Small churches can be transformed, too Mary Jacobs, May 4, 2009
UMR PHOTOS BY MARY JACOBS
The Rev. Ronnie Miller Yow, pastor of Wesley Chapel UMC, shares his church transformation story at the Small Church Leadership Institute.
By Mary Jacobs Staff Writer
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.—The Rev. Ronnie Miller Yow has shed many tears over his congregation at Wesley Chapel UMC in Little Rock, Ark.
Since joining the small church as pastor in July 2003, he has conducted 42 funerals. Equally heartbreaking, though, was the fact that the small congregation of about 80 regular attendees—average age 75—wasn’t reaching out beyond its own walls.
In 2003, most of the church’s members were older, affluent African Americans. But noticeably absent in the pews were students from Philander Smith College, even though Wesley Chapel is located right on the campus.
“I was the only young adult attending regularly,” said Mr. Miller Yow. “It was like preaching to my grandmother.”
Today, Wesley Chapel attracts a crowd of college kids every Sunday morning. Average attendance is up to 150-plus, and about half of those attendees are college students. Students work in the church’s food pantry, direct the choir and play the piano.
Mr. Miller Yow shared the story of Wesley Chapel’s turnaround recently at the Small Church Leadership Institute, held at Mount Sequoyah Conference Center in Fayetteville, Ark. About 100 pastors and laity from small churches attended.
“Wesley Chapel is just one block from the Arkansas Conference office, so we’ve been able to watch how a church that was very sleepy and near end of its institutional life came alive with a younger generation and new energy,” said Bob Crossman, director of the Institute, who invited Mr. Miller Yow to speak.
The first step in turning around any church, Mr. Miller Yow said: “You’ve got to get to know the people you’re called to serve.”
For Mr. Miller Yow, that meant “eating a lot of casseroles.” Virtually every Sunday in the first few years as pastor, church members invited him to their homes for dinner.
Another task was confronting stereotypes. For Wesley Chapel, he said, the perception was that “you had to have a college degree, at a minimum a master’s degree to go there. No students ever attended, even though the church is located right on the campus.”
Next, Mr. Miller Yow began to encourage the congregation to make Sunday morning worship more energetic to attract younger people.
“We had to tear down and rebuild our worship,” he said. “It was existing only to engage the people who were there.” Mr. Miller Yow, who grew up in the Pentecostal tradition, brought tambourines and drums into the sanctuary and encouraged worshippers to participate more vigorously.
“Ronnie had the unique ability to work with the faithful remnant that remained and help them to grasp the possibility for a new life,” Dr. Crossman said, “to help them to want the church to have a future and leave a legacy, instead of being a small, private family chapel in its last years.”
Mr. Miller Yow said that some of the long-time church members were unhappy at first about the changes and the presence of children and young adults. College students didn’t seem to honor the habits of long-time members. Some showed up in shorts and t-shirts.
“The college students didn’t have assigned seats,” he joked. “I had to teach the people how to be hospitable. Before, we were only friendly to those we knew, who looked like us.”
One long-time church member, in particular, fought the changes vigorously. So Mr. Miller Yow instituted a scholarship fund for Philander Smith students who attend Wesley Chapel. He held a banquet and named the fund after the students’ nemesis. Hearts began to change.
“After that, the money started flowing in,” he said with a chuckle. Now, an annual banquet honors a different long-time member each year. “I had given up on church until I went to Wesley Chapel,” said Kevin Ellis, one of the college students who attend regularly. “Pastor Yow’s first message was, ‘If you’re in church because of what your parents told you, then you’re here for the wrong reason.’ I thought, man, this guy is good.”
Mr. Ellis helped tell Wesley Chapel’s story at the Small Church Leadership Institute. He’s been attending the church for about a year; when he misses a service, he gets a text message from his pastor, saying, “Missed you, Saint.”
“I look at him like a father,” Mr. Ellis said. “I decided I was going to do what he wanted me to do.”
So what lesson does Mr. Miller Yow offer from his experience of transforming a sleepy little church of elderly folks into a vibrant church that brings in a crowd of college kids every Sunday?
“Just preach in the pulpit,” said Mr. Miller Yow. “Every Sunday I preached about what I wanted to see in the church. I said, ‘I want this to be a church where people make noise, where they can praise God in their own way.’ And that’s what happened.”
“What he did was put new wine into old wineskins,” said Dr. Crossman. “And it worked.”
UMR PHOTOS BY MARY JACOBS
For Mr. Miller Yow, that meant “eating a lot of casseroles.” Virtually every Sunday in the first few years as pastor, church members invited him to their homes for dinner. 
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