I am no longer the only one talking about the merger of Westmoreland Community Church and New Life Christian Church.
Last week the McLean Connection published the following article:
Bringing New Life to an Old Church
In order to survive, aging McLean congregation merges with youthful New Life Church.
By Mike DiCicco
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
When Bill Daniel joined the Westmoreland Church in 1965, it was a Baptist church with about 80 members. By 2006, Sunday morning turnouts at the McLean church were around one-tenth of that number.
"We were down to a membership of roughly 16, with attendance of maybe 10 on a good day," said Daniel, who is the church’s head trustee and accountant. None of those 10 were children, and three of the five couples on the membership roster were more than 80 years old. "We could see that the handwriting was on the wall," Daniel said.
His wife, Betty, said the little church at the corner of Kirby Road and Westmoreland Street was not alone, noting that her friends attending other small churches in the area were also facing dwindling membership. "A lot of churches are not doing so well, I’m afraid," she said.
FOR 25 YEARS, Westmoreland had been without a pastor and had relied upon a series of military chaplains to deliver services. The last chaplain, upon leaving in 2006, could not find a replacement and referred the church to the Virginia Evangelizing Fellowship, which recommended that Westmoreland merge with another church.
Westmoreland had long ago cut its ties to the Baptist Church and become the ecumenical Westmoreland Community Church, and one of the churches the fellowship recommended for a merger was the nondenominational, multi-campus New Life Christian Church. New Life, which has campuses in Centreville and Haymarket and recently spun off a church in Ashburn, courts younger congregants with an emphasis on informality, humor and relevance to everyday life.
A year and a half after New Life Pastor Ron Furgerson took over as the church’s pastor, Sunday morning turnouts now average between 40 and 50, with about six of the church’s new couples coming from other New Life campuses.
The two churches courted each other for months and, following a vote, began taking steps toward a merger late last year. Furgerson said the combined church will step up outreach and re-launch as the Westmoreland campus of New Life this fall.
Bill Daniel said the church now has a band and places an emphasis on contemporary music, and he said the young New Life pastors who rotate through the church "take a more youthful sort of approach to the scriptures." "While I miss some of the old hymns, I find some of the new ones to be very pleasing," he said.
"I love it. It’s a new beginning," said Betty Daniel. "It’s like making the Bible come to life in today’s world." By trying to bring clarity to the scriptures while steering clear of dogma, she said, "they make it much more interesting, and you feel like you’ve gained something when you go to church. You feel like you’ve gained some insight."
LAST SUNDAY MORNING, Pastor Dwaine Darrah was trying to convince the congregation to prepare for the afterlife, while viewing this life as temporary housing. Dressed in a gray polo shirt and black khakis, he told the congregants to imagine sinking time and money into completely renovating a rented condo. "That wouldn’t make any sense," said Darrah. "We do that all the time. We live like this is it."
He said the Bible’s attempt to describe heaven was like trying to describe life in McLean to an impoverished South American — most easily accomplished by listing the things familiar to South Americans that they would not find here, such as poverty and lawlessness.
A slide on the screen behind him read "Describing the indescribable."
Darrah asked the congregants to imagine a world where there were no more suicide bombers, divorce papers, prescription drugs, empty tissue boxes, small caskets or "anxious moments in hospital waiting rooms."
"Let’s watch this video clip," he said, and a slide quoting the Book of John was replaced by a short video of two children wandering a graveyard, contemplating death and debating the existence of God.
Most of the older members of Darrah’s audience wore ties and dresses, but some younger attendees were dressed in jeans or shorts. Behind them, a table was laid out with coffee, cookies and candy. The candy, at least, was traditional — Bazooka bubblegum and Dum Dum lollipops. Some in the audience were drinking coffee.
Before communion, Furgerson reminded the congregation that Darrah’s sermon would be available on CD next week.
"It’s very different," said longtime Westmoreland member Kay Bernell. "I think most of our older members felt this was kind of a shock to have such a change," she said. "It took a little adjustment. I grew up in a formal church setting. But I like it now. I’m comfortable with it now." The few who could not make the adjustment had left, she said, but the majority had stayed on. Bernell said she thought the church had been revitalized but was only in the early stages of its rebirth.
Cecilia Brammer was familiar with the problem of diminishing church attendance. She had come to Westmoreland in 2002 after her congregation at Chesterbrook Presbyterian Church had dissolved due to lack of membership. She said she liked the intimacy of a small church but recognized the need to attract younger members.
"It’s changed considerably," said Brammer. "In fact, when I walked in this morning, I thought, ‘You know, the church is rockin’,’ and that’s a strange word for me to use." She said she liked her new congregants and had come to enjoy the different style of worship. "The music is definitely different. Actually, a lot of the service is different than what I’m used to," she said. "But it’s inspiring. I’m not put down by it."
WESTMORELAND will be Terry Finks’ third New Life congregation in the last 10 years. When the Ashburn campus started, she had left the Centreville campus to help start up the new group. "I kind of like to help get things started, to get them rolling," said Finks, who had traveled to Sunday’s service from Leesburg. She added that the original Westmoreland group was "a wonderful group of people who are willing to do whatever needs to be done."
She said she, too, had grown up attending traditional churches, but she preferred New Life’s style. "It’s nice when you can sit with a cup of coffee and hear the gospel in a way that you can apply to your life," she said. "It’s not just tradition and rhetoric."
Finks, who has taught for about 15 years at private, Christian elementary schools, will head up the church’s new preschool, which is expected to be in session this September. The church also now offers Sunday school — one session for adults and another for children — as well as a women’s study group and a Recovery Connection Support Group for anyone with "a hurt, habit or hang-up," as it is described on the New Life Web site. Planned are a divorce support group, a marriage support group, a money management class and a parenting class.
A questionnaire will be circulated asking what other services might be needed.
"That’s what our church does, try to meet the needs of communities," said Finks.
McLean resident Frank Arter attended church at New Life’s Centreville campus from early 1997 until about half a year ago. "It’s nice for us because we live just two, three miles from here," he said of the Westmoreland site. Arter said he had been raised in the United Pentecostal Church, where services were "the same every week. I got a little tired of preachers yelling at me and using PAs to do it."
He said Westmoreland was in a "hybrid" stage, where some of the old music had been retained, as not all of the church’s original members had appreciated the rock-style New Life music. Others, he said, had been uncomfortable with the slides and preferred a book in their hands, although he said they now seemed to have come to terms with the technological shift.
"Both sides are kind of coming together into one group," said Arter. "It’s really kind of neat to watch."
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