God bless you

–by Judi Merritt

In the early 1990s, a group of pastors of smaller membership churches in one South Carolina county got together for prayer, study, discussion and fellowship. Out of that grew the Greater Laurens County Cluster of Smaller Membership Churches, an exciting model for ministry that is responding creatively to the call to “do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with your God.”

Working together, these congregations have sent seventeen tons of relief goods to the hurricane-ravaged Dominican Republic. Moreover, members go to Haiti and the Dominican Republic on mission trips each year. Closer to home, the cluster has partnered with students at Presbyterian College in Clinton in mission trips and service projects in the community. The cluster also hosts international students each Christmas through Christmas International House, a hospitality and peacemaking program of the denomination.

Every summer the cluster sponsors a week-long residential camp for youth. This program of Bible study, puppetry, mime, mission education, journalism, and recreation offers youth ways to live out their faith in the larger community. Activities range from cleaning up cemeteries and repairing homes to visiting in nursing homes and centers for the disabled.

Cluster churches have come together in worship and musical programs as well as meals and special prayer events. Currently, the cluster is developing an older adult ministry.

From worship to outreach, from youth to older adults, this cooperative parish model is a practical working out of Presbyterian connectedness. Not only are these smaller churches surviving, but they are reaching out beyond themselves, responding to Christ’s mandates to go and make disciples and to minister in his name.

—Herb Codington, Ann Felton, Sadie Hunter Goldsmith, Hampton Hunter, Lawrence Peebles, and Lucie Eggleston, Greater Laurens County Cluster of Smaller Membership Churches

Prayer
Holy God, you have called your people into communities of faith with the promise of your presence where two or three are gathered. For rural congregations challenged by declining populations and inner-city churches buffeted by changing neighborhoods, pour out your spirit of love, hope, and purpose to inspire them with your vision for their future. We ask all this in Christ’s name. Amen.

Daily Lectionary and Hymns
2 Sam. 7:1–14a
The God of Abraham Praise
PH 488, HB 89, WB 587

Ps. 89:20–37
How Firm a Foundation
PH 361, HB 369, WB 425

Eph. 2:11–22
The Church’s One Foundation
PH 442, HB 437, WB 582
Make Us One, Lord
STF 2224

Mark 6:30–34, 53–56
Come and Find the Quiet Center
STF 2128
Come Away with Me
STF 2202

Daily Lectionary
Ps. 19, 150 Ps. 81, 113
1 Sam. 23:7–18
Rom. 11:33–12:2; Matt. 25:14–30

Originially available from http://www.pcusa.org/missionyearbook/Jul/19.htm

Three small Presbyterian congregations in Laurens County, South Carolina—Bethany (126 members), Lydia (30 members), and Todd Memorial (42 members)—are now functioning as one cooperative parish, experiencing renewal in both their congregational life and in their missional outreach. Together they have energy and synergy—the capacity to do more than they were able to do going solo.

From the formation of the parish, the three congregations’ relationship has been lay-driven. Seven ministry teams have been formed (Older Adults, Youth, Local Mission, Global Mission, Nurture, Fellowship, and Worship) incorporating members from each of the three congregations. They are building relationships, exchanging ideas, and making plans for in-depth, service-oriented ministry together. Beyond joint worship and study (most recently Reggie McNeal’s book The Present Future), they have launched two very significant initiatives:

• With the assistance of church consultant George Bullard (Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your Congregation), the three congregations have begun an eight-month “spiritual strategic journey” that includes “100 Days of Prayer and Discernment.” Each congregation will be divided into triplets, meeting ten times during the “100 Days” to prayerfully discern what the Holy Spirit is calling the congregation to be and to do. After training and meeting together for initial prayer and preparation, the excitement is growing!
• The Local Mission Team is focusing on the Lydia Mill Community of three hundred households to do hands-on ministry. The other congregations in the community – Church of God, Pentecostal Holiness, and Baptist Church – are now joining the Presbyterians in this effort, as are the city manager and students from nearby Presbyterian College.

These three smaller membership congregations – Bethany, Lydia, and Todd, the “BLT Parish,” – are beginning to discover what God can do when they combine their strengths to cooperate in His mission under the guidance and power of His Spirit.

–Rev. Herb Codington