Game night. Name of the game? Church vitality
Rev. Matthew Tate, pastor at Hollywood United Methodist Church in southern Maryland, was approached by a child and his dad, who attended the church’s weekly youth group, with a problem.
They belonged to a board game group that held weekly meetings to play board games at a local store, but the store was closing. They asked if the church would let them use its space for game night. For Tate, it was a no-brainer to help the group.
“The church building is one of the most underutilized things that a church has to offer, which is just their space,” he said. “Many churches have these spaces and they’re not using them all the time. In fact, many churches aren’t using them near as much as they used to, so it’s sitting vacant quite a bit.”
A few dozen people each week came to the church, playing a wide variety of games. But the games weren’t Monopoly or Yahtzee. Tate said the group would even call the popular game Settlers of Catan a “gateway” game, but even that was “too mainstream for them in a lot of ways.”
Tate had remembered a call to action for clergy from the Baltimore-Washington Conference Bishop LaTrelle Easterling: she did not want to go to communities and have the people there be unfamiliar with the Conference’s local churches.
The board game group brought together people from different generations for the love of board games. Ages often ranged from early teens to mid-60s, none of whom were members of the congregation. Tate, on many occasions, even joined them.
“There were people concerned that the pastor was going to be there,” Tate recalled. “They had not had good experiences with pastors, or just thought that it would be really weird. I was there, not in a collar or anything, and got to know them. It wasn’t really like ‘You need to go get saved before you can play a game. We just talked.”
A Lesson in Church Vitality
Church attendance in the United States is on the decline, but research suggests the drop-off has slowed or leveled off altogether. According to a Pew Research Center poll, a little more than six in ten people identify as Christian. Ministry software company Churchtrac finds that, since the turn of the 21st century, weekly church attendance has declined to just 20 percent, down more than 33 percent.
Church vitality could play a role in reversing such trends. While the church is outside of the walls, the physical space churches can provide is still a huge boon for congregations looking to engage with their broader community, Tate explained. By opening up to non-ministry events or groups, if the need ever arises, that familiarity could prove fruitful in the future.
“Should the day ever come when any of them all of a sudden feels the calling of the Spirit to go to a church, this is a church they are somewhat familiar with. They’ve been there,” Tate said.
In a turn of events, the father who asked if the group could hold Friday night game nights at the church became the youth leader at Hollywood UMC. Yet, the fruit of the relationship kept coming.
Around a dozen attendees have at some point attended a Sunday church service. One regular member of the board game group worked at a local bank, helping to secure a $500 donation for an upcoming mission trip. And when events like the church pancake breakfast arise, the board game group regularly shows up too.
The decision to host the board gamers even drew praise from those who didn’t share Hollywood UMC’s theological beliefs. One attendee, unprompted, wrote a review of the church online.
“This church opened its doors to our local board game group when we lost the place at which we normally play,” the Game Night participant wrote. “I am not religious, but in my humble opinion, this church exemplifies a spirit of Christian generosity.”
Tate hoped that the relationships built over Friday night gameplay, including his favorite, One Word, would lead them to Hollywood UMC if they ever felt a tug to attend church. But it’s also about embracing the unknown. Perhaps, the game night will be the extent of some people’s interaction with the church.
“I don’t know if any of them would say I’m their pastor, but I think that if they were looking for a pastor, it might be whoever is the pastor at Hollywood,” Tate said. “If they were looking for a church, Hollywood might be the place that they go.”
“You plant these seeds and you don’t really know what will happen,” he added.
Share your story on how your church is embracing vitality and reaching the needs of your community by emailing .