Howlandville Church, located in Warrenville in the Aiken Association, had dwindled to eight members by the summer of 2010.
The church’s transitional pastor, Joe Youngblood, approached Daryl Price, director of the church multiplication group of the South Carolina Baptist Convention. “We’re ready to do whatever it takes,” he told Price. “We don’t want to disband.”
Price and Youngblood began developing a year-long process that could be used as a pilot project to help churches multiply at every level. They called it the “Intentional Church Multiplication Process.”
“We really took a lot of training materials, including the SCBC’s Church Health Assessment and Mobilization Planning Strategy, and we added to it,” Price said. “We felt like we had a pilot project that could help churches multiply at every level, create mission outposts with community groups, and potentially lead to new church plants.”
Price said the Intentional Church Multiplication Process is not just about starting new churches. It’s also about: committed pastors intentionally leading churches to multiply at every level; mentor churches that equip and encourage other churches toward health; instruction from qualified SCBC leaders on all aspects of church life; and coaches and consultants assisting pastors and churches as they move ideas into action.
The process involves 11 monthly equipping sessions in an eight-hour format, with monthly coaching/consulting sessions.
Churches also participate in the CHAMPS process (http://www.scbaptist.org/revitalization), Basic Training Journey for Church Planting workshop (http://www.scbaptist.org/churchmultiplication), and Immersion Training for small group development and discipleship (http://www.scbaptist.org/link/article151139.htm).
Price and Youngblood picked a group of smaller- and medium-membership churches in the Aiken Association to join Howlandville Church for the one-year journey. Those churches included, from Aiken Association: Redd’s Branch, Foreman Memorial, Bel-Ridge, Couchton, Montmorenci First Church, Calvary, Memorial, Beech Island Second Church; and Rocky Spring Church from Edisto Association.
The churches started the pilot process in August 2010 and graduated on June 20. A special celebratory service was held at Millbrook Church, Aiken.
The partnering churches have envisioned several new projects.
Redd’s Branch Church plans to partner with Belvedere First Church’s chapter of Carolina Faith Riders to minister to the motorcycle community of Aiken County, believing non-traditional church settings are the best way to reach what constitutes 3 percent of the Aiken County population.
Foreman Memorial Church has a vision of “reaching our community in New Ellenton through sports,” said minister of music and youth Daniel Braswell. “We are doing a sports camp this summer that will include football, basketball, soccer and cheerleading. We also want to reach across racial and cultural barriers in our community and want to provide Bible classes for the local middle school.”
Montmorenci First Church has a vision for churches targeted to fishermen in the same way that cowboy churches focus on a specific group. “I know there are fishing ministries, but there is no one ministry that goes right to where the fishermen are,” said pastor Tommy Richardson. Montmorenci also has a vision to create a mission outpost in mobile home parks.
Calvary Church has identified several potential mission outposts, including senior adults, low-income rental properties, retirement complexes, and a mobile home park with a large Hispanic population. The church’s strategic plan calls for starting a small-group Bible study in a new housing development. Partnership possibilities exist to reach a low-income neighborhood known for a significant criminal element.
Bel-Ridge Church has a vision for a mission outpost to connect with a large Hispanic community, an African-American community, Belvedere Elementary School, and home groups that instill the idea that each home is a community outpost.
Beech Island Second Church and pastor David Lester have created plans for Upward Soccer this fall, ministries for a mobile home park, a nearby subdivision and a local elementary school, and a ministry targeted to single mothers.
And what about Howlandville, which had only eight members a year ago? It is now considering an Upward Soccer program to reach Hispanic families, an after-school evangelism program, a senior adult ministry in a senior adult housing complex, and several neighborhood outreach ministries.
“Intentional Church Multiplication Process is bringing church pastors and staff leaders together in prayer and worship so that we are strengthened and greater equipped for ministry,” said Glenn Craig, director of discipleship and missions at Howlandville Church. “This process is teaching me and our church to be intentional about church growth.”
Helping the churches was Millbrook Church, Aiken, which Price recruited as the mentor church for the Intentional Church Multiplication Process. “We wanted a local church, a supporter of the Cooperative Program and the SCBC, to help as a mentor church,” said Price. “Millbrook was eager to get involved.”
David Revelle, administrative pastor for education and missions at Millbrook, said, “We heard a statement that the convention would lose a number of its churches if churches didn’t change how they approached ministry. As a church, we had a burden to help other churches.
“Many of these churches are not multi-staff churches, and so we were able to work with them and make our staff available for training and encouragement. Great relationships have been built between churches in our association. Many of the barriers have come down. The rural churches often have poor perceptions of larger-membership churches, but through Intentional Church Multiplication Process, they’ve seen our willingness to reach out and provide support.
“Within our church, it’s helped us see a need and understand that we are not alone in reaching our community. Even though we’re a larger church, there are people we can’t reach [but] the smaller-membership churches can reach. It takes all of us, and all of us need to be strong churches.”
Jim Diehl, director of missions for Aiken Association, praised the process. “The pastors involved with this have said it is giving new birth to their churches,” he said. “We are looking forward to positive, lasting results.” Diehl said he is meeting with Youngblood about “getting other churches in a revitalization mindset.”
Pastor James Young, Calvary Church, said, “I wish I had received this kind of training when I became a pastor 30 years ago.”
“This process has challenged me,” said Adam Hensley, pastor of Rocky Spring Church, Wagener. “It has forced me out of my comfort zone and stirred my spirit to be intentional once again about winning and discipling the lost.”
Price said all of the churches are at the “same place,” never having planted a church or been a part of a mission outpost. “What makes this so exciting is that we are seeing churches – joining hands and working together,” he said. “They are taking the church to the people rather than bringing people to a church building. As many as five of the churches are planning to plant a church to reach people groups who might never come to a traditional church building.”
Now that the one-year process has ended, Price said the Aiken churches will be partnered with an SCBC staff member who will serve as an ombudsman. The assigned staff member will help each church connect with other convention staff and resources regarding assistance and encouragement.
For more information on Intentional Church Multiplication Process: 803-227-6183 or darylprice@scbaptist.org. – SCBC