“Connecting all generations in Christ”: Longbranch Community Baptist Church in Midlothian sees multigenerational community form from PAVE rebuilding strategy

After nine years of church planting in Fargo, North Dakota, Dallas native Brent McNeal felt God calling him and his family back to the DFW metroplex. He began pastoring Longbranch Community Baptist Church in Midlothian in 2021 upon his return.

In his first year of pastoring the established church after years of church planting, McNeal said he desired to learn more about the convention and network with fellow pastors at Annual Meeting to shepherd Longbranch well. There, Jonathan Smith, director of Church Health and Growth at Texas Baptists, was teaching a class titled “Growing your Church Younger.” Smith’s teaching struck a chord with McNeal and he realized that his new church might need to grow younger.

“Our church at that point, when we came in 2021, had no more than ten kids, birth through fifth grade, and our two boys were a part of that. So, the majority of our church was 60 to 65 and older,” explained McNeal. “As I was sitting there learning about revitalization and the definitions, I didn’t know it but our church did need it.”

After the class, McNeal asked Smith about additional resources and training on church revitalization. Smith connected him with PAVE, Texas Baptists’ church revitalization strategy designed to help pastors customize revitalization for their context by equipping them with resources and placing them in cohorts to be trained by a coach and encouraged within a community of pastors. 

McNeal and his wife attended the first PAVE training in 2021, where they were challenged to understand their calling and their church before “you start putting dominos into place,” for a revitalization plan. He said they were encouraged also by the camaraderie of pastors navigating making changes in their churches. 

“There was an acknowledgement of ‘something has to change’ and ‘we’re all in this boat together’ to go ‘let's figure out what this change is,’” said McNeal. “So, I think that was encouraging, the camaraderie, the pastors, but also the individualization for the discipleship plan for the church, the revitalization plan for the church.” 

Getting back to the mission of Jesus  

According to McNeal, one of the first steps of the PAVE ministry is to understand the history of your church and the story it tells. He said he began to dive into Longbranch’s history of giving and attendance, and was faced with outdated church documents, emphasizing the need to grow the church younger and connect all of Longbranch’s generations.

“Learning more about our city helped me understand the reason people moved here in the 90s is kind of the same reasons they’re moving now and that really opened my eyes up to how to reach our community and connect our generations that exist in our church,” said McNeal. “It was helpful for me to help people process, almost like a grieving process of ‘That’s not the reality anymore,’ [and ask] ‘Where are we headed in the future?’”

McNeal described the state of Longbranch upon his arrival in 2021 as “the church was, especially coming out of COVID, was taking a good long nap.” He said PAVE helped him formulate a systematic plan to wake the church up to “invigorat[e] it to do what God intended it to do.”

“It wasn’t dead, it just felt like it was asleep, and so ministry across the board, it was tired,” said McNeal. “So, I feel like the church for the last two or three years has been waking up, not just [in] ministries and teams and committees, but seeing life come where a nap was.”

Smith said between 80 and 90% of churches in America have plateaued in attendance or are declining, meaning “most of them are busy, but not necessarily mission busy.” These types of churches are referred to by PAVE as “the upside down church.”

“It’s all about getting back to the mission, that’s what we talk about in PAVE constantly,” said Smith. “The upside down church has huge structures and huge programs, the church is so busy doing those things that the mission of Jesus gets lost in all of it – we have to flip it.” 

McNeal said PAVE helped solidify not only the disciple-making mission of the church, but its vision – to see all generations connecting in Christ.

“[The vision] keeps us thinking of all these generations and ‘How do we do this together?’ But PAVE has helped me systematically work a plan and think as a whole, not just ‘I have to do all of the things and I have to do them right now,’” said McNeal.

To know and be known 

McNeal sought to find a way for everyone in his congregation “to know and be known.” His first attempt was to revive Wednesday night activities such as children’s and youth ministry gatherings and prayer meetings. When those activities weren’t producing fruit, McNeal and his wife reflected on the PAVE principle “acknowledge where you need to trim in order to do what you do well,” and considered what they would want in a church. They settled on home groups. 

The McNeal’s started a young family home group and it was a hit!

Since then, Longbranch Connect Groups have grown from one to five, beginning this fall, where each multi-generational group will meet to eat, study the Word and pray together. 

“This last year we matched our vision of connecting in Christ…This fall, we’re looking at refining our faith, growing in our faith and then in the spring, we’ll look at multiplying our faith, multiplying and connecting in Christ,” said McNeal. “But really [in] those Connect Groups, other than emphasizing our vision, it has been huge [progress] from where I started. When you come to church you’re known and you know others… that’s kind of our formula that’s done well.” 

“Complexity – the overly complex church or the over-institutionalized church – is the silent church killer, but the mission – being focused on the mission – is the loud church revitalizer,” explained Smith.

Smith said he is encouraged by how Longbranch has “really grown younger underneath his leadership.” 

“One of the principles we teach in PAVE is real simple, ‘display the church you need to become,’” said Smith. “In other words, you don’t have to make a big splash about ‘we’re trying to get younger’ just do things to help the church get younger. So, under the ‘display the church you need to become’ idea, I tell pastors in PAVE, put young faces – people that are 25 years old and younger – on the stage. Emphasize them.”

Smith said he received a photo in December 2022 of the eight kids under 18 on the church’s stage. The next year, he received the same photo with 30 kids “and now I’m just waiting to see what I get in December [this year].”

“We’re no longer a 60 and older church, we’re actually a four-generation church, which is exciting but challenging that I’m preaching to the five-year-old in the room and I’m preaching to the 90-year-old,” said McNeal.

He said he’s seen Longbranch’s attendance grow from 65 members in 2021 to approximately 120 members today. He attributes the church growth to the multi-step process PAVE provided to guide his church through stages of growth.

“We’ve seen growth. It’s not been exponential growth but it’s been healthy growth,” said McNeal. “I think that’s what I’ve been excited about with PAVE, just to give [us] that next step to go ‘What’s that next thing [we can do] to continue to grow?’”

Waking up a napping church  

McNeal advised pastors shepherding a church that’s taking “a good, long nap” to “be patient in seeing the life come back to your church and be systematic.” 

“If the church is taking a long nap, they probably recognize it and they will probably tell you some reasons why,” said McNeal. “Seeking to understand your church’s history and seeking to understand the reasons why they may be taking a nap might help you get them out of taking a nap quicker than just trying to jostle it awake.”

Visit txb.org/pave to learn more about Texas Baptists’ church health and growth ministry and find out if PAVE is the right fit for your congregation.