Their Fate to Decide ; Olivet Members Write the `Future Story' for This Once-Rural Church.

Summary

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If Olivet Christian Church member Sue Swearngin were to place her church's well-being on a spiritual bell curve with the left side representing a vibrant, growing church and the right side a dying church, she would draw a dot just below the crest on the dying side, despite the fact that the church is outgrowing its 13-year-old building and has about 400 active members.

Her husband, Dennis Swearngin, has been a pastor at the church for 27 years. Sue Swearngin said that dot is creeping back up to safer territory near the top of the curve thanks to the hiring of a church coach, an outside pastor who, like a business consultant, will help Olivet do some soul-searching about how the church could change.

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Extract

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Their Fate to Decide ; Olivet Members Write the `Future Story' for This Once-Rural Church.

"The church seems to be re-energized, and we haven't set our goals yet," Sue Swearngin said.

Olivet, of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) denomination, was shaken out of its status quo, Pastor Dennis Swearngin said, when three major changes coincided last year.

A previous church board chairman and his family left the church in search of a cont...

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