Today in the Mission Yearbook - A ‘merry band’ of Presbyterian believers in Rochester solve their ‘edifice complex’

South Presbyterian Church grows after members leave their building

February 25, 2024

“Ladies and gentlemen: Elvis has left the building!” announced the Rev. Sara Hayden, the host of the New Way podcast, invoking the famous phrase used to encourage adoring hangers-on to stop waiting to get a glimpse of “the King” inside.

“‘Nothing to see here!’ That famous phrase about Elvis has been adapted in recent years by religious congregations eager to mark their church’s departure from its so-called ‘edifice complex,’” Hayden told her audience. “For Jesus people, gathering in places where so few step inside, what might it be like when the church leaves the building?”

In the final two-part series of New Way’s 2023 season, Hayden interviewed the Rev. Deb Swift, pastor of South Presbyterian Church in Rochester, New York, which sold its building in 2014, a process that reinvigorated the ministry of the church and the faith of its members.

Swift was called to serve the church part-time after decades of the congregation contracting with supply preachers. When she arrived, the treasurer said, “You know we’re going to run out of money in seven years.” Swift led the congregation through a process of better understanding who they were as Presbyterians and how to live out their faith beyond the church walls.

They started with a “Bagels and Bible” study on Saturdays at a Rochester bagel shop and a book group on Fridays at a local diner. “By getting outside the building, people could see us laughing and having fun talking about God … and being excited by that, and one thing led to another,” Swift said.

Swift encouraged people to align their circles of family, friends, work and community so that they could spread good news. “Aligning-Circles-Together” became South’s ACTs of faith model, a way of doing ministry out in the open that invites others to witness and experience joy and connection when two or three are gathered intentionally and faithfully.

“We developed this whole model of ministry that’s really based on the first century church, I think, and it’s ‘Go where the people are. Don’t expect them to come to you,’” said Swift, who covers some of the difficult dynamics and decisions churches with under 50 members have to face as well as the new fruits of the spirit growing in their community in the last decade since they became peripatetic Presbyterians.

“There were 33, I think, voting members. One just had said to me, ‘I will never vote to sell my church,’” recalled Swift. “But the other 32, it was unanimous among them, and one of them made it a point to sign her ballot. She said it was ‘because I want everyone to know that it may be hard for me, but I support what we’re doing. This is where God is calling us.’”

The podcast and a book written by the congregation called “The Church Has Left the Building: A Case Study of One Church’s Story of Transformation, Redefinition and New Life” describe in greater detail the ACTs of Faith model. While the official membership of South Presbyterian Church is still under 50, the annual report shows the expanse of its reach.

“I can tell you that last year we had 32 official members, 15 acts of faith that reached 341 different people in the course of the year, and combined, it gave us over 6,000 contacts in the course of the year,” said Swift, reporting only on the ministry that happened outside of Sunday worship. “Then you add on to that our YouTube worship and videos, we had another 2,433 views with 79 subscribers, so that’s 8,500 opportunities for people to, as we say, ‘bump up against Jesus through us.’”

For this Rochester congregation, an ACT of faith is “defined as an organic grassroots ministry growing out of the needs or interest of the people,” said Swift, who explained the basic rubric that the ministry be community-based, not meet in a church building, and not be pastor-dependent.

“You can do the ACTs of faith model without selling your building. It’s a mindset for ministry,” said Swift.

Beth Waltemath, Communications Strategist, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Today’s Focus: Rev. Deb Swift, pastor of South Presbyterian Church, guest on the New Way Podcast

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
José Manuel Capella-Pratts  &  Vilmarie Cintrón-Olivieri, Regional Liaisons for Caribbean, Presbyterian Mission Agency 
James Carey, Director of Investments & Portfolio Management Services, Presbyterian Foundation 

Let us pray

Loving God, we ask for your guidance and wisdom for our denomination and the members of our congregations. Help us to discern where you are leading. May we continually be mindful of those who need us the most. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - South Presbyterian Church in Rochester, New York, celebrates the decision to sell its building to focus on faithful acts

The 40-member faith community salutes its varied ministries in a big way

November 17, 2023

Nearly a decade ago, South Presbyterian Church in Rochester, New 

York, sold its building to focus on investing in a wide array of ministries. 

The congregation, which worships each Sunday in a Rochester senior 

center, will hold a gala celebration this weekend. (Contributed photo)

South Presbyterian Church in Rochester, New York, recently celebrated the beginning of the second decade of selling its building and implementing its Acts of Faith community, a throwback to a first-century model of being the church.

After selling its building in 2014, the congregation — which now numbers about 40 — embraced a prayer it has prayed many times since: “Put us where you want us, God, and show us what to do.”

Next year will mark 175 years since the founding of the church. The Rev. Dr. Ray Jones III, director of Theology, Formation & Evangelism, joined the celebration and helped lead worship at a senior center where South Presbyterian worships.

“I continue to be thankful for God’s serendipitous grace in connecting me with the leaders of South Presbyterian Church,” Jones said. “I have learned so much from their courage and willingness to change. They boldly engaged the new thing God was doing in their midst by selling their church building and creating Acts of Faith across Rochester. They made the gospel decision to leave their building and go where the people live their lives in the community.”

“As their ministry continues to change hearts and lives,” Jones said, “this expression of the body of Christ exemplifies God’s faithfulness and love for all people.”

The Rev. Deb Swift, South Presbyterian Church’s pastor, said that 15 years ago, the congregation determined that if it held onto its building and made needed repairs, the church would run out of money in seven years. “I thought it was hyperbole, but it wasn’t,” said Swift. “We started doing these [Acts of Faith] ministries even before we sold the building.”

Soul Sustainability is one of 14 members of the Acts 

of Faith community.

Eventually a 1001 New Worshiping Community was formed. Currently the church sponsors 14 Acts of Faith groups, which include:

• Cuppa the Bible, a weekly Bible study with this tagline: “You supply the ‘cuppa’ — the Spirit supplies the message.”
• Living Bread Ministry, where members bake bread regularly and offer a variety of loaves wrapped in new dish towels to anyone who may need encouragement or special prayers.
• Matthew 25 Discussion Groups, focused study groups dealing with the issues of racism, poverty, hunger and homelessness.
• Senior Spirituality, small support groups that first study the aging process with Swift and then accompany each other along the way.
• Soul Sustainability, a social group of 20-somethings working to sustain the environment, their spirits and themselves by creating a safe place to define their faith community.

Swift explains the Acts of Faith ministry model in a video that can be viewed here.

“It’s about redefining church,” Swift said. “In our case, we embraced the first-century model when there was no centralized church location. We go wherever someone has an interest or a need, and we do organic, grassroots community organizing around that spiritual theme.” Each of those programs is an Act of Faith, she said.

“God finds a way to speak to us in a language we can understand,” Swift said. “We know that from the first Pentecost in Acts 2, and who are we to say what someone else might experience as worship?”

During the pandemic, several Acts of Faith groups morphed into online groups, which has allowed them to build community beyond the Rochester area. The current array of 14 Acts of Faith groups includes participants from North Carolina; Florida; Utah; Washington state; New Jersey; and Ithaca, New York. Ten ministries remain in-person in Rochester. Soul Sustainability, a group of five Millennials, is the most recent Acts of Faith group to form.

“This is a model anyone can do,” Swift said, and she wrote a case study how-to workbook, “The Church has Left the Building,” to show how it’s done. A separate nonprofit, Firebird Spirit, exists to work with other faith communities, including presbyteries, considering such a move.

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Today’s Focus: South Presbyterian Church in Rochester, New York sells its building

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Lauren Rogers, Ministry Engagement Advisor, Ministry Engagement & Support, Administrative Services Group  (A Corp)
Dalma Rodriguez, Kitchen Assistant, Stony Point Center, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray

God of second chances, thank you for your faithfulness and your assurance that with you all things are possible. Help us serve in the name of Christ and to trust you for the result. Amen.