Aldersgate Leadership Structure

Aldersgate UMC in Jackson, Tenn., is adding events and services under the direction of a new leadership structure.

Lay Leader Barry Matthews says the church established a prayer box for the community a while ago, but now, members also host an outdoor, non-traditional worship service and conduct a ministry with a local women’s shelter. The congregation invites the children from the shelterinto its youth program, boosting attendance considerably.

“We were limited in the number of teenagers in our congregation, and this diverse group of young people from disadvantaged and challenging backgrounds essentially became our UMYF [United Methodist Youth Fellowship],” Matthews says.

Aldersgate has also redesigned its worship and young adult Sunday School and is attracting younger community members and families.

“A year ago, it would have been an almost impossible task searching for members of our congregation who were under 50 years of age, but now we have over 20 active young adults attending a new Sunday School class and over a dozen of their children, with more on the way,” Matthews says. “Almost all of the children under the age of 7.”

A new team-oriented church structure accompanies the new growth of attendance and programming. Aldersgate has formed eight new teams, each tasked with a different focus for outreach or church health.

  • The Worship Team assists the pastor and staff with developing meaningful worship services for a diverse congregation.
  • The Evangelism Team’s priority is to make sure the Gospel message spreads to the community around Aldersgate.
  • The Mission Team focuses on community service, evaluating local needs.
  • The Shepherding Team makes sure the relationships inside the church remain positive and healthy.
  • The Children and Youth Ministries Team evaluates, develops and implements youth and children’s programming.
  • The Adult Ministries Team takes care of evaluating, developing and implementing programming for adults.
  • The Communications Team keeps the congregation informed about news inside Aldersgate.
  • The Visioning Team looks at the church’s general direction and considers how it can grow and change for the better.

While these new efforts have grown Aldersgate, they have also pleased Matthews.

“As lay leader, I’m proud to say that exciting things are happening at Aldersgate,” he says.

For more information about the church’s teams, click here.