Ambassdors Visit St. Matthew’s, Woodlyn
Today’s visit—our 47th—was noticeable once again for its similarities to Redeemer. Most of the churches we have visited have been so like us that it is difficult to fathom why they have abided their Synod’s treatment of a congregation just like them.
Woodlyn is a small community south of Philadelphia. The homes in the neighborhood of the church are small and well kept—set back from bustling McDade Blvd.
St. Matthew will celebrate its 100th anniversary next year. Redeemer will celebrate our 121st. (SEPA Synod stopped counting in 2010. We have not!)
Attendance at this summer service was under 30 and included two children and one youth. Their sanctuary is long. Unlike many congregations, most of the people sat towards the front. The altar is set far back behind flanking choir lofts.
Like Redeemer, they have a summer day camp. Like Redeemer, they serve meals to children in cooperation with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
Many of the churches we have visited have nursery schools or day schools. However, few of them seem to connect this outreach to church attendance. In most cases there have been very few children present at worship—even in churches with weekday children’s programming.
Music was well done. The organist, Jeanne Sach, played a lovely Offertory on the piano. Singing was good. We are finding that the strongest music presence is often in the smaller churches.
Pastor Nancy Brown seemed to weave her message of the day throughout the service with an opening talk about the Olympics and the work that goes into them (we can relate to hard work going unappreciated), an interactive moment early in the service, and a fairly lengthy sermon.
We noted on their website that they shared a minister with us. Rev. Jesse Brown left Redeemer around 2000 and was at Woodlyn for a while before they called their current pastor in 2003.
St. Matthew seems to be another solid little neighborhood church, dealing with the same kind of challenges Redeemer and others deal with.
We wonder what would happen if we all worked together, instead of in competition for leadership and resources.
Meanwhile, our visits overall reveal a pronounced disconnect between what is preached in our churches and what is acted upon. We don’t fault the preaching—as far as that goes.