| The Varysburg Valley Gospel Church was a small-membership rural church that had, along with its community, been in decline for decades. Upon our arrival in November 2009, we found a congregation of fewer than 25 in attendance, with a median age of 60.5 years. In addition, there were no young families or children. Although the church had maintained a food/clothing ministry outreach for over 15 years, there had been no increase in church attendance as a direct result of that ministry. The previous pastor warned us that without an intentional vision for the future, the church would eventually die.;Our revitalization strategy would be to introduce Celtic-style evangelism to the existing ministry outreach. Like St. Patrick in his mission to the Celts, we would use friendship, hospitality, servanthood and personal prayer ministry to bring people into fellowship with Christians at the food/clothing ministry outreach building located across the street from the church. The ultimate goal would be to form these pre-Christian people into disciples of Christ.;Over a four-year period, the use of Celtic-style evangelism resulted in a quantitative 79% increase in church attendance (including 12 children for a Sunday School and Youth Group), and lowered the congregation's median age to 47.5 years. A qualitative analysis revealed significant spiritual growth among both the newer attendees and the original core members. This intervention of Celtic-style evangelism has revitalized not only the church, but also the local community. |
