Pastor Jeff Clark also credits the church’s growth to the Celtic model of evangelism, where people belong before they believe.
“You need to feel accepted before you want to sign up. We’re not trying to convert unchurched people. We’re trying to love them and share a message of hope with them while they drink coffee.”
That’s rare for a church in the conservative Deep South city of 160,000. And it wasn’t always that way. When Clark became pastor in 1995, the 130-year-old church was ensconced in downtown Hattiesburg with 800 wealthy members, white robes, chandeliers and hymns sung in Latin. They had no chance of reaching the unchurched, lower-income people around them—certainly not druggies and misfits.
Over the next 15 years, Clark and his leadership team made outreach their priority. They overhauled the church’s vision, philosophy, structure, ministries and decision-making—they even built and moved into a new, visitor-friendly building five miles away. Many members fought the changes, and since 2009, the church lost 95 percent of its congregation, a process Clark describes as “bloody and ugly.”
But for every person it lost, the church gained four to five newcomers, like Hatten.
“When we got past losing all the rich people and the community influencers, we exploded in growth,” Clark says. “It freed us up to be who we really are: a church for the unchurched.”
Today First Hattiesburg is a motley, happy family where newcomers join one of 150 growth groups to connect relationally and grow spiritually in community, then get involved in local and global ministry opportunities. They feel confident inviting their friends to church, knowing they’ll be unconditionally loved.
“They just opened their arms and welcomed me, and I knew this is where I needed to be,” Hatten says.
FIRST HATTIESBURG Hattiesburg, Miss.
Pastor: Jeff Clark
Twitter: @PastorJ96
Website: FirstHattiesburg.com
Founded: 1884
Affiliation: Southern Baptist
Locations: 1
Attendance: 2,724
Growth in 2012: +616 (29%)
Fastest-Growing: 32
