Yesterday my wife and I visited Baltimore’s New Psalmist Baptist Church (www.newpsalmist.org), along with colleague DJ Chuang. We learned a lot from this church! Current weekly attendance at New Psalmist is about 7,000 adults and children. Here are a few observations about its amazing growth:
1. Most “rules” about doing church “right” say you need adequate parking and convenient service times in order to grow. This church did neither, but it’s still booming! Their first service began at 7:30 a.m., probably the earliest year-round service time I’ve found anywhere in the country! I entered the sanctuary at 7:34 a.m., and was amazed to see the 2,200-seat sanctuary about 75% full. Even more surprising was the energy of the 80-voice choir, and being Palm Sunday there were dancers as well (see blurry photo). The high-energy set the tone for the congregation, who readily joined in.
2. I got there at 7:34 because I had to walk a full 10 minutes because that’s the closest parking space we could find. Early on a Sunday morning! I used Google Earth to count the church’s parking spots (see photo). It has 400 at very most, so the rest of us had to take a shuttle. Even the prospect of rain that morning didn’t keep people from coming to church and, I’d like to believe, bringing their friends as well.
3. As you might guess, the audience grew younger as the morning progressed. The church’s morning services are 7:30, 9:30, and 11:30. What fascinated me is how skillfully the pastor changed his illustrations and metaphors to fit each different phase of the congregation. The core message and Scripture were the same, but each spoke to the different life stages and life experiences represented by that particular service. What a gift!
4. I’ve always been perplexed by how Americans use the word “faith” as if it’s a thing in your pocket rather than a continual action. The senior pastor, Bishop Walter Thomas, was the teacher yesterday and here were some great quotes from his message – truly representing the way he has led this church since becoming senior pastor in 1975:
“Faith belongs to risk takers.”
“If you haven’t taken a risk, you don’t need faith.”
“Faith is a vision of what God has already put in place to take care of you.”
5. Bishop Thomas’s successful tenure (32 years) represents another rule this church breaks. It was founded in 1899 and its first pastor was there for 47 years. His successor went for 26 years (and then died). And within two years the church called its present pastor. Somehow this church has been blessed not to fall into the “sacrifice pastor” syndrome, which usually happens when you follow a long-tenured pastor with little time gap. In fact, just the opposite has happened: This church has sent out many of its sons and daughters into ministry, and in addition Bishop Thomas oversees a network of about 40 churches currently, The Kingdom Association of Covenant Pastors, http://kingdomassociation.org, where he is Bishop and Presiding Prelate.
What churches do you know about that seem to be exceptions to the “rules”? Where do you see unusual growth and risk-taking faith?
Comments