DECATUR — Decatur United Methodist Church has all the hallmarks of a rural congregation.

Attendance at Sunday morning services is small - less than 50 during the school year and sometimes half that during the summer. Members know one another by name. Their prayers reflect the shared concerns of their community - a loved one in trouble, a friend in the hospital, the need for rain.

Yet the sermon is delivered via video feed, projected onto a 6-by-8-foot screen at the front of the sanctuary. That’s a marked departure from past years, when technology consisted of a simple sound system and the pastor’s microphone.

An innovative partnership with one of the largest churches in the nation underlies the change. The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kan., is working with congregations in Decatur and Highfill as part of its partner churches pilot program.

Congregations in Texas and Maryland also are taking part.

The goal is to provide partner churches with leadership coaching and resources while developing curriculum for church renewal, said Travis Morgan at Church of the Resurrection. It’s part of a larger effort within the United Methodist Church to reach struggling congregations in new ways.

A key component of the partner program is the use of video sermons preached by Adam Hamilton, senior pastor at Church of the Resurrection. Hamilton’s sermons reach 20,000 people on four church campuses in the Kansas City area.

The sermons are recorded live during services on Saturday nights and uploaded online. The Rev. Russ Hall, part-time pastor of the Decatur and Highfill churches, downloads them for use on Sunday mornings.

Partner churches have agreed to use Hamilton’s sermons 30 to 35 times during their one-year commitment, Morgan said. They’ve also agreed to follow specified hospitality practices, such as asking people to sign in and following up with newcomers.

Weekly coaching calls are designed to mentor Hall in his growth as a pastor. The 56-year-old, who had a former career with IBM, began pastoring the churches in 2010. He is pursuing a degree at Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, Okla.

Other educational opportunities include an annual leadership institute in Kansas City. Hall and three church members attended last year.

A crucial piece of the partnership program is helping churches boost their technological capabilities. The Church of the Resurrection provided the equipment the small churches needed, with the understanding the financial outlay would be repaid in time.

Hall has done that with a $12,000 grant from the Arkansas Methodist Foundation.

Conference takes note

The Arkansas Conference of the United Methodist Church is watching the partnership with interest, said Mackey Yokem, superintendent for the Northwest District.

“We’re really excited to be a part of it,” he said. “This is going to pay big dividends for us in the future.”

More than 60 percent of Methodist churches in the state have an average Sunday attendance of 50 or less, Yokem said. Like small churches throughout the country, they are struggling to survive.

The conference launched its Imagine Ministry to reach out to local churches, he said. One focus is the use oftechnology and new media to connect congregations beyond their four walls.

Using technologies such as Skype, a member of the Decatur congregation could work with someone in White Village on a project of interest to both, for example. The conference is opening a Center for Clergy & Laity Excellence in Leadership as a training resource, Yokem said.

“This is an area where we have to learn how to reshape our ministries and management. What can we do to help these churches, not just survive, but be relevant?

“For a church like Decatur, what kind of Internet access, hardware and software does it take to do this? How much does it cost?

“Once we become comfortable with that, we can replicate this in every church in Arkansas, if we have the resources to do it.” Response mixed

Congregational response to the pilot program has been mixed. Some members like the increased focus on technology. Others long for bygone days.

“It’s OK, but I like Russ better. I’ll be glad when it’s over,” said Virginia Duncan, a longtime member of the Decatur church. Hamilton’s sermons don’t always connect with the rural community, she said. A sermon series last winter on marriage and sex seemed particularly out of place to her.

Hamilton’s most recent series focused on the Summer Olympic Games. On July 29, he used the metaphor ofteamwork. The children’s sermon, led by a local lay leader, reinforced the message.

Graphics and video clips embedded in the sermon added an immediacy to the 35-minute message.

“The sermons are easy to relate to,” said Cherrie Wear, attending church with her husband and young child. “He touches on things we wouldn’t normally talk about,” such as the Olympics and other current events.

Her aunt, Brenda Sprinkles, said she also enjoys the sermons. “It’s another light, another way of looking at things.”

Lay leader Ike Owens said he’d expected acceptance to split along generational lines, but that hasn’t been the case. Several 80-year-olds are big supporters, he said. Some younger members struggle with the change.

Sprinkles, about 50, said she initially resisted having Scripture verses and hymn lyrics projected on the screen. But she’s found it gives her more freedom to clap her hands and move with the music, she said.

The projected words are easier to see, but they’re “making us lazy,” Duncan said. Several older people use hymnbooks in their laps instead.

The Wears are one of the few young families in the church. Hamilton’s sermons add something more to the tight-knit community she grew up with, Cherrie Wear said.

“It’s a good mix of what’s old and what’s new - the best of both worlds,” she said.

News, Pages 12 on 08/22/2012