Historical SummaryHistorical Summary
STAFF HISTORY
Salem was established in October 1979 when Bethel Evangelical Free Church sent 17 families to plant a new congregation on the north side of Fargo. They focused on shared leadership and ministry, small group Bible studies, campus out-reach, and overseas missions. An early vision statement was "Being disciples to make disciples."
Salem's first pastor, Greg Scharf, was called in the spring of 1980, and took up his ministry in August of that year. He joined 60 some individuals who were meeting on Sunday mornings for worship and Sunday school. After 19 years of ministry to Salem, Pastor Greg accepted a call in 1999 to become an Associate Professor of Practical Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) in Deerfield, Illinois.
His interest and active involvement with Trinity over the years lead to a pastoral apprentice program there. Salem has hosted five pastoral interns and apprentices who have each spent nine months to a year on the professional staff. Pastor Greg's replacement on the board at TEDS is also a long time Salem member.
Dr. George Davis began ministry as Senior Pastor in January, 2000. Rev. Davis is a graduate of TEDS and has his doctoral degree from Cambridge University. Salem is his first church as Senior Pastor.
Rev. Clayton Lindgren joined the staff in 1986 as Pastor of Lay Development. He is a charter member of Salem and had previously served as an area staff leader for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. In 1996, his position was redefined to be half-time Associate Pastor for Visitation.
Dr. Phil Brown became Salem's first Associate Pastor for Youth in 1993. He has headed a dedicated team of adult and youth leaders engaged in evangelism and discipleship. The youth program follows a SonLife philosophy, with an emphasis on touching the lives of young people at all stages of spiritual growth and helping them to draw closer to Christ.
Small groups, prayer, discipleship, and leadership training have been traditional strengths. Approximately 70 students from the 7th-12th grade range are regular attendees. Pastor Phil has recently taken a new position in which he will help to encourage and equip youth ministries throughout the Northern Plains District of the EFCA. It is this calling which creates the current vacancy.
Pastor Steve Strock joined the staff in January 1998 as Associate Pastor for Christian Education and Discipleship (CE&D). His first year at Salem was focused on Christian Education (infants through 6th grade) which had plateaued because the lay CE leader's position had become too big for a part-time volunteer to fill. He is now spending more time on adult discipleship and small group coordination.
Also in January 2000, Andy Kvernen was hired as half-time Worship Coordinator. He works primarily with the worship teams and team leaders, but also helps to coordinate occasional ensembles or special music groups.
Judy Oldenburg was hired as administrative assistant and office manager in 1997. She has a master's degree from Moorhead State University and is a capable administrator.
Rounding out the staff are a part-time bookkeeper who is supervised through the finance team and a part time custodial and grounds crew supervised by the facilities team.
FACILITIES HISTORY
Salem began meeting in 1979 at McKinley Elementary School, just east of the Fargo airport.
In 1985 Salem purchased a vacant Assembly of God building at 1002 South 10th Street to accommodate growth in Sunday morning worship, Sunday school, and other ministries. The building is located in an established middle class neighborhood that can be reached from anyplace in Fargo-Moorhead (F-M) in 20 minutes or less. Our current Sunday morning worship schedule involves two worship services (8:30 and 11:00), with a single Sunday school offering in between (9:45-10:45). Our building is adequate for our current
size and for the worship services, but Sunday school space is sometimes tight. Most of the parking is on-street in a 1.5 block radius from the church.The auditorium, adult Sunday school rooms, fellowship area, and staff offices were renovated in 1991 to improve appearance and usefulness. The auditorium currently seats about 400 people and had a new sound system installed in 1999. The debt on the building and remodeling project were paid off at the end of 1996, leaving us debt free.
We continue to have an end-of-year capital fund drive, which has been used primarily to improve the exterior and Christian education wing of the building. There has also been extensive spending to upgrade office equipment and provide each pastor with a computer. This has improved office efficiency.
Since 1995, the elders and leadership have been periodically considering how to respond to continued numeric growth. Tandem church services (in which Sunday school classes would be offered during both services rather than at a single time in between services) or a third service, possibly on a different day, are low cost, short-term options. Expanding at the current site and planting a new church are long term preferences to new construction at a different site. The congregation has generally preferred freedom from debt. At present church survey and some discussion meetings are ensuing to get further input from the congregation as to long-term facilities preferences.
CONGREGATIONAL DEMOGRAPHICS
Salem consists largely of well-educated, middle to upper income baby boomers. There are a limited number of elderly attenders, so funerals have been a rarity in Salem's history. Many core adults in the church work in business, medicine, K-12 and higher education, and parachurch ministry.
There are currently ~230 member/regular attender households at Salem. They can be broken down into 150 families, 25 singles, and 55 college students. Most are of Northern European descent with a number of immigrants and students from other countries.
WORSHIP ATTENDANCE
Fall 2000 (September 11-December 10) 442
1998 (full year, summer included) 417
1995 (full year, summer included) 396
MISCELLANEOUS
In 1991, church consultant Bob Gilliam visited Salem and provided advice on how the church could be improved. This resulted in a flock system whereby members and regular attendees were assigned to one of five flocks. Each flock (~30-35 households) was headed by a lay elder and deacons and deaconesses. These "mini-congregations" met as Sunday school classes with the elder responsible for teaching content and spiritual oversight of the group, with the deacons/deaconesses responsible for care giving. The flock system was disbanded in 1999, so that adult Sunday school classes were elective. Neighborhood Care Teams have replaced the previous flocks as an avenue for caregiving, prayer support, and integrating new visitors/regulars.
A five-year plan for the church was developed in 1992 and implemented with mixed success. Our current "Common Focus" process is developing a vision for Salem to be realized in the next 5-10 years.
In 1997, the elders revisited Salem's vision statement "Being disciples to make disciples" at their regular weekly meetings as well as at quarterly retreats. From the board's prayer, Bible study, and discussion, the vision statement was amplified to
"Because of God's love for us, we love God, love one another, equip the
church, and reach the world."The new statement communicates the importance of love in what we do and is more specific in what discipleship entails. Love for God and each other is essential as we build the body up for works of service and as we reach out to the non-believing world. We believe that prayer is vital in our relationship with God and in the success of our ministries.
For two years, the vision was graphically depicted on the cover of our church bulletin each
week along with a backdrop of prayer. It can also be seen in the structure of our church budget. The statement is referenced in sermons and other communication with the congregation and serves to structure leadership discussions (and this document).The next four sections of this document describe what we are corporately doing to love God, love one another, equip the church, and reach the world. Attendance, funding, and programs are readily measured and communicated. It is harder to know and convey the individual and corporate hearts of Salem: to sense our tension in using programs to bring people to a closer, heartfelt relationship with God, yet not become program-driven. It is hoped that in these pages you will gain an understanding of who we are, who we want to be, and how we are working to get there.
The pastors (called by the congregation) and six lay elders (elected by the congregation for three year terms) share the responsibility of praying for and overseeing the spiritual welfare of the church as the elder board. They interview candidates for church membership and apply scriptural truth in setting policy and evaluating programs for the church. The group is chaired by a lay elder elected by the board. The senior pastor is viewed as the head teaching elder and not as a "CEO" of the congregation. The elder meets weekly and always include a time of prayer for individual and congregational needs/praises.
Policy implementation is the responsibility of the leadership team. The leadership team is comprised of the team leaders from the Care Team (senior deacon/deaconess), Finance Team, Missions Team, Facilities Team, Worship Team, Evangelism and Social Concerns Team, Youth Team (Associate Pastor for Youth), and Christian Education Team (Associate Pastor for CE&D). With the exception of the pastors, the team leaders are appointed by the church nominating committee (Nominating committee members are elected by the congregation). The team leaders are responsible for recruiting and leading their individual teams. They also select the head of the leadership team.
Salem has a number of other elected and appointed positions which are described in the bylaws.
As part of our efforts to get everyone involved in the right ministry, we are renewing our emphasis on knowing and developing spiritual gifts. We are encouraging people who are unsure of their gifts or best ministry fit to go through the Networking materials from Willow Creek with Pastor Clayton. We intend to offer this daylong program at least several times a year. It replaces an hour or two of spiritual gift study in our occasionally offered membership class.
PRAYER
While not a battalion of prayer warriors, we are a body that has been growing in its corporate prayer life. Over the last few years, we started a monthly "First Sunday" potluck supper and prayer meeting, a weekly Friday noon prayer meeting, and a prayer team. The prayer team is a group of people who have committed to praying daily for the people and ministries of
Salem. We are also establishing a church prayer tree. We recognize that through prayer we can petition God for his guidance and empowerment in doing His work. Prayer is also necessary for a vital relationship with God as we worship Him and confess our sins.WORSHIP
We believe corporate worship is a key way in which we show our love to God. Our Sunday morning worship is led on a rotating basis by 4 worship teams, under the oversight and often with the participation of Andy Kvernen, the Worship Coordinator. Each team consists of 6-10 individuals, including vocalists, instrumentalists, and sound/light people. The style would generally be called "light contemporary", but the teams try to span the range of musical tastes in the congregation which go from traditional hymns to Christian rock. As the worship teams prepare, there is an emphasis on glorifying God over performing for the congregation.
Salem has no regular choir and has emphasized participative worship. Choirs are assembled on an ad hoc basis for special occasions and our attenders participate in occasional F-M Free Church choirs.
STEWARDSHIP OF FINANCES & FACILITIES
Salem has had lean and abundant times in its twenty-year history and the last several years have been abundant. An extensive confidential survey taken in 1996 showed that the respondents (about half of attenders) give an average of 6.2% of their income to Salem and another 5.1% directly to other Christian organizations.
Salem has made giving to missions a priority from its start. In fact, the church refused start-up funding from the EFCA that required the church to not have a missions budget. The 2001 general and missions budgets are $372,000 and $75,000, respectively.
Salemites also rise to special needs. In 1997, the congregation established a committee to distribute $20,000 in funds for Red River Valley flood relief and many attenders were directly involved in sand bagging operations. In 1998, the congregation sent over $7500 to EFCA's Compassion International to help those in the path of Hurricane Mitch. The church also makes an annual donation to the TEDS student relief fund from its Deacons Fund.
As our building has been remodeled in the 1990s, we have gone for "modest and nice" rather than "fancy". We have been blessed over the last fifteen years with a dedicated and capable facilities team, which has kept old things going a bit longer, and made sure that new things were done well. Our current part-time custodian and his assistants do an excellent job of keeping the church clean.
Our unstructured sharing and support of one another is a church strength. When a regular attender has a need, people are good about providing meals, encouraging words, and acts of service. Needs of new attenders and peripheral people are often met through more structured means described below.
Until 1992, Salem had strong participation in small group Bible studies. Each Bible study had a deacon and deaconess who led the small group and made sure care needs were met. In 1992, the congregation was divided among five flocks ("mini-congregations"), each of which met for adult Sunday school, and each of which was intended to have an elder, a deacon and a deaconess. The results of the change were mixed. In 1999 the flock system was abandoned, and replaced by a somewhat similar neighborhood Care Team structure. Fargo/Moorhead is subdivided into 5 sections ("neighborhoods"), each of which has a Care Team (a deacon and deaconess). The Care Teams help to coordinate support for people with physical needs, for example helping to coordinate meals for the family of somebody sick or hospitalized or having a new baby; or helping coordinate people to help somebody move into or out of a new residence. The Care Teams are also involved with Neighborhood Prayer chains, with some neighborhood socials, and with visiting and welcoming new people.
We have renewed a commitment to small group ministry. We believe that small group studies remain the most personal and intimate avenue for developing relationships, praying for each other, and encouraging each other. Pastor Steve and three lay leaders have recently attended the Willow Creek Small Group Workshop. We estimate that about 1/3-1/2 of our adults are involved in some kind of a small group.
In 1997, the congregation sent 6 members to Stephen Ministry training. The ministry currently has 15 trained caregivers who have been active in helping people with sustained needs. This facet of congregational care has been greatly enhanced over the last three years, but at a reduction in the number of deacons and deaconesses. With the renewed emphasis on small groups in 1999, we will be looking at how the Care Team, Stephen Ministry, and small groups fit together to provide for the physical and spiritual needs of our body.
Another critical part of our care giving at Salem is the women's ministry. The Tuesday morning large group (~40 women) which breaks into small groups for Bible study plays a pivotal role in communicating needs and organizing support within the body.
An important means for assimilating newcomers and seeing to their needs has been the "Welcome Group". It has traditionally been a 4-month small group, hosted in a home, often with childcare (and food) provided. This has been effective in making sure new people don't fall through the cracks, in helping them get integrated, and in helping to get to know them, their needs, and their spiritual gifts.
Over its history Salem could have been best labeled as an "equipping church" in contrast to a seeker church, a social concerns church, etc. Many of our attenders hold leadership roles in F-M parachurch organizations and many attenders have gone on to full time Christian ministry around the world. The Sunday morning message is a key ministry of the church and is one reason why we have the senior pastor focus on prayer and Bible study. In general, we view our pastoral staff as "discipler makers" who equip the laity to be "disciple makers" who then minister to the body and the community. We would like to see at least 70% of our adults involved in a small group Bible study or ministry.
ADULTS
As mentioned earlier, we are renewing our emphasis on small groups. The women's ministry is a church strength for the 2/3 of Salem women at home or working part time. Women are also involved with parachurch groups like Bible Study Fellowship (BSF, men too), Moms In Touch, and Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS).
Salem has a smaller number of men's groups, although several are active.
Small groups for couples declined during the early 1990s. The shift to the flock structure and busier family schedules were oft-cited reasons. During the last year there has been a rebound in this area, and we hope to add additional groups in future. Marriage seminars and retreats as well as parenting studies have been popular in recent years.
About 10% of our Sunday service attenders are students at one of the three local universities/colleges. We have tried to strengthen our ministry to this group without "competing" with the parachurch collegiate ministries. Hospitality and improved college Sunday school classes have helped in this area.
CHILDREN AND YOUTH
Discipleship of children begins at home where parents seek to live out the imperatives of Deuteronomy 6. A full range of ministries to children and youth quickly supplements it.
Salem has a history of dedicated youth leaders, most recently under the direction of Pastor Phil, as well as elementary Sunday school teachers and Wednesday night activity leaders, currently under the direction of Pastor Steve. In 2000 the AWANA program was introduced for 2nd grade and younger children.
Salem is also a sponsoring church for Park Christian School: a pre-K-11non-denominational school with enrollment of about 450 students. (Grade 12 will be added next year). Both Park and the public schools provide good academic opportunities for our students. We have many students at Park (nearly 20% of our children) and in the public schools as well as a few
home schoolers. The Park and home-schooled students get more Bible training outside of church than do most public school children. This impacts our youth and children's ministries to some degree.SUMMER
Because of Fargo-Moorhead's proximity to the Minnesota lake country, a number of families have cabins that they use extensively in the summer. In fact, F-M can seem rather deserted on a nice summer weekend. The student population is reduced in the summer and families are on vacation (many to visit out-of-area family) or at soccer tournaments. Consequently, our Sunday morning attendance in the summer runs about 66% of what it does during the school year.
We have responded to this situation by having a single service with no Sunday school during the summer months. We also encourage people to fellowship after the service, enabling the attendees who normally attend first versus second service during the normal schedule to mix.
Summer is also the time for VBS, church camp, special youth activities, and an annual church service at Trollwood Park followed by a picnic. Since 1998, mothers and young children met at different parks on alternating weeks for informal fellowship and play.
Missions has historically been our outreach focus. Our $75,000 budget supports youth and collegiate ministries in the US as well as overseas missions. A number of people we support attended Salem before going to the mission field. We have a monthly prayer meeting for people interested in going overseas called International Harvesters and have supported up to twenty people on short term missions in a single year. Missions are kept in front of the congregation through publishing missionary letters in the church bulletin and an annual missions conference or emphasis weekend. We have also provided our senior pastor with regular overseas mission leave.
Historically, Salem has not been as strong in terms of local evangelistic outreach. There have been a number of gifted evangelists in the body and many adults have been through the Living Proof video series, but not a coordinated church effort until recently. In 1997 Salem sent two men for Evangelism Explosion training, and EE training has been active since then, both at the adult and also youth level. Close to two dozen individuals have gone through the EE training and participation. All local Salem visitors are now followed up by a visit where the Gospel is shared. In May of 2000, Fargo also hosted a major Luis Palau evangelistic crusade. Salem was heavily involved. Many Salem people participated in the training and follow-up counseling and discipling. Pastor Davis also preached a series on evangelism this spring.
Our children and youth have had a stronger and more fruitful evangelistic outreach than the adults through their Wednesday night and other regular activities. We have also consistently held Vacation Bible School and supported Cooperstown Bible Camp, 90 miles northwest of Fargo.
While F-M residents are predominantly northern European, there has been an increase in residents from other cultures in the 1990s. Besides the older Native American and Hispanic communities, there are recent refugees from Kurdistan, Bosnia, and Africa. Our focussed outreach to these groups has been limited. At present we have several African families worshiping with us.
Historically, our local cross-cultural outreach has been to international students in general, and Chinese students in particular. While we currently don't have an organized international student outreach, the active faculty advisor for the NDSU Chinese Christian Fellowship attends Salem as does a local Chinese physician who assists with the group.
A stronger area of local impact has been in the social concerns area. Salem has strong participation in its monthly meal-serving ministry at the Salvation Army. A number of people work at or are volunteers in anti-abortion/problem pregnancy/foster care/adoption agencies in the community. Our approach to abortion has been quiet service to women in need rather than vocal confrontation to Pro-Choice supporters.
The following paragraphs attempt to convey the flavor of the community of believers at our church.
Grace: Giving each other time to mature. Although we have high standards for our times of worship, for the leaders we select to shepherd the flock and our young people, and for our staff, we understand that we are called to be patient with each other because Jesus has been patient with us. It is this combination of striving for excellence and being patient with one
another that characterizes our Lord's sanctifying work in us.Community Involvement: Cooperative. We are not a separatist church or one that majors in criticizing our culture. We understand that moral decay is rampant and that the world is being exactly what Scripture says it will be. Nevertheless, it is not our responsibility to decry sinners for being sinners, but to call them to repentance and to live a life before them that
rebukes sinfulness by its holiness and challenges unbelievers to seek the Lord in the hope of being granted repentance by God. We do not hesitate to be co-laborers with other agencies in our community who are doing good works even when we might not be in total doctrinal agreement with them.Theologically Diverse: Like many contemporary Free Churches, Salem is not given to theological hair-splitting or promoting divisiveness between believers on the basis of what we deem to be secondary theological issues. A wide variety of perspectives are incorporated in the Salem membership on traditionally divisive issues.
Unity: Salem has been blessed with significant unity. We are grateful for the loyalty of those who differ with the leadership on minor matters, a good rotation of leaders in positions of authority, and honest communication from those who have been displeased with some things. Although a number of people leave our church every year to move to other communities or because they graduate from one of the universities, the number who have left us for other local evangelical churches has been comparatively small.
Lengthy Pastoral Tenure: Our pastors have been able to stay with us for a long while, beginning with Pastor Scharf who committed to the congregation in 1980 that he would stay for ten years unless the congregation itself saw fit to abbreviate his tenure. In fact, he was here for nearly 19 years. Pastor Lindgren, who began in 1986 in a full-time position, has been in a valued part-time position since January 1, 1997. Pastor Brown has been with
us for seven years, which is several times the national average for youth pastor tenure! Pastor Strock has been at Salem for about a two and a half years. It's remarkable that we have never had a pastor leave Salem for a pastoral position in a different church!Good Reputation with Outsiders: Salem has enjoyed a good reputation with other evangelical churches and the Christian community in general. In 1998 and 2000, we hosted two-day bioethics seminars attended by many medical professionals from the Fargo-Moorhead area. In 2000, we were active participants in presenting the Luis Palau Crusade. In 1999 and 2000, we have hosted a seminar on homosexuality that has been well attended and well received.
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Last Update:
16 Dec 2000
Copyright 2000 by Salem Evangelical Free Church of Fargo, North
Dakota, USA