Pastors Reaching Out to Non-Traditional Believers
By Drew Dotson

Forty-three percent of Americans do not attend church.

That 43 percent is exactly who Pastors Steve Hart and Kimberly Elliot want to reach. Steve Hart planted a church in an urban neighborhood of Spokane, Wash., and believes it is a pastor's duty to go to the people rather than to have the people find the church. He desires a church that embodies a Christlike community. Elliot has found new healing in her holistic, experiential approach to worship. She believes in a church that reaches the wounded and reintroduces them to Jesus.

"In a true community there is a difference in doing service projects for the poor and living with the poor. Where else in the world do rich and poor co-exists? That's where the church should be," Hart said.

In times past, American pastors could just open the doors and people would flood in, but that has changed, Hart said. Pastors now have to go to the people. Hart believes pastors often see their position as a job, not a calling, and he believes that mentality must change.

For nearly two years, Hart has lived in the Browns Addition community that he ministers to. He moved to the neighborhood the summer before the church opened its doors in September 2004. He has faced many challenges but he doesn't view them as trials, just reality.

The Hart home is located in the center of the neighborhood and all the members of the church know where he lives, and most of the neighborhood knows he is a pastor. The reality of his location has left his family open for occasional intrusions. A ring at the door may be a family bringing brownies or the holiday wreath being snatched from the front porch. Yet none of these interruptions has been as rewarding as a particularly angry neighbor.

Hart was introduced to his neighbor at a barbeque held in honor of launching the church. Many members of the neighborhood attended, but this man stood out.

"He just wanted to talk to somebody about God, so I stepped up," Hart said.

The neighbor's anger seemed to be his daily demeanor. He was upset at the world for all the people who had hurt him, and that's how he has been ever since: always angry about something.

Trying desperately to share Christ with those around him, Hart has made himself available for his neighbor, making sure that he knows that he will be there. One very early morning the neighbor called and left Hart a message saying he didn't have any toilet paper or food. But when Hart went over to check, the neighbor had returned to his grouchy self.

Seeing the Lord at work in this relationship and others is the flip side of living in the urban community. Hart looks at it as a trade-off. But Hart believes submersing yourself in the culture in which you minister is part of his calling.

"It's a hard vision, but I love it," said Hart.

For Elliot, reaching non-traditional believers looks quite different. Elliot reaches out to people who may look at themselves at spiritual, not religious. It's these people who have been turned away from the traditional pews and hymns, said Elliot.

Elliot intends to create an environment at her church that is very experiential, where people can see Jesus is alive in a whole new way. She uses a more holistic approach which includes mind, body and spirit.

In church workshops, stations like hand-washing, prayer with incense, and a worship garden are provided. These stations allow people to experience worship in a way that is more comfortable than worship has been in the past. People can pray and worship in their own way.

Elliot also runs yoga classes for the women of her church. During class she talks about Genesis One and how all of God's creation is blessed. Elliot emphasizes that the bodies of the women in the class are blessed and created perfectly. So the yoga remains spiritual, but the focus is shifted.

"I am constantly translating for the people in the congregation and those who attend the classes," Elliot said.

Elliott wants to offer her congregation unique types of worship. She will play an African drum one morning, and then on the next Sunday include opera music. The point is to include all worship styles.

Bringing the wounded back to church, her church, has been a slow transition for Elliot and the general congregation she serves in a suburb south of San Francisco. Yet Elliot is confident this is where the Lord wants her.

"It has become clear that it is my call, I am to be a bridge. I have had so much healing in the process, I know it works and Jesus is alive in what we are doing," said Elliot.