The Homewood church was instrumental in helping the Shades Mountain church and the Hoover church in their beginnings, furnishing a nucleus of members for each. Also, during the past few years, they have helped supply members for four additional churches that have begun in the Birmingham area.

From 1966 to 1969, Homewood gave full support to a missionary in North Bay, Ontario, Canada. In 1970, Homewood sent a full-time missionary and his family to Maringa, Parana, Brazil, with full support. In January, 1971, another family joined the one in Maringa, with full-support. At the present time, the Homewood church fully supports thirteen missionaries in Austria, Dominica, Brazil, Germany, East Africa (Tanzania, and Meru, Kenya), New Jersey, Abilene, Texas, and Birmingham, Alabama.

It was in 1973 that the present pulpit minister, J. Wayne Kilpatrick, came to work with the Homewood church. During the 17 years he has been with the church, the membership has increased from 250 in 1973, to 1300 members in 1990.

Other programs include a strong Singles Ministry and an active Youth Ministry. A full4ime minister is employed to work with the older adult members. The Homewood Day School, which meets five days a week, has an enrollment of nearly 200 students, from nursery through five-year-olds. A local television program, produced in the church studio, is aired each Sunday.

At the present, there are six full-time ministers for the church. The church is served by five full-time secretaries, four custodians, and a full-time building manager.

There are nine elders and thirty-five deacons serving the Homewood family. The nine men who serve as shepherds of the church bring their own special talents to the work. They believe in launching out by faith on greater programs of evangelism. They are spiritual men who are loved and respected by the entire church family. A church could not possibly be served by a greater group of men.

The Homewood church is not a community church. It is a metro church, drawing people from all over Jefferson County, as far south as Montevallo, and as far north as Jasper. The difference is offsetting the distance people must travel to get there. The church is people-oriented. Everybody is somebody. There are presently thirty-five ministries in which the church is engaged and each member is encouraged to find his place of service and use his God-given talents to promote the Lord's Cause.

MINISTRY AREAS OF THE HOMEWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST

Every church should have a mission statement. It is the foundation upon which every ministry program of the church should be built. One of the major reasons for the failures in most churches is due to an ambiguity of purpose. The benefits of a good mission statement include: it unifies the members of the church, it provides motivation, it provides a basis of accountability, it gives assurance that you are doing God's work and not just busy work, it gives the church an overall direction, it defines what the church does and does not do, it alleviates false guilt and provides a basis for measuring accomplishment.

MISSIONS STATEMENT

The mission statement of the Homewood Church of Christ is as follows:

Believing the call of God to make disciples is our greatest privilege and responsibility, it is our purpose to seek out the hurting, lonely, and lost people of the world, meet their needs-physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, save them from sin, make disciples of them so that they can in turn seek, serve, save, and make disciples of others.

THIRTY FOUR DIFFERENT MINISTRIES

With this ministry statement in mind, the Homewood Church of Christ provides thirty-four different ministry areas that allow their members to serve Jesus with their time and talents. Those areas are: advertising, building and grounds, caring friends, college ministry, community care, community outreach, community service, education, family care, fellowship, finance, greeters, hospice, hot meals, involvement (Homewood Family Groups), jail/prison, ladies, lads to leaders/leaderettes, library, missions, nursery, pre-school worship, printing, singles, Sonshiners, sound and tape, television and video, ushers, visitation, volunteer office work, welcome home, World Bible School, worship, and youth.

REACHING OUT TO THE COMMUNITY

Out of the most effective ministries in which the church is engaged is the Community Outreach Ministry. In this ministry, the church is attempting to assist the families of our community in such areas as Parenting Teens, Coping with Depression, Financial Planning, Providing for Aging Parents, Self-Defense for Women, and on Thanksgiving, will provide a Thanksgiving Feast for needy families. Other special seminars are being planned that cause the community to know the church as a caring and serving institution. in this special ministry, the church is both seeking and serving hurting and needy people. In nearly every one of these seminars, people have become interested in the church and have been saved.

MINISTERING TO OUR CHURCH FAMILY

Another most effective ministry in which the church is engaged is the Homewood Family Groups. The church has been divided into fifty family-groups, averaging 15 to 30 per group. Every member of the congregation is in one of these groups. The fourth Sunday night of each month, these groups meet together in a home for worship and praise. A video tape of a 12 minute sermon by the minister is provided, and after the group singing, they view the sermon and spend time in further Bible study and discussion. Following the meeting, the group enjoys a period of fellowship together As a church grows larger, it becomes so important that some kind of system is developed that assists in keeping up with newcomers, provides a base of fellowship for all, helps in uncovering and developing talents, and, in general, closes the back door on dropouts. On the nights in which these groups meet, attendance has increased as much as 38%.

MINISTERING TO THE TERMINALLY ILL

Homewood Hospice is another loving and need-meeting ministry of the Homewood church. Hospice is a concept of care that creates an environment for a terminal patient that allows the patient, in most cases, to die at home. Hospice addresses the spiritual, physical, social, and emotional needs of the dying patient, but the entire family. It allows free discussion about death and the dying process. The dying person is encouraged to express any emotion, without fear of what another may think, and he is helped to die in a way that is appropriate for him. . . to die with dignity. The Hospice volunteer does not carry the responsibility for the medical care, instead the volunteer is there to support the medical team, being free of his responsibility, the volunteer is at the disposal of the patient and the family, giving time and self, always respecting the confidentiality of those involved. A Hospice volunteer is there to be a "helping hand" during the time of need.

PROVIDING INSPIRING WORSHIP EXPERIENCES

For a church to experience much growth, there must be enthusiastic and exciting worship services. The worship ministry is dedicated to that end. Each person who participates in the worship service is encouraged to be excited about his area of service. The singing must be excellent. not good, but excellent! The preaching must be positive and emphasize what is right, and not just what is wrong. The common people flocked to Jesus because he offered them hope and help. He gave them a vision of what they could be. The hallmarks of the Christian faith are not described in the words don't, stop, quit, watch out. The hallmarks of our faith are found in the fruits of the spirit – love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, mercy, patience, and self-control -- all of which have a positive impact. The worship service must give glory and honor to God and edify those who attend. Not many, if any, churches grow that do not have this type of worship service.

There are many ways in which a Christian can serve God and others. In the Homewood church, each one is encouraged to discover and cultivate his special talents and put them to work in leading people to Christ. All of the ministries of the church must result in seeking, serving, saving, and causing others to seek, serve, and save. Any church that adopts a missions statement similar to the one described in the beginning of this article, chooses its ministries based on that statement, and involves its members in those ministries, is destined to be a church with a wonderful future. May God help the church of which you are a part to be just such a church!