WILMINGTON, NC -- A groundbreaking, two-year nationwide study based at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington has identified some 300 Protestant congregations and 300 Catholic parishes as examples of local church excellence.
"Churches like these are beacons of hope in a very confusing time when people are looking for moral guidance and a sense of belonging, of true community," said Paul Wilkes, director of the Parish/Congregation Study and a creative writing professor at UNCW.
"We went in search of excellence and found it in abundance."
Wilkes and his team of researchers combed the country looking for churches that "nurtured the spirit, welcomed and yet challenged, both preached and - more importantly - lived the Good News." Size or location, denominational affiliation or lack of one were not important, but a certain "habit of being" was.
"The churches we found are simply wonderful places to be. They not only take care of their members and welcome the newcomer, but also reach out generously into the world. I was absolutely amazed with the abundance of goodness and greatness that was found," Wilkes said.
"There's a great hunger in our land for authentic spiritual experience and community. And the local church is still where most people look for spiritual nourishment and for guidance for their lives. An effective parish or congregation feeds your soul, and you're in company with other people who are seekers, so it's a perfect combination. Our churches are a most underutilized natural and supernatural resource. They have roots in faith, in the community, in the lives of people. We're not using these role models enough."
Wilkes and his team compiled the list in consultation with many sources: pastoral and church institutes, scholars who study church life, ethnic and cultural groups, as well as religion writers and reporters.
"We drew up a list of criteria and went to these experts asking: ' Use these criteria, but go beyond them. We want the best of the best, the cream of the cream,' " said Wilkes. These criteria, as well as information about the study and the forthcoming Pastoral Summit, are found at www.pastoralsummit.org.
The Parish/Congregation Study was funded by a $190,000 grant from the Lilly Endowment, the largest humanities grant received to date by the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
Results of the study will be featured in two books by Paul Wilkes: Excellent Catholic Parishes: The Guide to Best Places and Practices (Paulist Press, published in February) and Excellent Protestant Congregations: The Guide to Best Places and Practices (Westminster John Knox, published in April). Not only will the excellent churches be included in an annotated, state-by-state index in the books, a representative group of parishes and churches are profiled, giving an in-depth look at their approaches.
A "virtual tour" of the profiled parishes and churches is available at www.pastoralsummit.org, and the complete list will be available on the Internet after the books are published.
"This study is an effort to show that excellent churches thrive in all settings: rural, urban, suburban areas," said Wilkes, who is the author of 15 books, mostly on religious belief and practice, and who has written for such magazines as the New Yorker and The New York Times Magazine.
"This study holds them up as possible, attainable models of what every church can be. While we hear there is a shortage of ordained priests in the Catholic church and declining numbers in mainstream Protestantism, the only scarcity is in imagination, openness to the changing role and potential of lay people - and faith.
"We want people to visit these excellent churches when they're on the road or moving to a new locale and to see how good these 'homes for the soul' really can be. We want a certain 'benign contagion' to sweep this land, based in local churches."
As a follow-up to the Parish/Congregation Study and Wilkes' two books, there will be an opportunity for churches to learn from the leaders of these excellent churches at the Pastoral Summit, May 30-June 1 in New Orleans. This first-ever national gathering of Protestants and Catholics focused exclusively on the local church will feature some of the country's most dynamic and innovative pastors and lay leaders, many featured in Wilkes' books.
The Pastoral Summit, also funded by the Lilly Endowment, is co-sponsored by the Parish/Congregation Study at UNCW and the Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame. Registration is open to anyone - pastors, church staff and lay leaders - interested in improving his or her local church. Catholic and Protestant clergy and laypeople from large city parishes as well as from small-town and rural congregations will present and discuss their best practices, programs, and approaches at the Summit's workshops, discussions, and conference-wide prayer and worship.
"The beauty of the Pastoral Summit is that we are not talking about doctrinal differences or ideologies that may sometimes be in conflict, but simply about pastoral excellence," Wilkes said. "We're saying we can learn from each other and these great churches. Our common goal is bigger than our differences. The Pastoral Summit will present a broad range of church sizes, regions, and approaches. There are churches with 60 members and churches with 12,000 members."
From a tiny Lutheran church cluster in rural Lone Wolf, Okla., to a venerable Boston-area Catholic parish, from Denver's evangelical Riverside Baptist Church to a vibrant, largely Hispanic parish in El Paso, the methods and programs they employ are as varied as the churches themselves. More than 1,000 are expected to attend the Pastoral Summit.
MORE INFORMATION: The Pastoral Summit will be headquartered at the New Orleans Marriott, within walking distance of the French Quarter, the Mississippi River, and the Garden District. Registration is $150 and includes two meals and two books: Excellent Catholic Parishes and Excellent Protestant Congregations. Rooms at the Marriott are available at the discounted rate of $125 per night.
For more information about the Parish/Congregation Study and the Pastoral Summit May 30-June 1, 2001, please contact: [email protected], visit the website www.pastoralsummit.org, or call 910/962-7225. Mr. Wilkes can also be reached at that number. Working with him on this project are Marty Minchin, who teaches in UNCW's English Department, and Melanie Bruce, a UNCW graduate.
An electronic photo of Mr. Wilkes and his team will be available after 3 p.m., Wednesday, January 17, 2001 at http://www.uncwil.edu/news/.
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