Spirited revival

In many ways the story of First Christian Church in Little Rock mirrors that of mainline Protestant churches across the country.

Since the heyday of the mid-1960s and 1970s, attendance had fallen. The church’s complex of buildings, once filled with the sounds of exuberant young people, grew quiet. The pews that had been filled with hundreds were now sparsely populated with a little more than 100 most Sundays.

It seemed the glory days were over.

“We were an older church with older people and like a lot of other congregations, especially mainline congregations, we were just sort of sitting there waiting for people to come knock on our door,” said longtime member Bob Gee.

But members of the congregation weren’t ready to walk away from more than 180 years of history. So in 2010 they embarked on a new journey, one of change, in hopes of revitalizing their once thriving church.

The program is called New Beginnings and it’s a resource offered to Disciples of Christ churches on the decline. With help from a consultant, congregations look at their strengths and weaknesses, as well as their mission to see if it’s relevant today or if changes need to be made.

Jim Gee, who along with his brother has been active in the church since 1950, said that after the assessment church members gathered together for a meeting and then spent the spring and summer of 2011 meeting in small groups to discuss the future.

They quickly decided against closing the church - although some congregations that go through the process do decide to shut their doors for good.

“There was hardly a blink” when that option was mentioned before members moved on to rework the church’s mission, Bob Gee said. They also weren’t open to selling the property or merging with another church. They weren’t giving up.

DEEP ROOTS

This is a congregation with deep roots in the community.

The Gees believe it’s the oldest congregation in the city, dating to 1824. The story goes that early members met in the back room of a tavern in downtown Little Rock on Sunday mornings. They eventually built a building that became known as the Town Clock Church at the corner of Third and Scott streets.

In the early 1900s another building was built at 10th and Louisiana streets. The congregation remained there for more than 50 years before moving to a 10-acre plot, the site of a former drive-in theater on what was then the edge of town on North Mississippi Street. The congregation has been there 51 years.

It was after the move to Mississippi that the boom happened and the congregation grew and grew, at times topping 400 members. Then the decline began.

The church wasn’t dead by any means. Various groups gathered there each week and they had an active scouting program. The weekly food pantry also drew dozens of needy residents. And while the preschool was popular, it didn’t bring in active new members.

First Christian wasn’t alone.

Scott Thumma, professor of the sociology of religion at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut, is on the staff of Hartford Institute of Religion Research. He said the mainline decline began about 1965 and continues today.

Thumma said the churches declined for many reasons - lower birth rates, an unwillingness to change their style of worship, a lack of evangelistic efforts and not enough new churches.

“They weren’t planting new churches where the people in the country were moving to - suburbs in the South and Sunbelt … and they had too many where they were leaving,” he said.

According to the General Social Surveys conducted by the National Opinion Research Center in the 1970s and 1980s, roughly 60 percent of adults identified themselves as Protestant, including mainline, evangelical and black adherents. By 2000, the figure had dropped to 54 percent and the slide continued.

In their 2012 report “‘Nones’ on the Rise,” the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life highlighted the growth of the religiously unaffiliated, now 20 percent of the population. The study also revealed that for the first time in Pew’s research history, Protestants were no longer a majority. The percentage of adults who described themselves as Protestant had dropped to 48 percent, with mainline Protestants making up only 15 percent of the population.

SETTING GOALS

Bob Gee said the congregation realized they were “sitting on a jewel” - 10 acres ripe for some sort of community outreach. They also had plenty of space for worship services and meetings, but the buildings were underutilized. They needed to open their doors and their land to the community, he said.

“The decision was we needed to become a mission-driven church, to reach out and offer things beneficial to the community,” Gee said.

By fall 2011, the congregation had decided on three goals. The first was “connecting people to wisdom,” which meant offering workshops that would be helpful to the community. The second, “connecting kids to a safe haven,” would entail partnering with a local school to offer after-school tutoring and activities. And the third was “connecting people to a place,” which meant opening the campus to the community.

They began to implement the ideas, sending out fliers and inviting residents in the neighborhood for workshops on tax preparation, health and other topics. They utilized a portion of the land for a community garden and taught classes on eating healthfully, growing vegetables and preserving the harvest.

An after-school program was started and each Wednesday during the school year more than 20 children stop in for tutoring and activities. The long-dormant tennis court is being refurbished and two outdoor volleyball courts have been added. The walking trail has been spruced up and expanded.

“It became apparent what we could do for the community,” Jim Gee said.

At first, the garden started small with a few 4-by-8-foot boxes used by church members. As church members spread the word and neighbors noticed the blooming plants and stopped by, it grew. This year, the church has 90 boxes and more than half are rented by nonmembers, as well as some new members.

Bob Gee said the boxes are $20 per year and filled with a “super soil” mixture. Participants are also able to participate in free gardening workshops.

Jim Gee said he has seen a huge change in the past few years. In 2009, a member suggested a community garden and the idea wasn’t well received, he said.

“It was difficult to get folks to agree to put them in and now we have 90,” he said. “We’re much more receptive.”

Ann Herring, 53, recently moved to Little Rock from Conway, where she was active in a community garden. As she drove by First Christian Church on the day she and her husband were closing on their new house she saw a sign about the garden. She rushed to sign the mortgage papers, unloaded some belongings and headed straight for the church.

“I ran up there and got my garden before I moved in,” she said.

So far, she has planted tomatoes and peppers and said the garden has definitely made her more interested in checking out the church.

“I’m thinking of attending services there,” she said.

WELCOMING NEIGHBORS

Last year the church also held its first SpringFest as a way to reach out to their neighbors. This year’s event starts with a basketball shootout at 9 a.m. today. Members will open a children’s garden at 10 and a blessing of the gardens will follow. Other activities will include arts and crafts, tips on container gardening by Chris Hiryak, crafts for kids by Home Depot and a bicycle rodeo. Little Rock Animal Village will bring their mobile unit to showcase pets available for adoption.

At 11, several of Little Rock’s popular food trucks will open for lunch. Games also will be available, including bocce, volleyball, horseshoes and croquet. An inflatable playground will be on the east lawn and church grounds will be open for kite flying. The tennis courts will also be open and Brian Colton from Central Arkansas Tennis Academy will offer tips on playing.

The morning will continue with a cooking demonstration by chef Travis Meyers, more basketball and a group walk on the church’s walking trail. Representatives from Baptist Health will offer information on their walking club and free blood pressure and blood sugar tests.

A gospel concert will begin at noon and at 1 p.m. the food court will close. But Bob Gee said everyone is welcome to stay the afternoon to play, walk and get to know one another.

“We’re trying to become a family,” he said. “With the age our congregation was reaching, we knew we had to do something. It’s sad to sit around and see more funerals than people joining the church.”

Thumma said the efforts at First Christian align with those of other mainline churches that have successfully stopped their downward spiral. In the religion research institute’s report, Facts on Growth 2010-2011, they found that churches on the decline are dependent on their own internal culture. Those that are growing are “spiritually vital and alive,” and are engaging in ministry in innovative ways and have a clear mission and purpose, which was what the congregation of First Christian Church set out to do.

These days when Bob Gee stops by the church he sees signs of hope.

“You can go to the church almost any day and see people teaching their kids to ride bikes, people in the garden, walking on the trail, playing volleyball,” he said.

A handful of newcomers have joined the church and others are attending worship services more often.

“People are becoming involved,” Gee said. “They may never have darkened the door if we hadn’t reached out.

“I look back and think we looked and acted like a dead church and now we look alive. It’s great to see people on our property doing something.”

The church is at 1500 N. Mississippi St. Information is available online at fcclr.com.