McElwain’s older congregation helping seek younger members

In an effort to reach and minister to young families in the church and the surrounding community, McElwain Baptist Church added a new position to its church staff — a minister for young families and outreach. The church hired Jimbo Bass, a recent graduate of Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School, to fill this position.
   
“The job grew out of the church’s realization that they are an older congregation, and they want to take intentional steps toward bringing younger families in,” said 29-year-old Bass.
   
Jody Baker, minister of education and administration at McElwain, agrees that the church needed some extra help to reach this age group. “We needed someone who could focus on the spiritual development of young couples,” she said. “This could come from hearing a sermon once a week, but it’s better to get it throughout the week from small groups or just more individual attention.”
   
Although Bass has only been at McElwain for a few months, Baker said she can already tell he’s making a difference.
   
“There’s an attitude of excitement among the core young couples at our church about what God is doing through this ministry,” she said.
   
Bill and Lanette Yates, both 28-year-old parents of an infant son, are involved at McElwain and said they are thrilled to have Bass working with their age group.
   
“I think this staff position is one that a lot of churches are going to start having,” Bill Yates said. “There’s such a need for this kind of ministry.”
   
Bass said he enjoys his role of nurturing young couples spiritually. “My goal is to grow gospel-centered families and help cultivate men, women and families to be this way,” he said. “I want them to be fruit-bearing and make an impact on the people they live around.”
   
Bass said he’s excited about involving older church members in the new ministry.
   
“Christians who are a little further down the road are an amazing resource for younger people. We need to learn to utilize their gifts and wisdom,” Bass said. “We’d like to recruit mentor couples and partner them with younger couples. They could invest in the lives of younger people and offer advice and encouragement on things from premarital to parenting issues.”
   
In addition to working with young families, Bass’s role as minister of outreach also keeps him busy. He is primarily focusing on determining and meeting needs of those who live near the church.
   
“We know that 34 percent of households in this area are single-parent families,” Bass said. “There are obviously some great needs in this group of people that perhaps we could minister to.”
   
Bass said he will try a somewhat different approach to reach the community.
   
“Instead of using programs and events to draw people to church, we’re trying to find out people’s needs and then determine how to minister to them,” he said. “We want to find out needs in homes around our community. We want to know things like, ‘Are you having trouble getting to the store?’ ‘Do you need help with child care?’ ”
   
Bass has also determined that there is great diversity in this part of Birmingham — more than a third of the population is non-white.
   
Each Wednesday night during supper, he has taken 10 minutes to share with church members facts and statistics about various ethnic groups. “We discuss their needs and pray for them,” he said.
   
Although Bass has big tasks in front of him, he’s said he’s not overwhelmed. “So far what I have is vision and hope because of confidence in the gospel,” Bass said.
   
Currently, McElwain has an interim head pastor, Cecil Sewell. Although Sewell was not involved in the selection and hiring of Bass, he gave his full approval.
   
“I met Jimbo at another church where I served as interim pastor,” Sewell said. “I was impressed with him and recommended him to McElwain.”