Utah Church 'Leans Out' to Reach Its Neighbors

        	              

Shane and Tonya Finley—by Susan Brill 




Mountain View Fellowship is nestled in the community of Heber City, Utah, in a valley of approximately 20,000 people where the population is about 80 percent Mormon. This church of 200 has baptized 50 people since it launched in 2008—mostly new believers, says Pastor Shane Finley. That’s an accomplishment in a state where less than 10 churches have 500-1,000 people and a large church is 400.




Finley and his wife Tonya (pictured at right during a trip to Alaska) came to Utah from California, wanting to plant a church in an area where one was really needed. Heber City was a good fit with only two small Baptist churches serving the whole area at the time.




“We really work to lean young and lean out,” Finley describes. “We’re not the hip church…but we just try to think, ‘How are we going to reach people?’ and the predominate group of unreached people are younger.”




Describing “leaning out,” Finley says the church does not focus on events for Christians, but puts its efforts into serving others and reaching out into the community instead.



Loving with Christ’s grace 



In the community, many of those who connect with Mountain View are people who grew up in the Mormon faith but found it was not for them. Finley says in reaching Mormons, it’s important to recognize some cultural differences.




“Their faith is highly based on experience—the social aspects and the cultural aspects….They will choose to believe even if the doctrine doesn’t add up as long as their experience confirms their belief,” he explains. “I’ve never seen someone argue a Mormon into faith in Jesus Christ. The only way you are going to be effective in ministering with Mormon people—and I believe with almost anyone—is simply by loving them with the grace of Christ and building that relationship.”



Comes with a cost 



Mountain View’s emphasis on reaching outward into the community has come with a cost. “We’ve had people leave over this,” Finley admits. But one of the lessons he’s learned is that when God gives you a vision for a church, you need to keep to it.




“We faced temptation to change the vision that we set out to do,” Finley recalls. “Sticking to that and persevering is very difficult. You watch people go.” But, he attests from experience, “The exhaustion of trying to please people versus please God and what He’s called you to do is not worth it!”



Creating community 



He gives the example that if a national Christian band offered to give a concert at Mountain View, the church might decline. Such an event draws mostly Christians, he says, and the small percentage of non-Christians that may come would not warrant the work and the expense of doing it.




Here Comes Santa eventInstead, Mountain View creates events that will appeal to the community.  “We try to use the approach of serving people’s needs and earning the right to share the gospel,” he says.




The church started an annual “Here Comes Santa” event with free dinner, games and a photo with Santa, which draws about 600 people. It also held a carnival in a community park to raise money for a child with cancer, even though the family does not attend the church. Mountain View adopted an impoverished mobile home community and works with a local food bank as well.




The "Here Comes Santa" event is pictured above.




At those community events, the church keeps a low profile. It doesn’t advertise, but, when people ask, they find out about Mountain View and often come to visit. This small community is seeing firsthand God’s love as Mountain View Fellowship keeps leaning out.




Shane and Tonya Finley have three children. Mountain View Fellowship’s website is www.mvfchurch.com.



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