When Bill Crawford was a pastor for Centerpoint Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan, he canvassed people’s homes to find out if they went to church and, if not, why. He noticed the same explanations over and over among those who avoided attending church.
People felt the church would constantly solicit them for money, he said. They also felt a disconnect between the messages of the church and their daily lives. “The things they learned on Sunday had no relationship to their life on Monday,” he said.
They couldn’t relate to the music played during services and felt there weren’t programs geared toward children, Crawford said. “When churches are trying to reach people with a message, but they’re using a means that is archaic, it really becomes a barrier for people to come to church,” he explained.
In response, Crawford decided to modernize his worship services, a practice he’s bringing to Water’s Edge Christian Church, a new church in the South Bay that held its grand opening on Sunday, Sept. 11. A branch of Bel Air Presbyterian Church, Water’s Edge’s worship services take place on Sunday mornings at 10:30 a.m. at Vistamar School in El Segundo.
About 185 people attended the opening, Crawford said.
“We’re a church for people who don’t go to church,” Crawford explained. “We want to remove as many of the barriers that keep people from learning to know God in a personal way.”
For example, Crawford said, there is a live band, complete with a drummer and an electric guitarist that plays the music for the worship services. “If we sing a hymn, we do it in a modern, more upbeat type of way,” he said.
He’s facilitated a child-friendly environment by holding sermons specifically geared toward children. “It doesn’t matter how good adult program is, if children’s program is bad, people aren’t coming back,” he said. On Sept. 11, the children’s sermon paid tribute to the lives lost in the terrorist attacks a decade before.
Crawford said that the messages they preach are relevant to the daily lives of the church’s members. For example, they studied the leadership characteristics of the Old Testament character, Nehemiah, discussing how his organizational and planning qualities could be applied to their daily lives. “The message hasn’t changed, but the wrapping paper around the message is different,” he said, adding, “So people are more apt to open it.”
After the service, Water’s Edge hosted a taco truck for the new members to socialize and get to know each other. “Nearly everybody stayed,” said member Erin Addison, adding, “It was really fun.”
Water’s Edge isn’t the only church in town that is modernizing its practices, Crawford said, adding that he hopes to reach out to people who don’t currently attend church or are new to the area.
To recruit members, Crawford sent out personal notes to individuals that were also new in town – those who moved to the South Bay after January 1, 2011 – asking them to visit the new church. “Our target is not people from other churches,” he explains, adding, “We’re fishers of men, not keepers of the aquarium.”
Water’s Edge is also geared toward South Bay residents who commute to Bel Air Presbyterian Church, but want a church closer to home.
Addison has been a member of Bel Air Presbyterian Church for a decade and is now actively involved in the leadership team executing Water’s Edge’s vision, said the South Bay location is much more convenient. She lives in Playa del Rey. “For people who like to be very involved in church, that requires work in evenings, after your office job,” she said, adding, “For a lot of us it was just really hard for us to get up to Bel Air.”
It was also difficult for South Bay residents to spread the word to friends in the community because of the commute, Crawford said. “It very hard to say to their friends, ‘Would you drive 45 minutes with me to church?’” he said, adding that the goal was not selfish, but mission-oriented. “They felt if they had a church in theSouthBay, it would be easier for them to invite (friends) to come to hear message about our beloved Christ,” he said.
Crawford was born in Princeton, New Jersey and attended Westmont College in Santa Barbara. He also studied biblical languages at Princeton Theological Seminary and theUniversityofEdinburghinScotland. He moved to Manhattan Beach in March from Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he’d been a pastor since 2006. “We are so blessed to have him, he’s a star,”Addison said. “He never makes you feel like he’s too busy or doesn’t have enough time to hear you.”
A special committee of Bel Air Presbyterian Church chose Crawford to spearhead Water’s Edge Church. Crawford was familiar with the community after guest speaking at summer camps and conferences in the area. He and his wife, Kathy, have three children – two attend Mira Costa High School.
