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Churches: 'It's Change or Die'
By Craig Pinley
COTTAGE GROVE, MN (September 23, 2004) - As I look out over the church
landscape of America, I see two types of churches: those that are
changing, and those that are dying. That's it. It's change or die. –
Phil Print in CrossRoads Communique, September 2004
CrossRoads Church senior pastor Phil Print isn't trying to be the
catalyst for Evangelical Covenant Church growth nor is he advocating
that every established church should do what his church did.
But it is clear to him that his congregation's willingness to embrace
change – and the changes the congregation made – have bettered both the
church and the community surrounding it.
CrossRoads Church is not some newfangled church growth experiment. It is
a congregation celebrating 30 years of ministry this year. But it has a
different name and
worship style than it did a decade or two ago and it has a whole lot
more people too. The Twin Cities suburban congregation has a current
average worship attendance of 1,200 per week.
Print, the senior pastor at CrossRoads for 12 years, said that changing
the name of the church from Community Covenant Church to CrossRoads has
actually been helpful for growth. But a service evangelism mindset and
the faithfulness of some core members from more than a decade ago have
also been important. Print said the best is yet to come – the
congregation is expanding its ministry to a satellite church later this
fall – as the congregation considers relocating from its current
facility due to space needs.
A former youth pastor, Print had been senior pastor of First Covenant
Church in Denver, Colorado, before serving in Cottage Grove. He had
previously ministered to a traditional congregation that had a median
age in the 50s. On paper, it seemed to Print that the Covenant church in
Cottage Grove didn't fit his ministry gifts. However, after declining
the church originally, he felt God was calling him to the congregation
and called the church back to accept the call as senior pastor in 1992.
Community Covenant Church had built a new facility a few years before
Print arrived, but the congregation had not experienced the type of
growth they thought would occur as a result of the building project.
"They recognized that they couldn't keep operating the way they were,"
said Print. "They had to do things differently to get different results.
They had built a sanctuary thinking, 'If you build it, they will come.'
But people weren't coming and they were losing people instead of gaining
people."
As he surveyed the neighborhood, Print discovered that many residents
had become disenchanted with the traditional church, although they still
considered themselves spiritual people. He set out to reach those
people, targeting what he called, 'the disgruntled, the tuned out, the
turned off.' That mindset continues today. His latest newsletter article
says as much stating, "We'll change and tweak things and do whatever we
have to in order to reach one more person for Christ."
According to Print, altering the worship service was step one in helping
newcomers feel welcome at the church. Brad and Lisa Kindall,
parishioners who were pursuing master's degree education in theater,
were key people in that process. Brad served for eight years with Print
and – after doing ministry in Chandler, Arizona, for a time – returned
to the
church, where he currently serves as the Outreach Pastor. He has written
many original drama pieces, including the seasons of Lent and Advent.
Print said that two traditional staples of the church's worship - organ
music and a church choir - were phased out. He also had to alter his own
style of preaching. Previously, he had prepared sermons using a pericope
(assigned texts for various Sundays of the church year). Now, he tends
to preach in a sermon series format. The church has also used video
media aids to accentuate the worship experience. Like at many churches,
altering worship styles was painful. However, there were immediate
benefits as well.
"Churches go in different cycles," said Print. Where I came into the
picture was when people were asking, 'We've got this building. How can
we fill it up?' People were saying, 'Change, change, change.' But they
weren't sure they liked the changes. But we had 100 more people show up
from July to the end of September of 1992 and we nearly doubled in size.
And people were mature enough to know that even if they didn't like it
they knew it was working. A majority of the people from 1992 are still
here. And they've seen hundreds of people's lives transformed."
Step two in the transformation of the church occurred when the
congregation began to do service evangelism projects for the community.
A free car wash at the church was the initial project and Print
recalled, "People began coming in and started getting their money out
and they were astounded when we told them we weren't taking money - and
immediately people started coming to our worship services because they
were wondering why we were doing this."
Free garage sales and 12-point oil changes have also been practical ways
to help the community, Print noted. The oil changes are offered free of
charge to single parents and senior citizens and have become a valuable
service to many. Recently, the church hosted
a free community carnival and CrossRoads parishioners donated 85 units
of blood at a church blood drive. Print said that the projects aren't
what matter anymore; it's the willingness to do the projects in the
first place.
Print said, "We moved from being 'inward focused' to being 'outward
focused.' We realized that God had not placed us here to do worship
services and potlucks and we redefined why we were here. And now servant
evangelism is part of our DNA."
Step three – the name change – occurred four years ago. "In our area,
when you say the Covenant church it doesn't compute," said Print. "When
I was surveying people in our First Base (pre-membership) class we were
getting a lot of negativity about our name.
People wondered if we were some sort of cult. Our current church chair
said that it had taken him two years to attend our church for the first
time because of how strange the name of the church sounded to him. I
didn't realize how hard it would be to change our name, but it removed
some barriers."
Some ministries within the congregation also have filled some important
needs to those who are often on the periphery of the church. A group of
women from the church coordinated the "A Touch of Home" ministry in 2003
for those in military service. The group sends weekly materials to
personnel associated with CrossRoads and items are donated by
parishioners into a military trunk display at the church. There is also
a ministry to children with special needs and a ministry to those
suffering from chronic pain.
CrossRoads recently sent out more than two dozen families to support a
new church plant called Emmaus Road Church in Hastings, located 15
minutes southeast of Cottage Grove. Dave Hugare, the church's previous
senior youth pastor, is the church planting pastor. The congregation's
initial preview service is scheduled for October 17.
For more information on CrossRoads, call Print at 651-459-7111 or email
the church at:
aplacetoconect@qwest.net. The church's website is
www.CrossRoadsChurch.cc. More about Emmaus Road Church can be found by
calling 651-216-9989.
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