Hope in a No-Growth Town
Charles L. Yarborough
It was in the church's history that we found hope for the future.
—Charles L. Yarborough
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 into 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 twelve-year-old girl and a five-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, 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 was enough. They decided to grow.
Ours is not a rags-to-riches story of church growth. It is a story of a small church that struggled to stay alive under the leadership of a new but aged pastor who should have been thinking about retiring instead ...
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