Agape Christian Church in La Porte, Indiana, has grown from an average worship attendance of 240 to 325 (35 percent) over the past two years.
From Starter Church to Lifetime Opportunity
By Kent E. Fillinger
Perhaps you”ve heard about starter marriages. Some people these days enter their first marriage expecting it to be one of several short-term experiments rather than a lifetime commitment.
Some ministers fresh out of Bible college view their first ministry with similar feelings. Perhaps no one calls them starter churches, but the minister”s mind-set often is to get some experience at his first congregation and then to move on to bigger and better ministry ventures.
When Rod Nielsen graduated from Lincoln (Illinois) Christian College in 1981, God called him to serve as the senior minister at Agape Christian Church in La Porte, Indiana. Agape Christian was a small church in a small town. Nielsen figured this was going to be his starter church and that God eventually would lead him to serve at a larger church.
Twenty-eight years have passed since then, and Nielsen has learned a valuable leadership lesson. God has humbled Nielsen over the years and helped him focus on serving the people God has given him and not to lust after another “bride” who might look more attractive.
“I have learned how to lead the congregation I have, not the one I wanted to have,” Nielsen said.
In 2004, Nielsen completed a doctoral degree from Grace College. His dissertation detailed how senior ministers can effectively handle the dynamics of serving in a smaller church when it seems everyone is enamored with the megachurch. Through this process, Nielsen realized God had called him to serve the congregation at Agape and that he needed to focus on the lives of the people who were at the church and not to be consumed with numbers and statistics.
Positive Results
In addition to learning biblical contentment as a leader, Nielsen discovered that commitment is one of the primary reasons he has been able to serve the same congregation for 28 years. Instead of running away when there is a problem in the church, he works through the problem while allowing God to guide the process.
Nielsen”s perseverance and faithfulness have gradually produced positive results. Agape Christian was the second fastest growing medium-sized church over the last two years. The church has grown 35 percent from an average worship attendance of 240 to 325.
Nielsen says four factors have contributed to the church”s recent growth. First, Nielsen praises the eldership of the church, noting that the church”s six elders are very supportive, innovative, and open to trying new things. The elders lead by example and from a godly perspective. Nielsen also is thankful the elders consistently support and protect him as senior minister.
The second growth factor is the church”s strong commitment to preaching and teaching the Bible without giving in to political correctness or cultural trends.
A third reason for the church”s recent growth is a sizeable group of tremendous worship band participants. The church has four complete worship bands that can “play anything,” Nielsen says. Over the last 10 years Agape has worked hard to create a worship environment that is energetic, fun, and focused on Christ.
The final contributor to the church”s growth is that people feel the presence of God when they worship and serve at Agape.
Saturday Night EPIC
Agape has a Saturday night worship service, which is rare among medium-sized churches. Several years ago, the leadership came to understand the Sunday morning worship service was not connecting with a younger generation. Agape also realized no other church in the area offered a Saturday night worship option.
Nielsen assigned oversight of the Saturday night service to the church”s youth minister, empowering him to create and design a worship experience focused on reaching teens and 20-somethings. The response has been positive with an average of 50 people attending. The Saturday night service reached a demographic the church had not connected with on Sundays. Called EPIC, and with its own Web site, it is almost a “church within a church” model, with topics and themes that stand alone from the Sunday morning focus.
Giving and Growth
Agape is in the final stages of completing a building expansion to add more space for students and children. As a first step, leaders asked church members for their ideas about what they should build. When they combined all of the suggestions, the price tag for the project totaled $1.7 million””more than the church could possibly handle.
So the church leaders employed a “community ownership” approach to revise the “dream facility” into a workable plan. Church members attended meetings to decide what aspects of the plan had the greatest value and the highest priority.
They eventually agreed on a $470,000 expansion project. Nielsen presented the need to the congregation and taught on the biblical principle of stewardship, and then he asked members to make three- to five-year financial commitments. The financial commitments from the congregation totaled $410,000.
Agape Christian is also committed to global outreach, giving 17 percent of its total budget to missions. Several years ago, the church started tithing to global missions with the intention of increasing giving 1 percent each year. The ultimate goal is to increase such outreach to 25 percent.
The next phase in the journey is to prepare the church for life after Nielsen retires. What started out as a short-term assignment has evolved into a lifetime opportunity and, for that, Nielsen is grateful.
Kent E. Fillinger is president of 3:STRANDS Consulting (3strandsconsulting.com) and associate director of projects and partnerships with CMF International (Indianapolis, Indiana).
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