The
Gathering, an eight-year-old church plant in St. Louis was planted and is being
led by lead pastor Matt Miofsky. In eight short years, this church has become a
vital and effective congregation in a context that has not received a new
church for centuries. This young congregation and leadership team started with
a few people and now reaches over 1,300 people each weekend. I had the
privilege in interviewing one of the Gathering’s site pastors, Pastor Chris
Abel. The vision, context, pastors, history, and strategies all give sight to
the amazing effectiveness and vitality of this United Methodist congregation.
The Gathering gives much hope and optimism is a system and denomination that
has been coined and embraced his declining worship attendance and overall
connection with communities throughout the United States.
The vision statement of the Gathering is quite simple
and clear: “Creating Christian community that is compelling for new generations
of people in St. Louis.”[1]
Not only is this statement highlighted on the front page of the Gathering’s
website, it was an important aspect of my interview. The Gathering is one
church that meets in 4 different locations in the St. Louis region. As of a few
Sunday’s ago, this congregation has officially launched three additional sites
through the St. Louis region, and are consistent The leadership of the Gathering is
unapologetic about its desire to be a church that is relevant to a new
generation, yet faithful to the deep tradition of the past. The Gathering has
established five key practices or core values that the church established from
the very beginning to maintain its integrity and maintain its commitment to
Christian Community.
These five practices are worship, learning, prayer,
service, and giving. These five tenants make up the DNA and foundational
practices for this new church. What is very evident and clear through my
interview and survey of their website that simple clearly defines this church
and its vision. These five practices are embedded into their simple vision of
connecting with God and each other, growing in faith, and serving their
community.
Community is
the number one word for this church plant. They seek to have a welcoming vibe
at all of their locations, and they focus on streamlined hospitality. Each of
their locations is designed with relationships in mind, and to offer conducive
spaces for these relationships and community to be formed. Their desire is too
not hinder any person from connecting or being a part of this new and
compelling community in the St. Louis. The one church, multiple locations motto
is helpful in getting the Gathering as one unified and connected a large
movement in the St. Louis region. They are seeking to offer a unique community
for a new generation of people in the St. Louis by offering relevant and
engaging preaching, core groups, and offer to be make tangible differences in
the community.
Community Context
St. Louis is the 58th-most populous city
in the United States with approximately 450,000 residents. St. Louis has often
been coined as the “Catholic City” or has been traditionally been a home for
many practices and religious Catholics. St. Louis has much diversity among
ethnicity. In the early 2010s, African Americans became the majority ethnicity
in St. Louis, with approximately fifty percent of the city. Including the
larger St. Louis Metropolitan area, there are approximately 2.9 million people
residing in the region.
The very unique thing that was
shared through my interview was St. Louis had not seen a new church since
before the 1900s. For over one hundred years, St. Louis was home to the same
denominational or Catholic churches and saw no growth in the overall
religiosity in the city. Nor was their any particular church that seemed
engaging or effective according to the lead pastor of the Gathering, Matt
Miofsky. The community seemed to have a stagnant feel toward faith communities,
and out of this weakness, the Gathering was born to usher in something new.
Pastor (Call, Gifts, Philosophy of
things)
I had the privilege to interview and converse with
Chris Abel, the Webster site pastor. Abel is a 2014 graduate of Wesley
Theological Seminary and never saw himself being apart a new church plant. The
Gathering launched the Webster site late in October 2014, and Abel spent his
entire time from July 2014 to October preparing for the launch of this new
campus. The Webster site is an extremely new and promising location for the
Gathering church.
Abel had the opportunity a few years ago to
experience the Gathering from an internship perspective. He did his Practice in
Placement and Ministry experience, a requirement from Wesley Seminary, with the
lead pastor of the Gathering, Matt Miofsky. At that point, the Gathering was
only worshipping 600-700 weekly. When Abel graduated from seminary, all he
wanted to do was preach, and be apart of the right team. These were his new
desires. These desires came from his own calling into ministry.
He felt the call into pastoral ministry as Abel
served as a youth pastor in Jefferson City, Missouri. Through the leading and
mentoring during his time as a youth pastor, he entered the candidacy with the
Missouri Annual Conference. During this calling time, he had a deep passion and
desire for people to connect with a God who loves and cares for them, and
connect with a God who is able to receive our questioning, doubts, and
conversations. When Abel interned with the Gathering, he was able to witness a
hands-on location that has a deep passion for its people, and offers a place
for holy and deep conversations to be had.
When Abel was interviewed and appointed as the
Webster site pastor, he felt that new things were happening, the right people
were on the team, and they were achieving missional impact. He saw the
faithfulness of God toward the Gathering for the past 8 years, and was blown
away by God has achieved. When Abel finally accepted to launch a new site, he
was not necessarily drawn to the location, but drawn to the belief that more
and more people needed a faith community, and the Gathering was a place
offering a deep connection with God and each other.
Abel’s gifts are relationships, strategic and
theological thinking, and trust. What was so important and foundational to Abel
and his work planting the Webster campus was his deep passion and ability to
connect with people. He sent 99% of his time, meeting with 70+ people who were
interested in this new church plant individually, and connecting with as many
people as possible. This is the calling for all church planters, but Abel
clearly exemplifies this ability. Due to his relational ability, the 70 people
initially interested grew to 420 attenders on their launch Sunday. This is a
direct fruit of God’s faithfulness and Abel’s commitment to building
relationships in the new region of St. Louis.
Beyond Abel’s ability to connect relationally, he is
able to think strategically and theologically about his work as a site pastor
and through connections with un-churched people. It was impressive to hear his
deep theological and strategic thinking through his church plant. I was able to
hear Abel’s deep theological reflection upon God and how God is discerning to
connect with God’s people in this world today. Because of Abel’s ability to
think through theology with this lead team, their strategy was rich in God and
rich in reaching God’s people.
And finally, Abel had this deep faith in God and deep
trust in his leadership team. Abel mentored and poured into the 100 people who
were wiling to commit and invest into the development and launch of the Webster
campus. Through these monthly site meetings for preparation, Abel was able to
trust God, and God was able to bless them through their planning and
organization. All of the details were not accomplished by Abel alone, Abel
reflected that it was long and difficult work to plant this campus. Abel was
able to trust the launch team to be the leaders and shape the future of the plant.
Through Abel’s leadership, this church plant was accomplished through a strong
and forceful lay leadership team.
History of Plant
The Gathering began 8 years ago,
under the leadership of Matt Miofsky. Miofsky grew up a United Methodist, and
upon his arrival to St. Louis for college, quickly became discouraged by the
church. He had no desire to be a church pastor, nor was his intention to be a
leader of a new movement. Miofsky thought to himself that if it was difficult
for him to find a church engaging and positive, imagine how an unchurched
person would feel. He was discouraged that there were no compelling churches in
the St. Louis region.
However, during his time in college,
Miofsky became a leader of his local FCA ministry group, and began to wrestle
with a slight call into ministry. But Miofsky was rather uncertain about this.
Through the guidance and pressure from mentors, Miofsky applied to Candler
School of Theology, and was awarded a scholarship. He excelled in seminary, and
because he was unsure of what he wanted to do, he was appointed as an associate
pastor in St. Louis upon graduation. Again, Miofsky was discouraged and found
nothing to be compelling in this church.
Out of this deep stirring and challenge, the bishop
of the Missouri Conference blessed Miofsky with a church building in downtown
St. Louis, and in this location The Gathering was birthed. Miofsky began with a
small group and has led it to be one of the fasting growing United Methodist
churches in the United States.
Critical Assessment
There were two strategies used in
this particular church plant. The first strategy used was the parachute drop
model. Miofsky was given an old, closed church building and was given the
responsibility to begin something new. Miofsky started with a small group and
the connections that he already had, and starting a compelling and effective
new faith community. His desire was to create a Christian community with the
DNA and foundation of the St. Louis region.
After the church had grown significantly,
the Gathering made a strategic move to become a multi-site church, and begin
creating new multiple sites throughout the St. Louis region. This strategic
move was a catalyst for this new faith community to multiple its healthy
foundation, and to see a greater impact in this region. They were quite smart
in the desire to branch out, and connect with people where they are. Some of
their four campuses is called the bar church. This bar church community
reflects its vision in creating compelling new faith communities for new
generations in the St. Louis region.
As I spoke with Chris Abel about his
particular campus, it was difficult in hearing Abel’s critical thoughts. Her
was unable to speak to or offer any critical thoughts on the Webster campus or
in the Gathering all together. This may have been the case because of how new
and fresh his perspective is at the Gathering. It was a challenge in assessing
Abel and the Gathering because of this. One critique that I would offer is
Abel’s lack of strategic planning in follow-up following their launch Sunday.
Abel will have to spend some significant time thinking through its specific and
unique dynamic in the Webster region.
Overall, it was a pleasant
conversation with Abel, and hearing about the amazing ministry he is apart of.
If hope is needed for the United Methodist Church, this is one community that
can be praised. Their desire to be an inclusive and relevant community for a
new generation is provocative and very engaging. Their desire and longing for
such communities has been honored and blessed by God.
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