Used-Car Ministry

When First United Methodist Church in Tulsa looked for new ways to reach out to its community, members of the congregation came forward with a number of ideas-a medical clinic, singles ministry, prison ministry, helping the hungry and homeless. They also conceived of perhaps the world’s first used-car ministry

“There are a lot of people in our community who could have jobs except they can’t get to them because they don’t have a car,” says Jessica Moffatt, minister of community ministries at First United Methodist. “Or they have a car, but they can’t get to work because it’s chronically in need of repair. In some cases, their children are growing up illiterate because they can’t get them to school. We have many thousands of poor people in our city who deserve cars.”

Meeting the need is the church’s used-car ministry, composed of seven volunteers who perform automotive repairs for people who can’t afford to pay for them. In addition to repairing cars, the ministry sometimes receives donated used cars from the community or other church members and gives these cars to needy families. Since 1986, the ministry has received and distributed between fifteen and twenty cars.

Creating a used-car ministry

The idea emerged in September 1985 when First United Methodist held a three-day seminar entitled “Motivation for Ministry,” designed to get church members thinking about community ministry.

During the seminar, women, youth, teenagers, men, seniors, and other groups from the congregation met separately to examine the skills and interests they had to offer for community needs. Cards were distributed, and members were asked to write answers to the question, What specific needs do you see in the Tulsa community to which you wish our church was ministering?

Moffatt got back hundreds of cards, which were then categorized into forty-nine areas of ministry. A meeting room was designated for each category, and on the second day of the seminar participants were asked to go to the room where their ministry of choice was meeting. If four or more people showed up for a particular ministry, a ministry was launched.

“Thirty-nine groups had at least four people,” Moffatt remembers, “and after about two months, we had twenty-nine pretty consistent groups meeting every week and going to ministry sites. The car ministry happened because a group of men went into a room and said, ‘Well, what could we do?’ “

Art Radabaugh, a member of that group, felt concern for people who had jobs but no way to get to them. “We saw a need that no one was fulfilling and a way to reach out to people who don’t go to church,” he says. Most of the volunteers in the used-car ministry are members of the church. Only one is a professional mechanic; the group includes a systems engineer for IBM, an attorney, a sheetmetal worker, and a postal worker. “We hoped someone would come who knew what he was doing,” Radabaugh laughs, “but we found we were it.”

Screening repair requests

The used-car ministry began in March 1986. “We got our first jobs from previous contacts with families who had laid out their entire needs,” Moffatt says. “When I saw a situation where people were being pretty accountable and would be in much better shape if they had a car, I’d refer those people to the car-ministry group.” By the end of that year, its seven volunteers had performed between thirty and forty repair jobs.

Now the ministry is well known in the Tulsa area and frequently receives referrals from other churches. “If it’s car related, they almost always send them to us,” Moffatt says. The used-car ministry has received as many as six calls day .

Says Radabaugh, a computer operations manager during the day who serves as lay coordinator of the ministry: “It’s one of those crazy things where you don’t realize how much need is out there until you start doing it.”

Moffatt initially screens the callers to determine who genuinely would benefit from receiving repair work or a donated car, and then refers these people to Radabaugh. After visiting the prospective recipient and assessing the extent of needed repairs, Radabaugh decides if the person’s need falls within the scope of the ministry.

“I try to get enough information,” he says, “so I don’t run out and work on somebody’s car if he could easily afford to have the repair done. I haven’t run across a person yet who took advantage of the situation.”

Most of the repairs handled by the group are minor in nature. One member of the church owns a car dealership and sometimes offers its repair facilities for more demanding repairs. Donations to the ministry go into a small fund for purchasing items such as mufflers or retreads.

Radabaugh performs two or three repair jobs a week and funnels others to the other members of the group. “When I call them for a repair job, they’re very willing to help, depending on their schedule. They’ve always responded. So far no member has dropped out. Every six months, in fact, we add one or two.”

He usually spends part of Saturday and one or two evenings a week involved in the ministry.

Repair responses

“We don’t push people we serve to become members of our church,” says Moffatt. “However, if they say to us, ‘How come you’re doing this?’ we talk about our faith and our church. But we always wait until they ask. We never go in and say, ‘We’ll help you with your car if you come to our church service.’ “

Radabaugh says he’s surprised more people don’t express their appreciation for receiving the free repair work. Nevertheless, he views it as a great way to share his faith.

“When you’re bent over someone’s car, you have a captive audience,” he says. “The majority of people, however, don’t even say thank you. It’s like they expect it. I have to take it as a basic commentary on human nature, but the ministry’s always worth it.

“Some Saturdays, repair jobs are all I do,” Radabaugh says. “We’ve had a lot of good experiences. Even though most people don’t come in or write a thank-you note, they are appreciative.”

One Tulsa resident, who needed car repair told Moffatt, “I called every church in the yellow pages to find help. What your church is doing, I have never seen anywhere.”

MORE IDEAS

The Two-Document System

Except for the building cornerstone with the founding date chiseled into it, a church constitution is probably the hardest thing for a pastor to change. But what do you do when that guiding document becomes so encrusted with rules, procedures, and guidelines that it practically binds and gags the church body?

This problem faced Martin Dahlquist, pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church in Warsaw, Indiana. The church’s constitution, for example, specified the date and time of the annual congregational meeting. It had to be in December, and often it fell on the worst snow day of the year; if it had to be cancelled, the congregation technically could not meet for another year. Communion was permitted only four times per year. And so on.

“Meetings were especially giving us problems,” Dahlquist says. “I’d have things for the congregation to vote on, but if we didn’t gather a quorum, according to the constitution, we’d have to wait at least two weeks before we could meet again. Many points in a church constitution simply represent yesterday’s wounds and pain; they don’t apply to today’s operational problems.”

Dahlquist’s solution was to establish a policy manual-separate from the constitution-in which operational specifics such as meeting times would be outlined. These specifics could then be changed without major congregational upheaval. Most items in the policy manual could be changed by a simple board vote.

Everyone in the church was given the opportunity to participate in rewriting the constitution and formulating the policy guide. “We went back to our constitution and asked at each point, ‘Is this really necessary?’ ” remembers Dahlquist. “If not, it was taken out and placed in the policy manual.”

The policy manual has been in effect since 1987. For example, recently the board felt the need to change the terms of appointed positions from two years to one. Before, that would have required a written notice to the congregation two weeks before an all-congregation meeting specifically to decide that question. But under the two-document system, the board was able to make the change without having to run the gauntlet. “No one has said we should go back to the old system,” Dahlquist says.

“A church is a living, breathing ministry,” he says, “and yet I’ve been at churches with constitutions thirty years old that haven’t been reviewed. I recommend the two-document system for helping any church become more flexible.”

-Reported by Dan Coran

Adopt a Piece of Church Grounds

Ever since the Christian church began meeting in public buildings rather than homes, some 1,600 years ago, it’s had an accompanying problem: keeping up the buildings. Money, time, and energy for repairs and maintenance seem always in short supply.

The problem faced First Presbyterian Church in Gadsden, Alabama. “As in Ezra and Nehemiah’s day, our ‘temple’ had fallen into disrepair,” says pastor E. Langston Haygood. “And long grass and dirty nurseries are not going to attract many newcomers.”

Then a member proposed a “Cleanup Plan”: Every family in the congregation would take responsibility for just one area of the church-room, entrance, hall, office, or other space. After an initial cleanup, that family would check its area the first Sunday of each month.

The church passed around a four-page sign-up sheet listing every area of the facility. Next to each area from two to six families could sign up. Those who were unable to participate in the actual cleanup could make financial (or material) contributions for furniture, plants, playground equipment, paint, or carpet. At First Presbyterian, over seventy families signed up, although many people who didn’t sign up helped as well (such as international students who couldn’t make a long-term commitment).

Then, the church designated July for an initial clean up, fix up, paint, and repair campaign. On the final Saturday of the month, an all-church work day added focus and enthusiasm.

Finally, they designed a follow-up procedure. On the first Sunday of each month, “Nehemiah Sunday,” each area is checked by the people who signed up to care for it. Two members, Jack Blackburn and Betty Batson, supervise the monthly inspections.

The by-product of this project, according to Haygood, “is a renewed consciousness on the part of the congregation to take care of the church facility. It also creates a sense of fellowship and harmony. A month after our July work party, we viewed a slide presentation of the day. One little girl, who had not been able to participate on our cleanup day, said, ‘I wish I could have been there.’ “

Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, has a similar program that focuses not on the building but the grounds.

Dubbed “Adopt-a-Bed,” the program coordinates almost fifty volunteers who each take responsibility to care for one flower bed, shrub bed, or cluster of trees on the church grounds. Volunteers come once a week during the growing season-in northern Illinois, about 26 weeks-to weed, cultivate, pinch flowers in the annual beds, and pick up trash. A key attraction of the program is the flexible schedule: volunteers can come at whatever time is most convenient for them.

“We have couples in their sixties and a mom who brings four kids along,” says Tom Trayser, a church staff member who helps coordinate the program. “Most say, ‘This is a great release after working or caring for kids all week.’ “

The program was designed five years ago by staff members Kurt Olson and Sherry Masters, says Trayser, “because there was more work than we could handle, and we wanted to allow those who had these gifts to serve.” It has run smoothly, thanks to a few guidelines:

Volunteers are required to attend an April seminar on landscape maintenance, so they handle the work properly and from the same approach. “It gives the grounds the appearance of having a single landscaper,” Trayser says.

Volunteers do not handle any chemicals.

An annual summer picnic unites the volunteers and boosts morale.

The problems have been minor: an occasional missing tool from the church storage shed, and infrequently, a call to people who have neglected their commitment. Meanwhile, the savings have been enormous. Says Trayser, “When you multiply 50 volunteers by 26 weeks by 1 or 2 hours each week times about $6 an hour (a typical rate for a landscaping worker), you can see that we save thousands of dollars each year.”

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