It has been 2 full months since I last posted. I gave myself some time off after closing the Akron ministry, but now it is time to get going again. One of the projects I have already begun is church surveys. This is important to me because it is important to have some understanding of the relative health of the churches in Northwest Iowa, particularly the independent Christian churches and Churches of Christ.
November 29 I visited the Alta Church of Christ. In the past I filled the pulpit there several times, but it has been close to 10 years since I had been there. I went on line to check for service times. There is no practical on-line presence. One can get their name and address, but no activities, services or times. The church is without a pastor at this time, but a blog or web site with basic information would not be hard to do. Without service time information, I proceeded on the assumption that worship was at 9 and Sunday school was at 10 a.m. because that was their former service times. I was wrong. The times were reversed. There was no adult Sunday school that day.
It was good to worship with old friends. There were about 50 in attendance that day. Music was exactly split between contemporary and traditional--4 of each. Matt Wentz was the guest speaker.
CONCLUSIONS: There appeared to be enough youth in the congregation to have an effective ministry in the community, but they need good leadership. While I received a warm greeting that Sunday, I am not sure that the average visitor would want to come back. I was remembered, new people need the same kind of greeting. There are some simple things that could be done immediately. I'm wondering if this church might be a candidate to be a satellite campus of a larger church?
Our Father's Blessings,
Tom
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