Five Lakes Church in Sylvania, OH: Growth Through Service
How do you discover Five Lakes Church in Sylvania, Ohio? Start by asking ChatGPT.
Lead Pastor Micah Sutton shared a conversation he had with new attendees who relocated from out of state where they attended a church they loved.
“They asked ChatGPT ‘What church in this area is like our prior church?’ and were pointed to Five Lakes,” he says.
Five Lakes, a multisite church, was established in 1965. Each Sunday, across four services, as many as 1,500 people attend, making it harder and harder for Sutton to engage one-to-one. He admits this shift is difficult for him and that he’s still adjusting.
It’s also hard “maintaining momentum and movement while avoiding outrunning our actual capabilities,” he says.
Even though Five Lakes is rapidly growing, church member Ben Bohland explains people don’t just show up to be served. Rather, they are engaged and actively caring for one another and the community.
One way this engagement is fostered is through dozens of Life Groups. Bohland started a men’s group for guys who love to golf. They play a round together when the weather is good and study God’s Word the rest of the time. Bohland’s wife, Holly, is active in a homeschooling Life Group.
Danny Royer started another Life Group three years ago called Faithful Fabricators. Members possess technical skills and spend their time “soldering toys and 3D printing stuff,” he says.
A key opportunity for the group to serve is creating adapted toys. Explains Royer, “An adapted toy is like any other toy,” but with modifications that allow it to be used by children with disabilities. The group modifies toys for local community organizations such as the Ability Center in Sylvania where the toys are part of the center’s lending program, saving parents hundreds of dollars.
Faithful Fabricators also creates 3D printed wheelchairs using patterns provided by MakeGood based out of New Orleans. According to Royer, it takes about 330 hours to print all the parts for one chair. Each person in the group takes responsibility for part of a chair.
“We can crank out about one each week,” he notes.
Caring extends far into the community. Betty Bassett, who serves as outreach director, has been at Five Lakes for 11 years. She arrived in her current role, she says, because she “just kept saying ‘yes’ to the Lord.”
While managing special events at the church, primarily, she explains, “I try to sit at the tables where decisions are being made” in the community. She attends chamber of commerce meetings, is friends with the local fire and police departments, knows the mayor, and maintains connections with several community organizations.
“We are always trying to learn our community’s love language,” Bassett offers. “We want to meet the real needs of the community,” not to merely impose random good deeds on people.
She will provide team members at the request of community event organizers but has two requirements: first, that Five Lakes people can wear their mint green T-shirts bearing the church branding and the phrase “Here to Serve,” and second, as appropriate, they can pray with people and share their faith. Bassett calls this their “greater mission.”
“We have created an identity in the community. When people see our T-shirts, they know we’re there to help,” Bassett testifies.
Five Lakes not only is intentional about caring for the community, it is intentional about supporting its members.
Care Pastor Dan Pratt and his wife Pam came to the church four years ago. “The growth of the church has been dizzying,” he says, which makes his role crucial for covering “the highs and lows of life.”
Recently a family with six children lost their dad to cancer.
“From the day he was diagnosed, the church came alongside the family,” Pratt recalls. Five Lakes has helped the man’s wife deal with plumbing issues, get fencing for the yard, and more.
Ensuring that all church activity is clearly communicated is the job of Kristy Sutton, director of communications, who is also the pastor’s wife. She sees communications as the mortar connecting all the departments.
She also ensures information is accessible to everyone. “We are multigenerational on purpose. Not everyone is comfortable with QR codes and being online.”
So, the church prints a directory of Life Groups each semester and provides other information on paper.
Micah Sutton cites a significant challenge of a growing church is having people from virtually every kind of faith background. One way he’s addressing this is by writing books “focusing on unifying the body” with a shared, common language for faith. His most recent, Above Beyond Within, speaks to the doctrine of the trinity and the importance of the Holy Spirit.
He adds that he is very fortunate. “I’m surrounded by great people, have a strong staff, and we have good polity.”
FIVE LAKES CHURCH
Sylvania, Ohio
Pastor: Micah Sutton
Website: FiveLakes.church
Denomination: Nondenominational
Founded: 1965
Fastest-Growing: 38
