‘New Life’ is given to Cleveland church
By Parker T. Williamson, The Presbyterian Layman ,Volume 33, Number 1,Posted February 8, 2000, February 8, 2000
CLEVELAND – Plagued with soaring crime rates and widespread drug abuse, Glenville is one of Cleveland’s worst poverty areas. In its midst stands a church called “New Life!”
Glenville New Life
Community ChurchPossibly the liveliest African-American congregation in the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Glenville New Life Community Church draws overflow crowds during its two Sunday worship services. In a presbytery that encompasses metropolitan Cleveland’s wealthiest neighborhoods, this inner-city congregation has produced a stunning statistic. It ranks number one in per capita giving among Presbyterians in Cleveland.
A new beginning
Glenville is a resurrection story. It is the story of a welfare church that lost members every year until the presbytery decided to abandon ship and cut it off the dole. “That was the best thing that ever happened to us,” says Rev. Rick Gillespie-Mobley who, with his co-pastor wife Toby, serves the Glenville church.
In 1988, 189 names appeared on the roll, but many were little more than paper memberships. Average Sunday attendance barely hit 70, and annual giving peaked at $65,000. An outlet for presbytery-sponsored social activism, the congregation had lost its identity as a church.
Members of the congregation felt no sense of ownership. “Since the presbytery paid the bills, the mood of the congregation was that if one joined Glenville, he or she would not have to give,” said Rick. “The people also did little maintenance on the building,” remembered Toby, “because they did not feel that the church belonged to them.”
Lay pastors gather on Saturday for Bible study and pastoral-care training.Bringing back the Bible
So after a failed attempt to merge Glenville with another African-American church, the presbytery called it quits, and in 1988, this congregation found itself on its own. The first thing the Gillespie-Mobleys did was to bring the Bible back to Glenville. “That’s the foundation for everything we do here,” says Sylvia Fields, one of the congregation’s eight lay pastors. The church continues to sponsor service ministries – a bustling week-day program for people of all ages proves that point – but its leaders now know that no ministry can succeed unless it is rooted in God’s Word and motivated by an evangelical passion to win the lost to Jesus Christ.
Having recovered their Biblical foundation, Glenville leaders added “new life” to their church’s name, and they erased the word “Presbyterian” from the sign in front of their sanctuary. “It’s not that we have anything against the denomination,” says one of the elders. “We are grateful for our friendships with other Presbyterians, and we still participate in presbytery and General Assembly events, but we knew that name would hurt us here in Glenville, because it was associated in people’s minds with what we used to be.”
Strong lay leadership
Lay pastors are a key to Glenville’s new life. Hand picked by Rick and Toby, each of these eight persons teaches a weekly Bible study. Through these small-group gatherings, Glenville extends a personal ministry into the heart of the community.
While being part of this elite leadership core is an honor, it also involves a huge commitment. All leaders, both lay pastors and elders, are expected to tithe (contribute one-tenth of their income to the church). They also promise to attend no less than seventy-five percent of the church’s worship services, a commitment that is monitored when all church members sign attendance sheets as they enter the sanctuary.
On Saturday mornings, Rick and Toby train their lay pastors in the Bible passage that they will teach that week, and they work with them on pastoral care skills. This mini-seminary experience has produced a leadership team whose members are equipped to handle any part of the congregation’s ministry.
“As lay pastors, we understand that we are responsible for everything that happens in this church,” says Walter Glen. “If a bathroom needs to be cleaned, we clean it. We lead in prayer, preach when the pastors are away, work with the youth groups, and maintain our church buildings. Whatever needs to be done, we’re here to see that it gets done. That’s our job.”
Shared leadership ripples through this congregation’s membership. Ushers are recruited from all age groups. One usher is only six years old. Those who accept a job are expected to take it as seriously as if it were a paid position. With each job comes rigorous training. Ushers, for example, are required to meet a dress code, practice escorting worshipers down the aisle, greeting people with respect and calling them by name. The role is well rehearsed before new recruits are approved for service, and their performance thereafter is carefully evaluated.
Children’s liturgical dance group rehearses for a performance in the sanctuary.Youth leadership abounds at New Life Community Church. Numerous choirs, instrumental and liturgical dance groups offer younger members a participatory role. Youth members operate the sanctuary sound and light systems, print church bulletins and organize community events designed to share the gospel with area young people. No event is seen only as a social or recreational program. Each is planned with the intention of drawing participants into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Evangelism is at the core of this church’s ministry. Children who come into the church’s after-school day care and hot meal program are welcomed into other church activities that introduce them to Jesus. Church members accompany these children to their homes, become friends with adults whom them meet there, and invite them into the church’s fellowship.
New Life worship
Worship rattles the rafters at New Life Community Church. Everyone gets involved. Lay pastors pray. Choirs representing several age groups sing, as Toby pounds out their rhythms on her tambourine. People pop out of the pews, arms outstretched, and they sway with the music. When the Word is preached, the people shout “Amen.” When Scripture is read, the people follow it in Bibles that they brought with them from home. Adults help their children find the passage and point to the words as they are voiced from the pulpit.
The Gillespie-Mobleys make a point of the fact that worship is not performance, but participation. People are encouraged to “let it happen,” to open themselves up before the Lord. “Loosen up … get real … tell the Lord what’s on your heart.” There are no abstractions here. This is a personal experience of the presence of God.
Nowhere in the service is this personal-but-corporate dimension more obvious than when the pastors call for “testimony.” A woman requests prayer for her elderly neighbor. A seminary student is recognized, and prayers are offered, asking that the Lord keep her faithful to his Word. Joseph Lanton stands with his arm around his young son, proudly announcing that his boy has just been listed on the school honor roll. “Praise God!” the people shout, and several from nearby pews lean over to hug the lad.
Some folk come forward for private prayer with the Gillespie-Mobleys and the lay pastors who flank them in front of the chancel. Pastors and parishioners embrace, and prayers are whispered, while the people surround them with hymns that affirm God’s love.
A time to build
What’s next for this new life congregation? “We want to build,” says Helen Britt, one of the congregation’s lay pastors. “We’ve used up all our space, and we need more room to grow our ministry.” What these leaders have in mind is a functional building that will bring under one roof a host of community ministries. “We have set up a fund,” says Rick. “We would like to have most of the money in hand before we start construction. We don’t want a big debt. We want to own the building, rather than allowing the building to own us.”
New Life Community Church is a study in paradox. Here in one of Cleveland’s poorest neighborhoods is a congregation whose per capita giving of $1,389.53 was the highest among Presbyterians in Cleveland in 1998 and almost double the average in the PCUSA.
Here is a church where more people attend worship services than are on the membership rolls, while most Presbyterian congregations consider that they are doing well if more than 50 percent of their members attend the worship services. Here is a church that began to thrive only after presbytery cut off its funds. Here is a church whose people live on the edge, and their ministry dwarfs congregations that are buffered by endowments. Here, in an area that investors avoid, this congregation plans to build. Here is a church that almost died when it was defined as a social service agency. But once its people reversed their priorities, lifting up Scripture and engaging in evangelism, their church sprang to life, now overflowing with ministries to human need.
Rick Gilespie-Mobley and co-pastor wife TobyHow does one explain these apparent contradictions? Pastors Rick and Toby point to the church’s Book. “Whosoever seeks his life will lose it, but whosoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Measured by a worldly standard, that makes little sense, but the world no longer sets the standard at New Life Community Church. And the One who does has given this congregation everything it needs to succeed.