Elk City, Lone Wolf and Altus are scattered small towns far from any metropolitan city, but the three Lutheran Churches that were once teetering on the edge of discouragement are now in a vital period of rebirth. Through the leadership of a visionary pastor and a "growth council" that he formed, they have banded together in a creative partnership called Lutheran Ministries of Southwest Oklahoma. Paul Wilkes details the vital signs of excellence springing out of this beautiful partnership in the first chapter of his book Excellent Protestant Congregations.
Wilkes: ...Bill Geis, the new pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church, was bringing more baggage than he had stuffed into his 1973 AMC Hornet. A middling seminary student at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis who had skipped more classes than he cared to admit, he was -- on one hand -- facing his assignment with a certain resignation. It was the obligatory first assignment to a small, rural church, and he had secretly vowed to himself that if he could last three years in this (using the term advisedly) godforsaken part of southwest Oklahoma, he would consider it an accomplishment.
But there was something else in twenty-seven-year-old Bill Geis' makeup, a counterbalance to that wariness. There was a fervor, an excitement. As conflicted a soul as he was, Bill Geis wanted to make a difference...
Bill Geis had begun a process of transformation that has created new life in the church.
Wilkes identifies three points of excellence that are notable in this transformation:
This middling seminary student became focused on renewing the liturgy of worship for his churches. Not content with the mediocre repetition of what he described as something like thirteenth century Gregorian chant, he brought into the worship a lively expression of 19th century gospel. He took old melodies and wrote new lyrics, printing them in the bulletin. His leadership team built a stage around the altar to provide space for the choir to sing and skits to be performed to visibly support the message and theme of worship. While the traditional form of worship remains entirely Lutheran, he writes specific confessions that relate to the day's scripture. These efforts are notable not because of his brilliance in creating phenomenal works of art, but because he has poured himself out in the creation of something unique for the specific day and the specific people who show up. His love for the people and the Lord are visibly demonstrated by his attention to the details of worship.
A second creative opportunity was seized in forming a new group of leaders in the church called a "Growth Council." Recognizing how difficult it is for an existing group to embrace and live into a new purpose, he allowed the existing leadership teams of the church to continue to do their work the way they had always done it. But he added a group outside the ordinary governance structure. It is an open group, anyone can drop in or drop out at any time. But when it meets it is for people to put forward creative ideas for improving the life of the community (and therefore the church). No idea is too bizarre... In this forum any church member can have their say.... and from it, leaders emerged to take charge. This growth council has become a powerful instrument for transformation in these rural settings.
The third point of excellence was forming creative partnerships with other churches, within and across denominational lines. None of the churches in Lone Wolf had enough youth for a vital ministry to emerge, but through the leadership of the Lutheran Ministries of Southwest Oklahoma, Methodist, Baptist, Disciples of Christ and Lutheran teens now have a program with enough kids to create a critical mass and allow for substantial programming.
Bill Geis has had a huge impact on these communities by pouring himself into creating a renewed worship experience, by creating a forum where leadership could be unleashed, and by creating vital partnerships to accomplish far more than any one church could do on its own. Could you do such things in your setting?
Pick up a copy of Wilkes' book on Amazon.com.
