New Spring Church - Anderson, SC

Went to a church leadership conference there yesterday. WOW, God's doing some serious work down there. Incredible. Anyone familiar with it?

 

Yeah, I live in Anderson.

I actually wrote an article in the local newspaper several months back defending them.

Some thoughts from different angles -

-They are growing and have grown fast.

-They present pretty much the same Baptist message with a contemporary casing - modern music, little liturgy, but alot of "are you sure you'd go to heaven if you died today" and emphasis upon saving souls (I think that's important, but particularly as a Methodist, that's a starting point, not a stopping point).

-I'm not sure where their membership is actually coming from, though what I keep hearing is that a lot of traditional Baptist churches in Anderson are upset that they are losing large numbers of members to New Spring. On one hand - that's not reaching the unchurched as much as it is shifting church membership. On the other hand, if these folks are changing church membership, then maybe they weren't getting 'fed' at their previous church.

-I used to be concerned that New Spring was more about people treating church just like everything else, with a consumeristic mind set and 'customizing' or 'supersizing' their faith to fit their whims. I've come to better appreciate their ministry over the past year. They initially seemed to be only about themselves. They focused primarily on worship, and most money was spent under the auspices of New Spring. In the past 8 months, I've seen New Spring really turn outwards to the community, and start doing ministry to the least of these around them. They've done a lot of work for Habitat for Humanity, for example. Also, they made a massive donation of food to the Soup Kitchen (we only have one in Anderson) at a time when things are typically very thin for the Soup Kitchen. This wasn't publized either, I only know it because I work with the homeless and am close friends with the director of the Soup Kitchen.

-The have some rough edges, but I think their kind of ministry almost needs that. I've heard of brusqueness in their interaction with other churches. For example, when someone transfers their church membership to New Spring, a rather terse letter is sent to the former church, not requesting a transfer, but instead stating that the person has now joined New Spring and that person should be taken off the former church's membership role. Small things like that have not helped relations with churches that, even if they won't admit it, feel threatened by New Spring.

-They are the edge of churches that will become more dominant as time goes by, but I don't think they speak for all of the younger generations. I think they add healthily to the mix of churches in our community. Their are folks who will go to a place like New Spring who'll not come to a Methodist church. There are folks who'll go to a Catholic, Episcopal, or Methodist church that won't go to a place like New Spring. Etc. There are plenty of people that need to be reached, and we each can reach different ones. God has also created a wide diversity of people. Some will be more tuned to encounter and seek out God at a place like New Spring. Others will be more tuned to encounter and seek out God in a more traditional, liturgical, awe-type church.

-Just an aside - I part-time pastor a church in a rough neighborhood of Anderson. I tried a worship service that uses more contemporary elements, less liturgy, videos, etc. Though it is frequented mostly by 20-somethings and 30-somethings, we have moved to singing mostly traditional, if not outright old-gospel type music, as these rough-neck, blue collar and street folks prefer that to contemporary worship.

God works through Perry Noble and New Spring and will bring His Kingdom, just as he works through the other churches in the 'hood. Glory be to God.

 

New Spring is a great church. My girlfriend used to go to that church and some of my best friends go there now. I like churches that are a little smaller, but New Spring has done some wonderful things in a lot of lives from what I've been told.

 

He's doing some wonderful things through many church's in Concord, Kannapolis, Salisbury. We just don't open our eyes to all He is doing. And He's got some GREAT people working for Him.

 

Yeah, I'm real familiar with it. Got tons of info on them here.

 

sounds like sour grapes mixed with alot of insecure and immature church leadership

 

Yeah.