NEWS
Church re-planting moves members to love and care for neighbors ILLINOIS CHURCH RE-VISIONS ITS ROLE IN THE COMMUNITY When Elgin Church pastor Gabriel Photography courtesy Gabriel Bardan
Bardan joined a clergy meeting and introduced himself as the pastor of the Elgin Adventist Church, the chairman, a mainline Protestant pastor, looked at him and asked, “Where have you been so far?” “Indeed, we had been disconnected from the community for a long time,” Bardan acknowledges. “Now, our goal is to become a community hub!” This renewed push for a higher profile in the community came after a brutally honest assessment during a church business meeting in the summer of 2017. Members of Elgin Church, located 40 miles northwest of Chicago, concluded that a radical change was needed — something beyond revival or a new direction. A rebirth of Elgin was required. They call it re-planting, a process so so rare it happens just a handful of times across the North American Division (NAD) each year. According to North American Division Evangelism Institute’s (NADEI) church plant expert, Anthony WagenerSmith, re-planting happens when “You put everything on the table, revisit the vision and discover a whole new
E Top: Registration line winding outside the building. About 200 people were served. Bottom: Elgin Church Outreach coordinator, Terri Dallas (right), with the Mayor of the City of Elgin (next to her), welcomes the volunteers to the Heal Elgin Clinic last June.
leadership of Outreach coordinator, Terri Dallas, MD. But more on that later.
In the last 15 years, the Elgin Church has helped to plant five new churches. Then, during summer 2017 church business meet-
Why Re-plant This wasn't the first time Elgin church has re-planted itself. The town of Elgin, halfway along the railroad from Chicago to Galena, was founded
ing, the members voted unanimously to “start a process leading to the rebirth of the church, authorizing Pastor Gabriel Bardan to create and facilitate a visioning team.” However, their first step was to establish
in 1835. Over the winter of 1856 and into
a spiritual foundation team. Four months
the spring of 1857, John Loughborough
were dedicated to daily prayer and study
labored in the area. For wages, he received
of the gospel, plus a two-hour meeting
“board, a buffalo skin, and $10.” Elder
each Saturday night to pray and share
Curtis was assigned as pastor in 1898,
personal testimonies.
and records show that in 1909 Ellen White
In 2018, the focus was on learning the
attended the Elgin camp meeting and
skills of relational evangelism, leading
delivered two sermons there.
small groups and relational Bible stud-
During the Great Depression in 1929,
ies. Members started contacting friends,
most members moved away. Some had
neighbors and coworkers. The team was
to analyze their church’s resources, skills
lost their faith and others had passed
experiencing revival, and others noticed.
and talents, they recognized they have
away so, for about 10 years, there was no
Bardan explained that they followed a vi-
a large building that is used mostly on
Adventist presence in Elgin.
sion framing process designed by Auxano,
paradigm.” When the Elgin Church’s leadership met
weekends; six acres of land that doesn’t
After 1939, a family moved into the area
a church consulting organization but, by
produce any benefit; medical skills never
and started Sabbath School in their home.
the time the vision framing process began,
used collectively to alleviate the suffering
The Elgin Church was re-organized in 1944
the congregation was already seeing
around them and, despite the school
with 25 members meeting in the Masonic
people with different eyes — seeing others
closing decades ago, that section of the
Temple. Eventually they purchased six
from Heaven’s perspective which was a
building was never repurposed to glorify
acres of land and built a school and then
tremendous help in defining the vision.
God. Their assessment led to the church
a church dedicated in 1970 and 1971,
initiating the “Heal Elgin Project” under the
respectively.
24 MARCH 2020
The second leg of the process was the breakthrough moment for the whole team. LAKE UNION HERALD
