Why a Thriving Church Asked for Help

 

In one of the most unchurched states in the country, Newberg Christian Church has faithfully shared the gospel for more than 100 years.

Just 25 miles from Portland, Oregon, the town of Newberg is home to about 23,000 people. Newberg Christian Church currently has around 1,200 attendees, and it’s grown 30 percent in the last two years—about the same amount of time they have been working with CDF’s Leadership Capital.

“We’re known for helping people.”—David Case

Like many people in Newberg, Senior Pastor David Case did not have a Christian upbringing. His journey to a lasting relationship with Jesus started with a different relationship—one which, incidentally, has also lasted.

“There was a girl I wanted to date, and her parents said I couldn’t date her unless I came to church,” David said. “So I came to church. Years later, she became my wife.”

While he never had any intention of becoming a pastor, it didn’t take long for God to start steering David in that direction. He went to school to become a history teacher, and when he was student teaching at his old high school, Newberg Christian Church asked him to also work with kids in another capacity.

“The church was so desperate that they asked if I could help with the youth group!” David said. “That was in 1982. I’ve been at Newberg Christian Church for 36 years.”

As senior pastor, David leads a team of 24 staff members and has helped establish a culture that truly engages the unchurched community around them.

We Always Say Yes

Like many community-minded churches, Newberg opens their doors to a wide variety of local groups.

“I had a bad experience when I first started coming to church that really shaped the way that I approach using our facility,” David said. “Our church is used every day of the week. Multiple times. Multiple groups. Some in the church, some in the community, some that aren’t related to the church at all. We’ve even had the police K-9 unit use our facility for training. We really try to be a resource to the community.”

At their community kitchen, Newberg Christian Church serves over 200 free meals every Thursday night. A local chapter of Love INC hosts relational ministry classes on the church’s campus.

Newberg even sees their staff as a resource they can share with the community. “I’ve coached the freshman baseball team for about 12 years,” David said. One of David’s youth ministers is his assistant coach, and members of the church also serve as JV and varsity baseball coaches.

More recently, the church has established even deeper ties to local schools.

“A couple years ago they had a community task force to evaluate how they could help middle school students,” David said. “They concluded that there wasn’t enough for students to do after school, so they came to me and asked if I’d be willing to start an after-school program. And we always say yes.”

Now, every week, the schools bring their students to church. “The two middle schools actually bus students to our church facility after school,” David described. “And then an hour and fifteen minutes later, they bring another bus to take them home. That’s unheard of in Oregon.”

Night to Shine 2018 | Image provided by Newberg Christian Church.
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What happens when the kids get there? Vocational training. Play. And learning. The church received a grant to hire an instructional chef to come teach kids how to cook. A welding company has brought their equipment and showed kids how to weld. And the community college comes to teach kids other skills.

“Most of the kids, they just want a place to hang out,” David said. “So we have a rec room and a gym and a study area. They also receive a snack each day.”

This unique program has opened other doors to ministry and outreach as well. “They actually let our pastors go to the schools during lunch to hang out and talk about some of the things we’ve done.”

How did this come about? For years, Newberg Christian Church has made an active effort to be a voice in their community and an advocate for their neighbors. About 20 years ago, they added the gym and a commercial kitchen specifically to address the community’s need for such a facility.

“Our church has been engaged with the community for so long that we’re getting invited to a lot of opportunities that we haven’t always had,” David said. “We’re known for helping people.”

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Pictured above: David Case

How Can We Get Better?

When David contacted CDF Capital about working with their Leadership Capital team, the staff was not facing any particular challenges they wanted help with. They just wanted to do more and do it better. Newberg Christian Church had about 900 attendees at the time.

“I don’t think we’ve ever ‘arrived,’” David said. “My attitude has always been, ‘How can we get better? How can we grow?’

We need to get better at serving and being witnesses for Christ. I felt like the natural next step for us was to get more organized structure-wise. We had to kind of reinvent some of our leadership structure through the StratOp process.”

Sean Morgan, Vice President, Leadership Capital, has been inspired by David's approach to church leadership.

“From the first time I met David I was impressed with his humility as a leader,” said Sean. “He was hungry to learn and to have that learning help his church reach more people for Jesus. David has clearly made a conscious decision along  the way to be a student his whole life.”

For David, bringing in Leadership Capital wasn’t easy. It meant letting someone else analyze and critique the church he had shepherded for over 20 years.

“When you bring in an outside consultant, you’re introducing something you don’t have as much control over,” David said. “I think it’s healthy, but for a senior pastor I think that’s sometimes a little scary.”

“My attitude has always been, ‘How can we get better? How can we grow?”—David Case

Newberg Christian Church was already heading in the right direction, so as they worked with Leadership Capital, a lot of the process was about how to do more of what they were already doing.

“I don’t know that there was new direction so much as an affirmation of where we were going, which gave us courage to be bolder,” David said. “We’re using our facility a lot more than we were before, and that’s a direct result of the StratOp. The relationships have really helped too.”

Calling in help wound up being a wise choice for a church that wanted to keep growing.

“That was a great opportunity for us,” David said. “We did a deep review of where we’ve been and looked at where we want to go. The strategic initiatives we came up with were fantastic. It was all really well led, and it was an outside resource I respected, and they worked well with me before, during, and after.”

Gaining Clarity To Grow

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