Feb. 27, 2002For immediate release
Contact: Pastoral Summit at UNC Wilmington(910) 962-7225
Public Information Contact: Mimi Cunningham (910)962-3171[email protected]
Wilmington, NC -- www.findagreatchurch.org is a new Web site that links Americans to excellent and innovative churches throughout the country. It also provides an electronic homebase for a new initiative called the Pastoral Summit that seeks "to find, to create, and spread models of church excellence." The Pastoral Summit is based at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in cooperation with the Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.
www.findagreatchurch.org has a user-friendly state-by-state listing of some 600 "Excellent" Catholic and Protestant churches throughout America. Included are each church's name, address, phone number, and Web site, as well as a summary of the church's best programs and practices. The Web site is designed for travelers, people new to an area, and all spiritual seekers. The listing is the result of a two-year study of church excellence funded by a Lilly Endowment grant.
The 600 churches on www.findagreatchurch.org are also listed in two books by UNCW's Paul Wilkes, "Excellent Catholic Parishes: The Guide to Best Places and Practices" and "Excellent Protestant Congregations: The Guide to Best Places and Practices." The books additionally tell what excellent churches have in common and provide "points of excellence," descriptions of successful programs and approaches that churches have pioneered.
Wilkes, the Pastoral Summit project director and a popular religious author, and a research team found these 600 "Excellent" churches in inner cities, suburbs, and rural areas, of various sizes and approaches, both denominationally affiliated and unaffiliated. But each of these "homes for the spirit" has common threads uniting them, the study found. These were churches where the religious experience was authentic, newcomers were welcomed, and community service was sincere and abundant.
"But these 600 churches are just the tip of a spiritual mountain, for there are many more excellent churches that we are discovering, almost on a daily basis, " Wilkes said.
"Now, more than ever, people are turning to churches for guidance," Wilkes said. "They realize the need for communities of faith that will be there for them, in good days and bad. That's exactly what the churches we've found can offer. These are Catholic parishes and Protestant congregations that meet our spiritual hunger head on, provide both excellent services and service to their members and reach beyond their walls to transform their larger community."
"Our study was just the beginning," Wilkes said. "The Pastoral Summit offers ways for all churches to see that excellence is within their grasp. We want to offer possible, reproducible programs, approaches, and attitudes. Our study found that ordinary people in seemingly ordinary churches are doing some pretty extraordinary things."
At the first Pastoral Summit gathering in New Orleans in May-June 2001, which brought together some 700 clergy and lay leaders in pursuit of church excellence, there was an excitement about current accomplishments and the future potential of the local church. As one participant said: "I now know what the early church was like - the power, the possibilities are limitless. I felt it."
"There is a spirit in the land," Wilkes added, "and these churches are the very backbone of our communities. People come to them to be nourished and consoled, and to be challenged -- not only to mouth the gospel, but to live it."
Under a new grant from the Lilly Endowment, three regional Pastoral Summits will be held over the next two years. A documentary film, A Spirit in the Land: The Transforming Power of Local Churches is in production and will be ready for national broadcast in early 2003. Wilkes and Miles Christian Daniels, a UNCW student and Pastoral Summit associate, are working on the documentary.
Another book, Best Practices from America's Best Churches, by Paul Wilkes and Marty Minchin, Pastoral Summit project associate and UNCW English instructor, will be published at the same time.
www.findagreatchurch.org visitors can also read more about the Pastoral Summit, take a photo excursion of the three spirit-packed days in New Orleans, hear some of the speakers and see a clip from the documentary.
"This is a Web site about how diverse churches are pursing excellence," Wilkes said. "We want to spread the word of how churches work in our nation -- and in our lives."
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For further information, contact the Pastoral Summit, 2064 Randall Library, UNC Wilmington, Wilmington NC 28403 (910) 962-7225.
To view the Web site, go to http://www.findagreatchurch.org. Photos of Wilkes, Minchin, and Daniels suitable for downloading are available by clicking on "Spread the Pastoral Summit Spirit" upper left corner of home page.
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