Beeson Update: Growth at Evangelical United Methodist Church
by Heidi E. Heater, Editorial Assistant, Beeson International Center, Asbury Theological Seminary
Although Evangelical United Methodist Church (EUMC) in Raccine, Wis., is located on a lot with no parking, that doesn’t hinder their growth. Since Creighton Kaye (’03 D.Min.) and his wife, Karin, began pastoring there about 14 years ago, the congregation has more than doubled in size. The congregation has grown from 280 to more than 600 in average Sunday morning attendance.
“What makes our church great is that we have so many people who are first generation Christians,” Kaye said, “They still know what it’s like to live without God. They can still taste that grace.”
During his years as a doctor of ministry student at Asbury Seminary, Kaye focused his study on church growth through increased spiritual depth. He found that the health of the Sunday school class, or small group, directly increased the passionate spirituality of the overall church.
“Asbury Seminary balances the Great Commandment with the Great Commission,” he said. “Some focus on the social gospel, but forget the personal gospel or vice versa. But Asbury does a nice job of realizing that the personal and social aspect of the gospel are essential in growing a church. Asbury understands that the Wesleyan tradition is usually a both/and rather than an either/or proposition.”
EUMC has three services each Sunday and all are full. Children, youth and college students provide a lot of energy to the services. Kaye and his staff believe that children are integral to everything they do and seek to build a family-centered church.
The EUMC staff have re-branded their family life ministry with the Orange Concept from the reThink group. According to the whatisorange.com website, the concept “combines the critical influences of the light of the church (yellow) and the love of the family (red)” to make orange and bridge the generation gap.
“We are not interested in simply gathering a crowd; that is fairly easy to do in today’s society,” Kaye said. “Our goal is to make healthy disciples. We don’t want our kids to abandon the faith after they graduate. We want them to be spiritual leaders in their present and future realms of influence.”
By engaging the entire family, discipleship flows through every age group on Sundays, as well as in the home.
“My heart is in mentoring,” Kaye said. “I love discipleship. I evangelize so I have someone to spiritually invest in, so they can stand on my shoulders and go farther than I can.”
Asbury celebrates the lives changed by grace through the ministries of Evangelical UMC.