The little brick church that could (pt. 2 of 2)

Last week we visited the history of Haralson in Coweta County, and a little church there.

Over the years, as any homeowner knows, buildings need updating and expansion. The people of Mt. Pilgrim Lutheran added a fellowship hall, a kitchen, and restrooms. In recent years, central heat and air have been installed. Floors have been refurbished, a new roof put on, and a handicapped ramp built. Most striking to a visitor are the classic stained glass windows in each wall.

Mt. Pilgrim survived its trial by fire. But will it survive its aging?
Not the building’s aging - its members’ aging.

Earlier this year, the little church had to confront the fact that it was dying. Literally. The average age of its members is mid-70s.

Somehow, a whole generation slipped away from Mt. Pilgrim and took its children with it.

The town itself had declined when Interstate 85 began carrying north-south traffic several miles past Haralson at 65 miles an hour.

Businesses closed. Old people died. Young people left and didn’t come back.
Although there are 77 names still on the church roster, attendance averages fewer than a dozen. And they desperately want to save Mt. Pilgrim.

Pastor McLeroy - a graduate of Georgia Tech and Gettysburg Seminary, with a doctorate in ministry from McCormick Seminary - retired from a full career of pastoral ministry and military chaplaincies in June, 1990. He agreed to supply Mt. Pilgrim’s pulpit on a part-time basis. A scholarly man, with an easy manner of speaking, he is a good preacher as well as pastor.

But the man is in his 70s himself and, despite being as energetic as a man half his age, is getting tired.

Like Rose Villines who plays the piano for Sunday services: She too was sometimes desperate to have a Sunday off to visit grandchildren.

And too many Sundays, the little red brick church was nearly empty.

Then something amazing happened.

I’m not sure about the sequence of events, but last spring word of Mt. Pilgrim’s plight reached Christ Our Shepherd in Peachtree City. One of the largest Lutheran congregations in the Southeast, the 31-year-old church forged a partnership with the 166-year-old church. Not a merger, not a satellite congregation, but a partnership. The big church sends preachers, musicians, greeters, and worshippers; the little church benefits from the energy released when people sing together and pray together.

Word is out and people are coming to see what’s happening at Mt. Pilgrim. A couple, disenchanted with contemporary worship services, say that the old Lutheran traditions and orders of worship appeal to them.

Members of the big church who live nearer the little church are thinking of gas mileage. For others, mini fits better than mega.

Whatever their reasons, people are trying out Mt. Pilgrim to see if it might be the church for them.

Be it noted along about here: This isn’t about finding more metaphorically comfortable pews. What I mean is, I’ve seen the advertisements of churches that promise to fulfill your life, to help you prosper, to answer your prayers beyond your wildest dreams.

And I think they have it backward.

I believe in the Church as the family of God, a gathering of people who celebrate God’s grace in their lives and help prop each other up in the hard times. I’m not a theologian, and I might not be getting this just right, but to some people the Church is family in a far more extended sense than biological family, in the midst of which we can share the blessings that fill our lives.

I’m still looking for just the right way to answer a comment we’ve all heard more than once, when over Sunday brunch someone says, “I didn’t get much out of the service today, did you?”

It sounds so smug to say, “Well, how much did you put into it?” but that’s what I want to ask.

If you’re thinking of visiting Mt. Pilgrim, you should know services are at 11 a.m. Sundays. On the fourth Sunday of the month, Sunday School is offered at 10.

And if you’ve heard that Lutherans do something called liturgy, don’t let that worry you. Ask to sit with one of them; they’re good about helping.

A liturgical worship service is characterized by prayers, scriptures, statements of faith, and hymns, and often concludes with Holy Communion. While some who aren’t familiar with liturgy feel put off by its sometimes archaic language and repetition, once learned, these passages - most from the Bible - become second nature and guide us through from confession to forgiveness to thanksgiving.

No one says it’s easy. The word “liturgy” actually means “a public work.” Lutherans don’t come to church to sit and watch a show. They are there to worship God in a formula that dates back to the Hebrews still wandering in the desert.

But I digress. Mt. Pilgrim is on Ga. Highway 74/85, only about eight miles from Fayette County. If you happen to be a former member - or not - be reminded that Homecoming Sunday is Oct. 1. From all accounts, it will be a wonderful celebration, with good food, reunions, and fellowship.

This year Homecoming will take on special significance. Mt. Pilgrim is no longer dying.

And she still offers a place to come home to.

Sources: The History of Coweta County
The Rev. Richard McLeroy
"My History of Mt. Pilgrim Lutheran Church" by Pauline Gable
Research of Keith Larson