12 Churches to Watch
PART FOUR IN A SERIES

Seymour UMC - Maryville District

Superintendent's comments:"Seymour United Methodist Church, located along Chapman Highway/441 between Knoxville and Sevierville, reaches out to an area of significant population growth. I commend the lay and clergy leadership team for their intentional efforts to be a warm, welcoming, and witnessing community of faith. Seymour is an exemplary model of church relocation and new church development."

The story: A young mother in the Celebration Class at Seymour United Methodist Church explains why she was attracted to the church.

"I drove by and saw all these youth on the front lawn," she said. "And I knew that, someday, I wanted my child to be one of them."

So many things seem to have contributed to Seymour's success. An active youth program numbering in the 80s. A young-adult class with about 20 people who are heavily involved in the church's leadership and ministries. A children's program that makes parents feel good about hanging around the church. A standing-room-only contemporary worship service that exudes energy and joy.

With all that said, the Rev. Rae Mullins sums up the crux of it in three words.

"Location, location, location," says the senior pastor. "It seems that, all of a sudden, this is the place to be."

The community is booming with housing starts and new residents, Mullins says, precipitating 125 visitors for the church in 2005. He marvels that 25 years ago, a small rural church known as Trundles UMC, led by the Rev. Larry Carroll, had the vision to close and then start Seymour UMC on "prime real estate."

Over those 25 years, the congregation has experienced steady growth, so that today, they pack more than 400 worshippers into three Sunday-morning services. While Mullins and Associate Pastor Jason Roe preach on Sunday mornings, an active Wednesday-night ministry is led by seven lay speakers whom Mullins says are dynamic preachers.

"I have to watch my back," he says good-naturedly. "Some of them put us clergy to shame."

Now the challenge is serving all the newcomers without losing them out the back door, Mullins says. "You've got to get those people connected while caring for the ones you've got."

As a result, the congregation is working hard at hospitality, assimilation, and congregational care. Parishioners greet visitors outside the building ("It's warm in here," says a smiling door-opener on a chilly morning) and are posted inside to help people find their way around. An Assimilation Team makes sure that new member classes are ongoing and that people are plugged into ministries.

Seymour isn't passive on finding ways to invite people in, however. The church is starting a Celebrate Recovery service for persons with addictions on April 20, and ongoing Alpha courses help both parishioners and non-parishioners answer their questions about God (see www. alphausa.org).

Church members are also faithful to invite their new neighbors to church - and then begin building relationships. For example, members in the young-adult Celebration Class spoke of how they e-mail, call, and pray for each other. In fact, the Celebration Class is thus named because the members collectively celebrate each other's births and birthdays.

"Relationships are important, and these relationships extend beyond these walls," says Jim Thornton, age 38.

"Christ is always present," Mullins says. "It's just our job to make him more visible."

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