general, of course. Behind these tactics are well-researched strategies, theories and resources that are available to your church should you choose to undertake this challenge. If your church discerns that God is calling it to birth a new congregation, we will help you make that a success. What we need from you is the willingness to try. In the movie “Milk,” Harvey Milk stood on the sidewalk of Castro Street facing the gathering mobs of people protesting the latest discriminatory legislation passed by their city representatives. He yelled, “My name is Harvey Milk, and I am here to recruit you.” That is a good line, and I am stealing it. My name is Cameron Trimble, and I am here to recruit you! We need your help to build the UCC so that our progressive voice is heard across our land with a message of grace, inclusion and justice for all.

I“My Name is Cameron Trimble & I Am Here to RECRUIT YOU!”

We Need Your Help - n Revitalizing our existing churches by giving new life to new communities of faith. n Finding creative solutions to the challenges of member- ship decline facing our local congregations. n Imagining that a growing denomination is possible. If you want to know more about how your church can start a new church, visit www.growtheucc.org - or email - Rev. Cameron Trimble at cameron@progressive renewal.org - or - Rev. Michael Piazza at mike@progressive renewal.org

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Reflections from Atlanta

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“NCLI was like going to Church for me. Experiencing a variety of people seeking to find relevant ways to bring Christ alive through, with and for others was an inspirational experience. I am called!” - NCLI ‘09 Participant

“If God has given you the passion to plant a new church, then you need to attend the NCLI! You will leave the conference inspired by the Holy Spirit and full of practical wisdom about how to grow the vision that has been placed upon your heart.” - NCLI ‘09 Participant

“The NCLI provided an excellent thermometer for taking the temperature of where your congregation is related to revitalization. The references and resources were excellent and the networking with other at-tendees invaluable.” - NCLI ‘09 Participant

he New Church Leadership Institute (NCLI), a ministry of the United Church of Christ, kicked off this past August as 125 pastors from across the United States converged on the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. NCLI gathers potential and practicing new church devel-opers and revitalizing pastors from the UCC and other

denominations for a week long intensive training in the latest tools and theories for evangelism and church growth. Divided into two tracks, the New Church Track and the Revital-ization Track, NCLI offers workshops by gifted leaders, pastors and visionaries from within the UCC and elsewhere. Facilitators include Rev. Michael Piazza, Dean of the Cathedral of Hope UCC in Dallas, Texas; Tom Brackett, the Director of Church Development for the Epis-copal Church USA; and Jim Griffith, the founder of Griffith Coaching Network, a network of coaches committed to helping church leaders develop more fruit-ful ministries. “We believe that new and revitalizing churches hold the vision for the future of the pro-gressive church,” said Cameron Trimble, NCLI’s director, “and the work we will do this week will take us further on our journey to building the Body of Christ.” This year marked an important expansion of the New Church Lead-ership Institute with the addition of a new track for pastors and lay leaders engaged in redeveloping exist-ing churches. Directed by Rev. Dr. Geneva Butz, Associate Con-ference Minister of the Pennsylvania South-east Conference, participants learned about congregation size theory, spiritual discernment, improving congregational behavior, social net-working, adaptive change, fundraising, stewardship, worship and preaching. Almost half of those who attended the NCLI serve in set-tings where revitalization is the greatest hope. One participant noted, “This was an extremely useful and worthwhile training. I was mesmer-

ized by each and every presenter. I walked away with so much informa-tion and an abundant burst of energy for my ministry.” The Revitaliza-tion Track offered students the opportunity to network with colleagues from across the country, including a Skype call with Rev. Cindy Bagley and her leadership team at Dunbarton Congregational Church in New Hampshire. Students also have the opportunity to continue their educa-tion through our online university found at www.growtheUCC.org. The new church development track expanded this year to include speakers such as Jim Griffith from Griffith Coaching. “Jim has been a pioneer and champion for nurturing vital church leadership through coaching,” said David Schoen, leader of the UCC’s Congregational Vi-tality & Discipleship Team. “He has gathered a group of great coaches to work with new church planters and pastors in redeveloping congre-gations. The value of Jim Griffith Coaching is inestimable.” By par-ticipating in the New Church Leadership Institute, church planters and

redevelopers have the opportunity to work with one of several coaches who were in attendance during the week. Paul Nickerson, the “coach to the coaches” and an ordained UCC minister of 27 years, was onsite to coordinate the coaching program. On Wednesday, all participants in the New Church Leadership Insti-tute had a chance to hear from Peter Wernett and Chuck Salter about a

New Church Leadership Institute 2009

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NCLI continued

ECUMENICAL NCD EVENTSGRIFFITH COACHING Church Planting Boot Camps by Jim Griffith are “Basic Training” events specifically designed for pastors who are planting new churches in 2009 or for those who have recently planted a new church. For more information visit: www.griffithcoaching.com 2010

•April6-8|Atlanta,GA •May4-6|Fayetteville,AR

•May11-13|Champaign-Urbana,IL

•August17-19|Dallas, TX

•August24-26|Richmond,VA

new demographic resource available to conferences and local churches called Mission Insite. The following day, Rev. Donna Allen, Founder and Pastor of New Revelation Community Church in Oakland, Cali-fornia, and Rev. Michael Piazza delivered powerful challenges to the participants. Rev. Piazza began the morning by sharing his experiences planting multiple churches in a variety of settings, and offered creative ways that pastors and developers can enhance their worship service through technology. When Rev. Piazza was called to the Cathedral of Hope, the church had 300 members. It now has more than 4,000. Rev. Allen, who also is Visiting Assistant Professor of Preaching at Lancaster Theological Seminary, presented ways in which relevant preaching will transform the preacher, the congregation and the culture. Both presenters posited that the United Church of Christ is uniquely positioned to join the heart of traditional, evangelical worship with the head of liberal, progressive theology to make the Church of Jesus Christ a more relevant force in the 21st century.

The dates for the next NCLI Training are August 2 - 6, 2010. The event will be hosted once again in Atlanta, Georgia. The 2009 par-ticipants and leadership team set a goal of doubling attendance to 300 participants in 2010. “The New Church Leadership Institute offers es-sential training for pastors and lay leaders serving in ministry today. We are training the best and brightest to engage in transformational ministries that will strengthen the UCC for many years to come,” Rev. Trimble said concerning the outcome of this event. “We need as many people as possible to experience this training as we grow the United Church of Christ.” Register for NCLI 2010 at www.growtheUCC.org

NCLI2009

WEBSITESl www.Growtheucc.org - Through a partnership with the Southeast Conference and Local Church

Ministry’s Congregational Vitality and Discipleship Team, www.growtheucc.org is a site designed to provide re-sources for those interested in new church develop-ment, revitalization and multiplication. You also can find information about

the New Church Leadership Institute and upcoming church vitality events happening across the country. We highly recommend you check out this site.

l hirr.hartsem.edu - Hartford Seminary’s Hart-ford Institute for Religion Research has a 32-year record of rigorous, policy-relevant research, antici-pation of emerging issues, and commitment to the creative dissemination of learning. This record has earned the Institute an international reputation as an important bridge between the scholarly community and the practice of faith.

BOOKS AND ARTICLESl The Church that Multiplies, by Joel Cominskey. Published in 2005 by CSS Publishing, Moreno Valley, CA.

l A Mainline Turn-around: Strategies For Congregations And Denomi-nations by Lyle Schaller. Published in 2005 by Abing-don Press in Nashville, TN.

l The Multiplying Church: The New Math for Starting New Churches by Bob Roberts. Published in 2008 by Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

l Multi-Site Churches: Guidance for the Movement’s Next Generation by Scott McConnell and Ed Stetzer. Published in 2009 by B&H Publishing Group, Nashville, TN.

l Planting Churches that Reproduce, by Joel Com-inskey. Published in 2009 by CSS Publishing, Moreno Valley, CA.

l Planting Missional Churches, by Ed Stetzer. Published in 2006 by Broadman and Holman Publishers, Nashville, TN.

l Rekindling the Main-line: New Life Through New Churches by Stephen Compton. Published in 2003 by the Alban Institute in Herndon, VA.

UCC WEBINARS (Register @ growtheucc.org)l Leading Liberal Latino/as - (March 9, 2010, 2 p.m. EST) Addressing issues such as sexual-ity in Latin cultures is challenging for a variety of reasons. This is a community already confronting issues around immigration injustice and prejudice. Alejandro De La Torre, pastor of a mostly LGBT Hispanic congregation in TX, presents this webinar in Spanish.

l U-Turns Allowed - (April 13, 2010, 2 p.m. EST) Many, if not most, mainline congregations are statis-tically headed in the wrong direction. Honestly fac-ing that reality is the toughest challenge. Jim Powell is ready to take an honest look at the situation and

Resources for Church Developers

700 Prospect Ave. East, Cleaveland, OH 44115

NOW FOR IS NEW THE CHURCH TIME DEVELOPMENT

Please Note: Our national and confer-ence staffs have found these resources to be helpful in our ministries. We do not advocate or support all positions of the authors, especially if they are exclusive of women and minority peoples. If you have resources that you would like to suggest, e-mail them to: Rev. Cameron Trimble at cameron@progressiverenewal.org

NEW TIMES Past editions of the New Times Newsletter are available for download at - www.growtheucc.org

apply effective business principles and tools to turn around declining congregations. Well suited for pastors, lay leaders, and judicatory leaders who support them.

l Progressive Renewal - (May 11, 2010, 2 p.m. EST) Michael Piazza will lead a workshop in niche marketing which calls on progressive congregations to focus their resources more effectively. This webinar is designed to help us discover how we can find new life in our changing society.

l Planting Progressive Churches - (June 17, 2010, 2 p.m. EST) Why are these churches needed and how to succeed in planting them?Cameron Trimble, founder & director of the New Church Leadership Institute, and leading expert in the wide range of issues surrounding planting progressive congregations will lead discussion on what is required to plant new progressive churches in conservative settings.