Church On Purpose

Long before the megawave of the “purpose-driven” movement swept across the country, Tom Stroup and the people of Brockport Free Methodist Church (NY) had already shaped their church around the now-famous five purposes: evangelism, worship, discipleship, service and fellowship. They were among an elite group that social scientists call “early adopters” — people who jump into a new idea or vision long before it has been proven or popularized.

During Stroup’s 27 years as its pastor, the Brockport church has grown from 150 to reaching more than 700 monthly in weekend services. In 2004 the church was one of fewer than 100 churches nationwide to win the “Church Health Award” presented by Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Ministries. But Stroup would be the first to tell you there is so much more ahead for those who are ready to move to the next level of ministry.

The spirit of the Brockport church and pastoral staff clearly embodies the spirit of our denominational “One More Soul” initiative, especially our goals to see churches move to the next level of ministry and disciple their people. So we sat down with this 55-year-old pastor, who shows no sign of running out of steam, to peek into the heart and mind of an early adopter.

LLM: It seems evident that your church was what might be called an “early adopter” church. You were definitely ahead of the “purpose-driven” wave. Why was that?
Stroup: First, I inherited a church with a pretty healthy mindset. From the very beginning the leadership of the church was looking ahead. When it was time to move into [new projects required by our growth] we were ready to do that as a congregation. We never lost pace. We never got to the place where we were scratching our heads: “What do we do now?”

Second — speaking out of God’s call on my own life — I’ve never been content with just doing ministry or doing church just for church’s sake. I’ve always been driven by Christ’s mission and a passion for Him in my life. I’ve never been satisfied with the way things are, because there’s always one more soul that needs to be reached for Christ. And God has always moved me in that direction.

LLM: Why do you think some pastors lose that passion?
Stroup: I think every pastor has a “dream church” in mind, where God’s power shows up and God’s people show up. And they accomplish Christ’s purpose.

But I think what happens too often is that the church we dream about isn’t the church we go to and lead on the weekend. We lead the church that is, rather than the church we dream about. Then little by little the church that we dream about gets eroded in our thoughts and minds by the church that is.

LLM: Did you ever face that? And what did you do?
Stroup: Perhaps I could have. In the mid-’90s our church plateaued. I was now pastoring a church of 300, but I had never pastored a church of 300 before. And the people I was pastoring had never been in a church of 300 before. So we were on this learning curve together. We were looking for some tools to assess why we plateaued and how to move on. At about that time I was really searching for a ministry strategy.

Ray Ellis, who was director of evangelism and church growth, came in as a consultant to us. I shared a couple of drafts of a ministry strategy with him. He said to me, “Have you ever read The Purpose-Driven Church by Rick Warren?”

I said to Ray, “I’ve never heard of Rick Warren or the book.”

LLM: What year was that?
Stroup: About 1996. When I read The Purpose-Driven Church, it was exactly what I was trying to do. I’m not a person who wants to reinvent the wheel. I saw something that somebody else had fleshed out that was exactly in the spirit of what I wanted to do. So I began to move this church in the direction of purpose-driven ministry, which basically means “doing ministry on purpose.”

LLM: What captured your attention so profoundly?
Stroup: Everybody knows that evangelism, worship, discipleship, service and fellowship are supposed to be a part of the church. I don’t think we’ve ever debated that. However, I had always seen these as separate entities. I had never seen them as parts of a life system in the church.

It’s like our physical bodies: They are made up of life systems; if those systems are balanced and healthy, then our body is healthy and grows.

The same thing is true of the church. Evangelism, worship, discipleship, service and fellowship are all an integrated system within the church that needs to be kept in balance; then the body will be healthy, and there will be growth. For me it was a whole different way to look at doing ministry in the church.

LLM: So you were convinced about implementing this model, but then you had to get your church to buy into that model. This was long before the “purpose-driven” wave hit America. You didn’t have that persuasive momentum going for you. How did you approach the church?
Stroup: I sat down with a vision team of several people and began to share my heart with them. …

LLM: A team that you selected? Or the church board? ...
Stroup: No, I actually selected those people. I sat down with them and began to share my vision and the purpose-driven principles. We read together The Purpose-Driven Church. Then we expanded to our leadership teams to give them a sense of where we were going. Finally we took it to our adult Bible Fellowship ministry (Sunday school classes of sorts). That’s where the core of our church was. We actually led them through the importance of all five of these purposes, and I began to unwrap for all of them a way to do ministry that’s purpose driven.

LLM: How long did this take?
Stroup: About a year and a half. We gave this process a considerable amount of time, which is absolutely important. Transition is what it is all about. And if it’s not a healthy transition, you’ll destroy the church. I think that a lot of problems in churches are products of poor transitioning.

In that regard, an incredibly important book to me early on was called Transitioning by Dan Southerland. He was the first person [who] took the purpose-driven principles, implemented them in a pretty traditional church and then wrote about it to help pastors of traditional churches go through a transition without destroying their ministry or their church.

LLM: What would you say to the Free Methodist Church at large about how your experience sheds light on the “One More Soul” initiative?
Stroup: I think our denomination has had great visionary leadership. I think of the expected outcomes that we embrace; they’re absolutely right on target. When I read “One More Soul” — it’s absolutely right on target. The question is, what’s the strategy to get the local church there? I think the purpose-driven strategy fits really well in the Free Methodist DNA. But I think we have had a bit of a gap between vision and strategy.

That’s where I’ve been. I’m a visionary. I cast vision in this ministry. The thing that took me longer to get at was the idea that I don’t need a program of some kind that will come and go. What I really need is a biblical strategy. And that’s what purpose-driven concepts have provided for me and for our ministry here.

LLM: You’ve had the privilege of working in a fairly healthy setting with a congregation quick to move. What about a pastor who’s trying to nudge a slower-moving church along?
Stroup: I really have a place in my heart for pastors who have that dream inside of them, but maybe they don’t have anyone around them to even help them, and the dream dies in them. That’s where I want to say, “Let’s resource together. Let’s network together. Let’s talk together and be supportive of each other.” Because God has a tremendous plan for their ministry and their church. And He wants them to realize it.

I know pastoring in that kind of situation can create an incredibly lonely feeling. They need to resource with people close to them who have a kindred spirit.

LLM: Once again it sounds like — whether you’re talking about being an early adopter or a pastor who successfully transitions a church — it all comes down to keeping alive your passion to find a strategy for ministry that works.
Stroup: If I’m keeping my heart close to God’s, His heart is beating that “none should be lost.” That none should be lost. That’s going to be stirring in me, making me constantly feel that there’s got to be more than I’m currently experiencing. And I will have to go on a quest to find it. And God is always faithful to open the next door.