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Apartment Church
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It's pretty hard to come up with an excuse for being late for church when the services are offered right next door. That's the case for some apartment dwellers in Dallas since the pastor of Lake Highlands United Methodist Church arranged to hold worship services and Sunday School classes at their complexes. Many who attend call this the ultimate church home. |
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SCRIPT:
Every Sunday, The Reverend Pamela Clark and her worship team head out to neighborhood apartments hoping to attract a new type of congregation, planted right in their own back yards.
The Reverend Pamela Clark / Lake Highlands United Methodist Church: “We set up a community of faith right in the community where people live so they don’t have to worry about transportation. We don’t dress up to come to church.”
For thirteen-year-old Mario Martinez, it’s the only church he has ever known. He has been attending for five years and now helps with the younger children.
Mario Martinez / Attends Apartment Church: “Their parents might work on Sunday, or they’re probably not home and they can come to the apartment community and have a good time.”
And for Zimbabwean Edgar Moyo, it is a short trip to church – he lives right next door.
Edgar Moyo / Attends Apartment Church: “It means a lot to us, we come to know each other better, we fellowship with each other, we share our problems be it financially, morally, spiritually.”
Edgar, his family and a friend help lead the worship. Hymns are often sung in English, Spanish and native African languages to meet the needs of the diverse members.
Edgar Moyo: “Here I am part of the family, they know me by my first name, they come to my house.”
Clark, a United Methodist minister, works with the apartment management. A donated two-bedroom unit is transformed into a sanctuary, nursery and a Sunday School classroom.
The Reverend Pamela Clark: “A lot of folks that come to our churches for the first time in the apartments wouldn’t be able to walk into a church and go through The Lord’s Prayer.”
Beyond the traditional church walls, it’s a church family…at home with each other.
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The apartment ministry has expanded into seven multi-living complexes and continues to grow. Many of the members continue to worship in the apartment even after they move out of the complex.