State of the Church 2020

Each year, in assessing the state of Salem, we take a look at some benchmark statistics. As of the end of 2019 our membership now includes 204 professing adults. This includes 17 shut-in members and 75 inactive members. This is a big adjustment from the previous year but it’s much more accurate. We did a lot of work on our database and membership lists.

This past year 3 members died, 1 was withdrawn, and we received 21 new members, including 8 confirmation students who professed their faith. That means we have received 151 new members since arriving at our current location a little more than nine years ago!

We also have 78 baptized infants and children—an increase! Adding the children to the adults means we have 374 total baptized members. 

Additionally, we have 98 active non-members. That means we have 472 people who are a part of Salem.

As part of our mission to make disciples of Jesus who make a difference in the world, we essentially carry out four actions: reaching out, connecting, forming, and sending.

Reach. This is the intentional action to get to those outside the church. It’s not waiting for people to come, but rather going as a missionary to them. This begins with all of us being in relationship with friends, colleagues, and neighbors and engaging them about what they believe and inviting them to church to experience God. I’m grateful for all of our members who have done that this past year and brought new people to connect with us.

Our Outreach Team helps us reach out to others with activities such as our Easter Egg Hunt, Trunk or Treat, Cleaning Up Cancer Carnival, and Valentine’s Project. Again this past year, hundreds and hundreds of people came out especially for our Easter Egg Hunt and Trunk or Treat. Figuring out how we reach out to the vast majority of people who are outside the church is one of the most important things for us to do.

Connect. After we reach new people, we want to connect with them and then lead them to commit their lives to Jesus through baptism and profession of faith, if that hasn’t already happened.

This past year, we offered a new 6-week Connecting Point class. It was an important step in helping newcomers connect with Salem. Of our 21 new members, 16 were by profession of faith. We also celebrated 6 baptisms, 3 infants and 3 adults (Confirmation Students). Baptisms and professions of faith are key indicators, showing us how many new Christians we are reaching and connecting to the church.

Form. This is the intentional action to shape and nurture others to become like Jesus, especially with worship and spiritual disciplines. Our worship attendance averaged 197 this past year, a decrease of only one from the previous year (198). This is, however, the third year we have experienced a downturn in worship participation. Attendance has declined from 210 to 197 in the past three years. We average about 42% attendance of all who are part of Salem.

While physical attendance decreased by one, online attendance is an exciting growing edge for us. While we’ve had audio recordings of the sermon on our website for years, 2019 was the first full year of offering video of the sermon on Facebook Live. We averaged 101 online! Generally speaking, watching online isn’t not as meaningful as being physically present with the body of Christ, but it is a meaningful way to connect if one isn’t able to be there in person. We intent to grow in this area. Our ministry online is vitally important in our current cultural context.

We continue to have significant participation in some kind of small group, engaging 289 children, youth, and adults. These smaller groups are vital to our formation in the way of Jesus, helping us talk about and engage with what God is doing in our lives.

It’s exciting to note that, after we realized how few children we had participating, we have grown in the number of children in Sunday school. And their Christmas pageant in December was fantastic!

Our giving was another big story in 2019. We began the year in the red and never caught up. In July, the Leadership Board thought it was important to share the news intentionally that we were $20,000 behind. Come fall, the congregation responded strongly to our annual giving/capital campaign, and we ended the year in the black. It was an amazing turnaround. Our treasurer, Linda Curson, has a report in the newsletter with the full details. Be sure to take a look. I am grateful for the many ways so many people financially support the mission and ministry of Salem.

Send. After reaching people, connecting and forming them, we intentionally send people outside the church again, bringing the process full circle back to “reach.” This time, though, as we go out we do good and make a difference in the world.

In addition to our financial support of Salem, we gave $25,000 to apportionments, supporting the ministry and mission of The United Methodist Church beyond the local church here and around the world. We also supported our own mission projects, financially and tangibly. With our monthly mission focuses, we gave blessing bags for shelters, school and health kits, hats and mittens, and children’s books, as well as thousands and thousands of dollars for mission projects beyond Salem, locally and globally. 

There are many of us individually who serve many different places beyond the walls of Salem. We also have a few specific places where together we have given our time and help to our community: serving meals at Green Square on Thursdays, reading with children in local schools, and serving with Matthew 25 in one of their many projects.

Our goal in reaching out to new people, connecting them to Jesus and the body of Christ, and forming them in the way of Jesus, is to send them into the world to live lives of love, justice, beauty, and service, making a difference in this world that God so loves. 

Our first congregational goal in 2020 is to intentionally engage church members more fully in service both within and especially beyond the congregation. A Service Coordinator on staff would help us discover our spiritual gifts as well as a place to serve in the church and beyond in the world. Where are you serving at Salem and beyond in the world?

Looking ahead. The reality is that we are facing changes ahead. The special General Conference in February last year didn’t bring about the resolution for which many hoped. Instead it brought great pain and embarrassment. We were a terrible witness to the world. No one wants a repeat of that ugliness at the regularly scheduled General Conference in May this year.

There are many proposals for how The United Methodist Church could divide and go separate ways. The latest “Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace Through Separation” has garnered a lot of support as it was created by a group of evangelicals, progressives, and centrists, under the guidance of a mediator. If this plan, in a legislative form, is passed at the 2020 General Conference in Minneapolis, local churches and annual conferences that support current restrictions on same-sex marriage and ordination of LGBT persons, could leave with their properties to form a new denomination, along with $25 million in United Methodist funds. Smaller funding is planned for other, new denominations that could also be birthed in this process.

It’s important to remember that none of this is reality. Nothing has happened yet. If it does become a reality the way the “protocol” envisions it, then the Iowa Annual Conference will vote at a special session on October 10 this year to determine whether it will remain part of the likely progressive United Methodist Church or align with a new traditional denomination. After that, the Leadership Board would help Salem determine whether we agree with the Iowa Annual Conference’s decision or want to align differently.

There will be changes. There will be sadness. There will be opportunities.

Salem is a good and fruitful church. We are the body of Christ, proclaiming all that God has done in Jesus. We are God’s plan for sharing God’s love and blessing with this world that God created, for showing the world how to live, and for helping to make the world good again as it was in the original creation.

Thank you for being a part of Salem! Would you consider where you are engaged in all of this? How are you reaching out to others to invite them to Salem? What is your habit of gathering for worship? Where are you connected in a small group? How are you serving in the church and especially beyond in the world? How are you sharing your faith with others? How are you sharing your resources to support this ministry? We are the body of Christ together. We are Jesus in the world. What an adventure!