by Courtney St. Onge, Doris Boyd and John Wimberly
At its November 18th meeting, National Capital Presbytery sold three significant pieces of church property. In the current PC(USA) climate, it wasn’t an unusual action. The sale of a piece of prime church property and the closing of a congregation are increasingly frequent events in the lives of many of our presbyteries. However, to focus obsessively on what has died is to miss what is living. Over the next few months, The Presbyterian Outlook will highlight the ministries of several PC(USA) congregations located in urban, suburban and small town settings. The Presbyterian Outlook does so in an attempt to bring to light the work of thriving, vital congregations around the country.
Our articles begin with a look at two exciting ministries in Charlotte, North Carolina. Covenant Presbyterian Church and C.N. Jenkins Memorial Presbyterian Church are different in many ways. However, they share a common theme: inspiring worship that is leading to creative ministry in the community and beyond.
C.N. JENKINS MEMORIAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Twenty-two years ago, Jerry L. Cannon was installed as the pastor of C.N. Jenkins Memorial Presbyterian Church (CNJ) in Charlotte, North Carolina. His arrival began a process of growth and revival for the congregation. As a result of aggressively pursuing its ministry vision (Recruit, Respond, Revive, Rejoice), today the congregation is one of the fastest growing African American Presbyterian churches in the Charlotte Presbytery, the Mid-Atlantic Synod and the PC(USA) with a membership of 870 and a budget of $770,000.
Although Cannon was considered to be a young pastor when he arrived, he brought with him a commitment to some of the traditional worship styles and rituals that had been practiced in Presbyterian churches for many years. As the congregation began to grow with younger members joining from various denominations, however, change became necessary — especially in the worship style. Responding to the different worship needs of the community, CNJ developed three morning worship services. The services are designed to respond to the spiritual needs of different age groups. The 9:30 service has the largest attendance with average ages of 35-50. The average ages at the 8:00 service range from 55-70 while those attending the 11:00 service range from 45-60 in age.
Much of CNJ’s uniqueness is rooted in the experience of African Americans and people of color. An example is the call and response during the sermon. Each service provides a worship experience filled with fervor and vitality. Pastor Cannon’s sermons are well-known in Charlotte for their moving, inspirational power that motivates and empowers members to become Christian servant leaders in order to make a difference in someone else’s life.
In addition to powerful worship experiences, CNJ serves its community and membership with approximately 35 different ministries that are local and global in nature.
- CNJ’s Freedom School is a literacy-based summer learning program designed for children from low-income families at risk of school failure. It is built on a model created by Marian Wright Edelman of the Children’s Legal Defense Fund. The school supports children and families in five essential areas: high quality academic enrichment, parent and family involvement, social action and civic engagement, intergenerational servant leadership development, and nutrition, health and mental health.
- CNJ provides transportation to and from the congregation’s worship for women and men from substance abuse centers. The pastor and members also lead worship services at the centers.
- CNJ’s mission goes global with teams of inter- generational members who serve in Dangriga, Belize. The teams provide a week of Vacation Bible School, serving about 200 hundred children daily, including breakfast, lunch and a snack.
While CNJ practices and follows Presbyterian policies and procedures, the fact that CNJ is open, affirming and practical with its sermons, ministries, outreach programs and worship style display its willingness to be innovative. As Cannon likes to stress, “We are not a perfect church, but we are faithful.” Moving forward, CNJ’s goal remains: “Making church attractive for the unchurched … Engaging for those who keep coming back.”
COVENANT PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
For a young African American man, Covenant Presbyterian was not the obvious choice for a Charlotte church home. But Justin Perry had just married his sweetheart Lee Bush, a lifelong member of this largely white congregation, and agreed to make a faithful go of it. In the past five years, both Justin and Lee have served as youth advisors, mission trip chaperones, mentors and more. In 2013, Justin was installed as a ruling elder and, with others, began work on the design of a new worship service that would attract people for whom Covenant isn’t an obvious choice. “When I decided to make Covenant my home church, I wanted to be at a place that really welcomes all people and have it feel like home,” Justin said. “This has made me excited to invite friends here.” Seeing a fresh way to live into Covenant’s vision to “gladly invite all people into a transformational experience of faith,” teaching elder and head of staff Bob Henderson has strongly supported efforts to expand and diversify the church’s worship life. A new worship service — with a contemporary style and a more casual setting — is innovative while preserving and conveying the church’s essential truths. The Scripture and sermon in this service are the same as the more traditional sanctuary services, but worship in the new service also includes interactive conversations using Twitter posts from participants.
After more than a year of planning, the new service launched in September and is drawing young adults from the surrounding neighborhood, older members, teens and even young children to a lively — some might even say loud — expression of joyful worship. Between 100 and 200 people have been participating each week. Combined with increases in other services, Covenant’s overall average Sunday attendance is up more than 50 percent in the past six years.
In addition to innovation in worship, Covenant’s outreach to its community has attracted and engaged new members of all ages. Tricia Smith is one example. She and her husband, Kevin, moved to Charlotte seven years ago and enrolled their daughter at Covenant’s preschool. She was pleased with the faith community she found and its emphasis on serving the neighborhood. “Mission and outreach has always been close to my heart, but to be honest, that’s where it stayed as we busily created a home and raised our family,” she said. “I do feel God had a hand in placing us at Covenant and drawing me to the vibrant mission culture and the emphasis in serving the larger community. A few years ago I challenged myself, carved out a few hours, and said ‘yes’ to joining the Dorcas Circle, a mission-focused women’s group. This led to my involvement in many more service ministries.” Tricia has since volunteered as a reader with local school children and traveled with a Covenant team to Reynosa, Mexico, as one of nearly 950 people who served off-campus in some type of mission endeavor this year.
On September 7, when the first notes of the new service began, both Justin Perry and Tricia Smith were there, welcoming new friends and a new day in the life of the church. At Covenant, creative worship and committed mission efforts bring many people together in Christ who might otherwise never know one another, let alone serve God together.
COMMON THEMES BETWEEN BOTH CHURCHES
This quick look at the vibrant ministries of C.N. Jenkins and Covenant reveals a number of common themes:
- The lead pastors, Jerry Cannon and Bob Henderson, are not afraid to innovate. They encourage their congregations to take the risks that are necessary to grow and evolve as a community of faith. Some circles may find it to be politically incorrect to stress the importance of strong leadership from teaching elders in Presbyterian congregations. However, it is clear that strong pastoral leadership is necessary to grow a congregation’s overall membership. Solid preaching is also central to the life of these congregations.
- Worship is at the heart of congregational life. The leadership at Covenant and CNJ realize that strong worship fuels strong mission work. Both communities offer a variety of worship options (time, music, liturgical style) in an attempt to engage as many people as possible. The idea that one worship template will satisfy everyone is challenged by these two models for ministry.
- Without mission, worship becomes one of those empty “festivals” that Amos said God despises (Amos 5:21). Both CNJ and Covenant have built an impressive number of ways in which their members can serve the world.
Their mission work also helps explain the attraction millennials have to these congregations. Millennials have been doing volunteer community work since they were in high school. If they aren’t given meaningful opportunities to serve the community, they will not become engaged in our congregations.
The list of vibrant, faithful ministries in Charlotte extends far beyond the discipleship of C.N. Jenkins and Covenant. However, they serve as inspiring examples of what is possible when the leadership of a congregation takes the risks required to serve God in the 21st century.
COURTNEY ST. ONGE is communications director of Covenant Presbyterian Church. DORIS BOYD is a ruling elder at C.N. Jenkins Memorial Presbyterian Church. JOHN WIMBERLY is the Outlook’s interim consulting editor.
