12 Churches to watch
Part 3 in a Series

We are inspired. We hear about your churches - churches on the move, churches that grow and connect with communities - churches to watch. So, we asked each of our 12 superintendents to tell us about a "church to watch" in their districts. In December, we featured Salem UMC in Kingsport District. Here's our next inspiring congregation. - Editor, The Call

Dunlap UMC
Chattanooga District
Pastor:
Rev. Amy Probst

Superintendent's comments: "Dunlap United Methodist Church is located in the heart of the beautiful Sequatchie Valley which is becoming another bedroom community to Chattanooga. In June 2004 the church received with grace and a very warm welcome its first female pastor, the Rev. Amy Rollins Probst. Under her leadership - and with the church leadership's dedication - Dunlap is growing in all areas and reaching out in mission and ministry to the community and the wider world."

The story: When the Rev. Amy Probst was appointed to Dunlap UMC, she wasn't only the congregation's first female pastor. She was also their first pregnant pastor. Shortly after her arrival at the 109-year-old church, Probst's obstetrician ordered bed rest.

Dunlap's reaction to the situation sends "a very positive message for women in the ministry," Probst says today. The congregation simply stepped up to fill in the gaps until their new preacher could return to the pulpit.

Probst, now age 33, says the congregation's attitude was, "If you can help this church grow, then you're worth waiting for. And besides," Probst remembers with a smile, "we love babies."

On a recent Sunday morning at Dunlap, the congregation does seem to adore Probst's daughter, 15-month-old Anna Grace. They're also proud of their preacher and the growth they've witnessed. Within 18 months, average worship attendance has increased from 100 to a recent high of 150. In December 2005, attendance was 22 percent higher than in December 2004 - the probable result of an Igniting Ministry grant that helped Dunlap buy billboard and newspaper advertising space during Advent.

"We're excited about our church," says Keith Maxwell, director of music ministry and a lifetime member at Dunlap. "Amy's not only a good preacher, but she's bringing in things that are attractive to people."

In an effort to offer "multiple points of entry" for guests, the church is pursuing new ministries as well as building on historical successes. A new couple in the church, married by Probst in December, has started a monthly ballroom dancing class. Another new member is beginning a parish nurse ministry. For years, Dunlap hosted Alcoholics Anonymous, which has recently grown from meeting once a week to five times a week, due to the energy and involvement of a new parishioner. And the Victory Bible Sunday School Class doesn't send smokers out in the cold, but invites them to light up in the classroom. It's a tradition that started in the 1950s, Probst explains, when the class's founder went out on the streets on Sunday morning, inviting men in for a smoke and hot coffee.

It helps, Probst says, that the community is receiving an influx of retirees as well as Chattanooga commuters who like leaving their workplaces and gaining an hour from Dunlap's Central Standard Time. It also helps that the congregation is teeming with influential, respected citizens of Dunlap who interact with the townspeople.

However, Probst stresses that a chief factor in the church's recent success is its willingness to make changes in the name of growth.

The congregation wanted growth in the first place, she says, "because other churches were growing and they weren't. They realized they could be doing more."

Now that the momentum has started, Probst says her job is to remind members that they should be ready for the day when they "look around and realize they don't know everyone."

"They've bought into that vision in a very profound way," says Probst.

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