7 Florida United Methodist Review Online

Pastor receives grant to study churches

By Michael Wacht

ORLANDO — What are the factors that cause a new church start to become a successful church? That is the question the Rev. Thomas “Jack” Jackson, associate pastor at First United Methodist Church here hopes to answer through research funded by a grant from the Louisville Institute.

Jackson said the idea for the research project came from his experience serving in one Presbyterian church and two newly-started United Methodist churches in the conference’s Orlando District. Seeing the success of those churches’ ministries gave him the desire to start new churches, he said.

When he saw an advertisement for the Louisville Institute’s Study Grants for Religious Leaders Program in an issue of “Christianity Today,” Jackson said he saw an opportunity to study a wide variety of church starts and prepare himself for the ministry to which he believes he’s called.

Jackson applied for and received a $9,000 grant to fund a three-month study project, according to David Wood, associate director of the Louisville Institute. The grant is part of the institute’s program to fund “research across a broad spectrum of religion in America, Christianity in particular,” Wood said.

The study grant program is intended to provide pastors who are not enrolled in a degree program the chance to research and address questions related to their ministry. “The grant allows a pastor to take up issues and concerns centered in and on their practice of ministry and focus on them,” Wood said. “We literally grant these pastors the chance to break away from the daily and weekly rhythms of pastoral life to do reflection, study and, hopefully, receive renewal.”

Although Jackson’s grant is for a three-month study, he said he didn’t believe his church would allow him a three-month leave, so he received permission from the Institute to do his research over the course of a year, beginning last October.

The goal of his research is to compare successful church starts between denominational and nondenominational churches and also between churches started within the last five years and those begun 20 to 30 years ago. Jackson said he wants to explore how the different religious groups and generations have started new churches, whether through large events or small groups. He is also looking at clergy training and church traditions.

“We United Methodists have a pretty specific model for starting churches that has been very fruitful,” Jackson said. “But what other models are out there?”

Jackson said he first had to identify successful churches. “Successful churches are churches doing a good job reaching out to unchurched folks,” he said.

He has traveled to Phoenix, Denver and Las Vegas to observe worship services and interview pastors and leaders of United Methodist, Presbyterian, Southern Baptist, Lutheran and nondenominational churches. He also has a long reading list of books by and about successful churches.

Already, Jackson said he has identified some trends among the churches he’s visited. “The atmosphere is almost universally celebratory, and the worship is universally contemporary,” he said. Despite radical differences in leadership style, he said all of the churches’ leaders had a clear vision and mission about what they were doing, and church members were energetic and excited.

Once he completes his research, Jackson will present an overview of his findings to the Louisville Institute, but most of the information will be for his own use. “They [the Louisville Institute] want me to be able to get the information and use it for my ministry and share it any way I can,” he said.

Although he is not sure how he’ll do that, Jackson said he would be happy to present it to anyone who’s interested. “Anyway I can share the information, I would be glad to do it,” Jackson said. “But I can’t see a book coming out of it.”

For more information on the Louisville Institute and its grant programs, call 502-895-3411 or visit its web site at http://www.louisville-institute.org.