Hope in a No-Growth Town
Charles Yarborough
July 1, 1996
Growth in this little church seemed impossible. The First Christian Church
in Albany, Kentucky, was started by sixteen people in 1834. Descendants from
two of the original families are still members. The original church building
was destroyed by fire on March 20, 1926. The congregation, broke and in despair,
made their own bricks, built a new church, and moved in it November 6, 1927.
Today that same building is in use.
The church suffered a split in the late 1950s. By the late 1980s, attendance
had dropped to an average of twenty. The Sunday school was in the low teens.
The youth program had two members (a 12-year-old girl and a 5-week-old boy).
Most members were retired.
This small church is located in a non-growth town. Albany (pop.: 2,500) is
in south central Kentucky. While the scenery is breathtakingly beautiful,
there is little industry in the county, and unemployment runs high. The nearest
medium-size city is fifty-five miles away. Almost all our young people leave
town when they graduate from Clinton County High School.
I asked church members how long it had been since the last family moved into
the area, and no one could remember. This church was only two or three funerals
away from closing.
My assessment of this church's potential, however, needed to factor in the
power of the Spirit of God. That power touched the small group of mostly
senior citizens left in the Albany church. They decided enough is enough.
They decided to grow.
...
In our first four years of effort, we added fifty-seven members. We keep
struggling to maintain our growth, hoping and praying for just one more new
member. They keep coming from somewhere. It's not a mad rush, but growth
is steady. Sunday worship attendance ...
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