Holy Spirit is Breathing New Life in Secane

Redeemer’s Ambassadors are used to seeing decline in our visits. Sometimes despair is in the air. Sometimes it is veiled behind ceremony.

This morning’s visit to Holy Spirit, Secane, promised to be the same from our quick look at statistics, which showed fairly steady attendance, a drop in membership but a significant rise in worship attendance.

We’ve seen good statistics in the Trend reports that weren’t evidenced in our visits before —most notably one congregation that reported an average of 400 at worship but had fewer than 30 in attendance at an 11 am service.

The statistics show a gain of about 90 new members since 2005 and appear to be continuing. Diversity begins to show in the statistics five years ago.

This morning our expectations were refreshed.

We encountered a special Sunday at Holy Spirit. Every time there are five Sundays in a month, the fifth Sunday is celebrated with worship at the breakfast table. We saw people entering the church through the social hall, so we followed.

We entered a crowded fellowship hall with a table set up and very few empty seats. We managed to find four seats together. As we made our way to them, one of the kitchen crew shouted for the congregation to save the seats for us. There were probably about 90 present.

The people sitting across the table immediately introduced themselves. We had just a few minutes to chat before the service started but we immediately sensed that these older members were proud and excited to share their story. After the service, a few others approached us and introduced themselves. They have mastered the art of hospitality. It is amazing how many congregations we enter and leave without making eye contact!

A glance around the hall showed a group of diverse age. A good number of older folks but a healthy and growing number of younger adults and younger children. Youth attendance was weak, but that could change in just a few years. One boy led the reading of the psalm and couldn’t have done a better job.

A young man joined the church during the service and two children were baptized. We remembered our diverse congregation when one African or African American member began to accompany hymns with a tambourine. Our own East African members often got intricate rhythms going to the old gospel hymns. These members seemed to be very much part of the congregation. We will not soon forget how SEPA determined that our African members didn’t count, falsely reporting our statistics to the Synod Assembly, excluding our African membership, many of whom had been members for years. 

Our breakfast friends told us that their numbers had doubled since their current pastor, Rev. Cheryl Hensil, came to them eight years before. This was her first call as a second career pastor.

One of the women near us shared proudly that she had joined just two months earlier and three joined today—so things are still improving in 2013.

One of our new friends shared that things had been really down. The pain of those days could still be heard in her voice. I asked, “What do you think has made the difference?”

“The pastor,” she said. “She is one of us, she has a caring way about her and she works beside us. It isn’t ‘I’m the pastor, you do the work.’ She rolls up her sleeves.” She went on to share some examples.

The service was loud. Social halls are not designed for acoustics. But the energy was undeniable. Two warhorse hymns opened the service. After the confession, greeting and prayer of the day, breakfast was served. A team quickly served homemade muffins and fruit salad. After about 15 minutes, worship continued.

Immediately following the baptism, a celebratory cake was served.

One of our Ambassadors commented, “This is a happy church.”

“Yes,” a member commented. “We don’t have much money, but we have fun.”

I looked again at their Trend statistics when we returned. Eight years ago they looked to be in poorer shape than Redeemer. We had fewer members but were growing quickly. Our assets were greater. (Which is probably why we were targeted.)

We had already experienced significant growth with 49 new members in one year. Visitors were common and our African members were excited to belong to our congregation and were very invitational.

The difference is that SEPA took the “time to die” approach in East Falls. The pastors sent to us were not serving in a way that would build a church community. They were so blinded by their “time to die” prejudice that all our new members counted for nothing. “White Redeemer (mostly older people) must be allowed to die. Black Redeemer . . . we can put them anywhere.” (Why aren’t SEPA congregations outraged by this?)

Holy Spirit is proof of the folly of that thinking. The older people sitting with us were energized by the new life created by the work of their pastor and leaders. They were the best cheerleaders. They are proud of their faith community.

The elderly in a congregation have a right to see all their years of dedication rewarded with professional help that will build on their legacy. If they no longer have the ability to minister, it is imperative that their resources be used to provide the necessary skills — not allocated for do-nothing, caretaker ministers who are there to accept a paycheck until the resources run out.

Fortunately, for the Lutherans in Secane, they found the help they needed.

We are so glad they were not treated the way we were.