Small Alameda UMC succeeding with many works

Court Street UMC thinks ‘out of the box' to fire up aging church

By Tom Sartwell, Lay Leader
Court Street United Methodist Church

Court Street has had a congregation of around 70 (35 — 40 active) for 50+ years. Our members have been active in the community, but as a congregation we had been so concerned with staying alive that we didn't take risks. We looked at finances before we looked at what ministry needed to be done.

God acted, so we had to. We found out our part-time pastor of ten years was being transferred. We also found that he had done such a good job of keeping his salary package low that we were unable to meet the salary requirements of even a part-time pastor on our budget. We took a leap of faith. We applied for a $20k grant from emerging congregations to become a multi-cultural congregation (for 80+ years we had been predominantly white). We also asked for a full time pastor. God (through our Conference) gave us what we asked for, and things really began to happen.

Our new pastor, Stephen Lee, obtained funding and enrolled three of us in the school for congregational development. We came back Spirit filled and fired up — ready to move! The hardest part, what we will work on for a long, long time, is the internal part. We must change! It's a slow difficult process, but it is happening. We are moving from "they have to adapt to our ways" to "what can we do to be more inviting/hospitable". PRAISE GOD!

The first thing we did was work on our mission statement. Through cottage meetings, self-examination, more meetings, community prayer and personal prayer, God gave us both a mission and a vision — of the community and ourself:

God calls us to proclaim and advocate by our words, actions and missions:

Our mission statement tells us that God calls us not only to change the world; God calls us to change ourselves. Our mission statement is alive, like our Savior and our faith. Our mission changes as the world changes, and as we change. Already we are outgrowing that mission and need to re-examine it so as to "grow" the statement as God grows us.

We have had several new short-term bible studies, one on the other end of our town so that others could attend more easily.

Our youth group is from the community, since we have few youth members in our congregation. This group has grown from 3 youths to 30+. We decided the first thing to provide was a "safe place", somewhere youth could find sanctuary. We got some old couches and easy chairs, gave them part of a room, and they have created a wonderful, warm space. We now have 12+ adult youth leaders & facilitators instead of 3, and they all have received training in youth work.

We formed a multi-cultural young peoples "Hip-Hop Choir" that was meeting weekly in the Alameda Multi-cultural Community Center (we are a founding member). Elmhurst U.M.C. in Oakland, CA was working on this project with us. This endeavor didn't click, but the idea is still alive as we look at other possibilities. If you are interested please call us. From this we have had 7+ adult inquiries about starting a community adult choir (soon to come). A new choir director and band is also on the agenda. Interested people please call!

Court St. was the Alameda sponsor of the year 2000 "Season for Non-violence". Work on the 2001 "Season" has already started. We ask everyone to recognize the period of time between the anniversaries of the assassinations of Mohandas K. Gandhi on January 30th and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4th as a time of non-violence. We call all people of good conscience to participate, and to observe and practice the principals of non-violence during this season, and all year.

A copy of the booklet "A SEASON FOR NON-VIOLENCE — DAILY PRACTICES THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE" is available from Court St. UMC for postage and printing costs. Please send $2.00 per copy; feel free to make copies of your own for distribution. Court St. successfully sponsored a resolution at our 2000 Annual Conference for our conference and local churches to celebrate and participate in this "Season". Watch for information in the co-coordinated mailings.

As I said, our mission is changing as we do it. We recognize God calling us to new mission as we follow Jesus. God wants us to be about healing. To answer this call, we have worked with the health community to create a "Community Wellness Center" to offer affordable treatment. We have an acupuncturist/acupressurist giving treatment at Court St., and have started a "spiritual 12 step series". Massage therapists will begin treatments in October. We believe the wellness that God calls us to is of the mind and spirit as well as the body. Additional services we hope to offer in the near future are chiropractic adjustments, spiritual direction, yoga and tai chi.

Court St. is working with the Attitudinal Healing Center in Oakland to create a "drumming circle" in Alameda. Drumming is centering, restful, meditative, healing and is an excellent way to non-verbally create community. We don't have much money, but we know that somewhere out there are 15 (conga, E. Indian, or W. African style hand played) drums that need to be used. Please check your storage rooms, closets and garages. If you find one or more that you don't need, please call us. (510) 522-2688

A "healing racism circle" will begin Monday October 2nd, and happen the first Monday of each month. This starts with _ hour of drumming. After the feeling of community is present, people are able to freely talk about their personal experience of racism. Open, non-judgmental dialogue between people of different races begins the healing process. Knowing and living in community with each other continues the process. We pray that our children will finish the healing.

Working together to accomplish God's will is essential. We must come together in commonality, not divide due to difference. A wonderful example of this happened recently. A group of Hindus from a nearby ashram approached us asking to use our kitchen. They want to provide food for a homeless program operated by the Catholic Church. Food cooked by Hindus in a Methodist church distributed by a Catholic mission to the homeless! Praise God!

Court Street United Methodist Church does not have the money or the volunteers to do what we are doing. We have faith that we are doing God's work. We have faith that God will provide. God has provided what we feel is a real miracle. We will continue to do God's work in the world, and God will continue to provide. We now know that, holding our Brother Jesus hand, we can accomplish the impossible. We also know that if we can help work miracles, you can. Our prayers are with you. Take His hand and start doing.

Contact Tom Sartwell by e-mail through tomsartwell@yahoo.com

You can write to Court Street United Methodist Church, 3005 Van Buren St., Alameda, CA 94501-4837 and telephone (510) 522-2688

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