New Holland Mennonite Church in Lancaster County, Pa., is small but thriving because we have a clear mission to address needs in our community. We focus our energy on two ministries: 1) using our large building to provide childcare for 110 children in the Early Learning Center; and 2) using one acre of our property for a Sprouts for Peace Garden that produces food for the ELC, the local CrossNet Food Pantry and a free produce table in our front yard.
While our average attendance is 40 to 45, people often assume we’re larger because of our visibility and impact in the town of New Holland (population 6,000) and the Eastern Lancaster County School District. Most of our members live in or near New Holland and are invested in loving and helping our neighbors, especially those on the margins, as Jesus taught. These ministries energize us.
As in other small congregations, our people step up with the skills they have rather than deferring to others they consider more talented and experienced. Our pastor, Dawn Ranck-Hower, invites people to serve in areas that match their abilities, interests and energy.
We don’t have a lot of musicians, so our worship music depends on one piano player or one guitarist. We can’t offer a hefty children’s program, but our kids are an integral part of the congregation, known and loved by everyone.
Members describe our congregation as a family that knows, cares and prays for one another.
The larger community knows New Holland Mennonite is engaged in addressing community concerns and justice issues. Our pastor and members are visible at school board meetings, gatherings of leaders and public demonstrations for peace and justice.
The local judge knows he can assign offenders to do supervised community service in our Sprouts for Peace Garden. We know the judge, police chief, school superintendent and others because we invite them to share about their work in our worship services.
We ask these leaders how we can support their service in the community and pray for them. A significant number in our congregation have personal relationships with these community leaders.
We benefit from the vision and resources of a time when the congregation was much larger. In 1974, the 300-member congregation built a new church building with room for a daycare center. Today, the Early Learning Center is an independent nonprofit corporation with 30 employees, self-sufficient and sustainable. The financial investment of a large congregation 50 years ago makes it possible for the current small congregation to continue in the building and make upgrades.
In recent years we removed the pews to make room for movable chairs and an indoor play space for the ELC. Church members serve on the ELC board and as volunteer “grandparents.” The ELC and New Holland Mennonite help each other thrive.
Our piano player, Jenn Esbenshade, offers this lesson from our small church: “Our worship and church experiences don’t have to be perfect and slickly produced. Members can be trusted to use their gifts where God is calling them, even if this means some mistakes along the way.
“Perhaps this can connect us to our sense of humility and vulnerability within our church bodies — that we are just people stumbling along trying to do our best to follow Jesus. Somehow it feels easier to do that in our small congregation.”
Brenda Martin Hurst is a retired pastor living in rural Lancaster County, Pa.
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