Jeremy Nivens is replacing scriptural analysis and pipe organ hymns with Disney-themed plays and alternative rock bands.
Opening Oct. 1, Lifeway Community Church will offer a contemporary and accessible alternative specifically tailored to those who may be uncomfortable with traditional practices and liturgy, Nivens said.
“Our target is reaching the over 80,000 unchurched in Madison County,” Nivens, lead pastor at Lifeway, said. “We’re contemporary in style but conservative in theology.”
The services will be Sundays at 10 a.m. at Lee’s Theatrical Productions, 1426 W. 53rd St., Anderson, and will feature, along with pop and rock-styled worship, multimedia presentations, eye-catching graphics and sermons focused on everyday living.
“We may even sing a secular song if it has a positive message,” Nivens said. “Well, a conservative secular song.”
A Pendleton native, Nivens said the county is in need of churches that attractively present Christianity to people who are unfamiliar with its message. So when the Greenfield church where he was associate pastor suggested “planting” another non-traditional, nondenominational church in Anderson, he jumped at the chance.
Though this is Nivens’ first experience as a lead pastor, he said he’s excited about carrying out his new church’s message “to reach the unchurched and develop them into fully devoted followers of Christ.”
“We’ve packaged the whole Sunday to attract people who don’t go to church,” he said. “It’s definitely a non-traditional approach.”
Along with all modern accommodations, Nivens said he also wants to deliver sermons that answer the difficult questions about God — just without the “churchy language.”
“Our doors are open to anybody,” he said. “But we just have to be upfront that we’re focused on reaching the unchurched.”
Outside the building, he and others will use an “invest and invite” approach to evangelism. “Investing” is building meaningful relationships with family and friends and “inviting” is, well, getting them to church if those people ever seem interested.
Nivens said he will use this principle to attract as many county residents as possible and expects about 200 people the first Sunday.
Mike Dickey, the church’s worship leader, said he and his wife prayed for months about joining Lifeway and were finally led by God to be part of the church and its mission.
“The heart of this church is first and foremost to reach people who feel far from God,” Dickey said.
The church’s name, he said, has a lot to do with its mission. It comes from a passage in the New Testament book John where Jesus says, “I’m the way, the truth and the life.”
“I guess in the corporate world it would be our logo,” Dickey said.
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