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LEWISTOWN -- A former Mifflin County pastor is looking to help struggling churches in the area to help others come closer to Jesus Christ.
Dr. Howard Houtz and his Church Ministry Assessments, formed in November of this year, has made it his mission to help keep the faith in Mifflin County.
"Basically what I've heard over the years is that a number of churches are declining, churches that don't know what to do next and I have had people approach me," Houtz said. "I've had other churches say things like, 'I don't know why we can't grow, we don't have any children in our ministry, no young adults, or the answers to that.' I've always had a critiquing personality to where I look and critique in a good way to be able to discern, look and see what can be improved."
Although Church Ministry Assessments has only been around for a month, the dream and the idea of it has been a long time coming for Houtz.
"Actually years ago, I had the idea when I was a senior pastor to do this kind of thing," Houtz explained. "But there was no way I could have done both."
After 30 years serving as a pastor at the Calvary Bible Church (from 1989-2019), Houtz decided to make his move and received his certificate from the Society for Church Consulting to go along with his other degrees, which includes D.Min Pastoral Studies from the Dallas Theological Seminary, Master of Divinity (M.Div) Pastoral Studies/Christian Education from Grace Theological Seminary, as well as having a Bachelor of Science Pastoral Studies at Lancaster Bible College.
Houtz does admit that there is some concern for churches that are looking for some help, but he wants to put those concerns to rest. He assures churches that he is merely here to assist them in finding out what they can do to improve.
"I took a course in church consulting, so church assessment is a different name, and the reason for that is the connotation of consulting is kinda clinical and kinda scary to churches who say, 'Would you like to have a consultant come?'" Houtz said. "But there is a difference between what a consultant would do and what I'm proposing. A consultant would do surveys and present it to the church and there would be a list of things they were to do. The frustration with that is the list would be so long that it would not be doable."
"An assessment is when you would go in and do similar things, but I would say, 'I don't know your church as well as you do; therefore, this is my assessment of things that can be looked at, and you decide whether you want to do these or not,'" Houtz continued. "That way, there is no pressure and there is no obligation."
Bottom line is that Houtz just wants to see the churches of Lewistown continue to grow and help people commit to Christ for many generations to come.
Houtz follows the simple philosophy of Pastor Andy Stanley of the North Point Community Church in Atlanta, Ga.
"There are people who see a mess and are uncomfortable with a mess, and there are people who don't see a mess and are not uncomfortable with a mess," Stanley said.
Houtz's mission is simple: "To improve the churches, to be an asset to the churches of Lewistown, to help them grow," Houtz said. "To help them be healthy. If they're healthy, they'll grow."
For more information, you can find Church Ministry Assessments at 3680 U.S. Hwy. 522N in Lewistown, call (717) 437-1320 or email howardhoutz124@gmail.com.