By Barbara Sadler, Path 1 Associate
Several years ago when the church I have been a part of for the past thirty-four years decided to “plant” a second campus, an intentional decision was made to follow some of the practices of our founder, John Wesley.
Not only did Wesley promote the theology of grace, he also married social gospel with Christian gospel, beginning with God’s Grace given to us, and then His Grace extended to others through us.
With that as our focus we planted the Community Life Center eight miles down the highway from our original campus. That second campus was centered in our local mission field. It was a place given to the people of our community for their use throughout the week. Of course, worship was held there each Sunday morning. Now worship is held three times each Sunday morning as more and more people of the community have come to be a part of this grace-filled congregation.
Just as Wesley took the Gospel to where the people were in his time, we took the Gospel to where the population growth was at the time. Just as Wesley utilized popular tunes (bar tunes) of his time, our worship service utilized the more popular “contemporary” songs. Just as Wesley focused on bringing new souls to Christ, our focus was on bringing new Christians into the family of faith. We went to them, we embraced them, and we brought them into our faith community.
One man who came to be an integral part of the Community Life Center was first introduced to it when he was court ordered there for community service as the result of a DUI infraction. Because of a bad church experience in his early life, he had pledged to never set foot in a church again; however, he didn’t recognize the Community Life Center building as a church. He worked his hours, he met the people, and little by little he was pulled in by God’s Grace extended to him through the people there. After joining, he eventually became the chef for the Tuesday night community dinners at that campus and the Wednesday night community dinners at the original campus, as well as any other meal offered at our church.
That was in the 90’s. Now fast forward to the mid 2000’s. Our church decided to plant a third campus, and we took Wesley’s practices even further. We made the commitment to “plant” in a non-religious environment where the Word is preached in the open air. ”Worship at the Water” is held on Pensacola Beach at a local restaurant’s outside bar. People come dressed in their beach attire, listen to sermons about the Grace of God, and meet people who demonstrate God’s Grace.
One Saturday night a drunken homeless man fell asleep under the band stage. Imagine his surprise when he was awakened to the sounds of our band tuning up for worship. He stayed and listened. He returned and he joined. He learned of the Grace of God through the people who participate in Worship at the Water.
Our church doesn’t talk a lot about John Wesley, but we do practice his theology, and it nets results. What’s a day at the beach like at your church?
