Dueber

After a few last minute changes to our tentative schedule, Hannah and I decided to switch the Chapel at Akron with the United Methodist weekend, and change actual Methodist churches. Extenuating circumstances led us to the discovery of Dueber United Methodist Church. Our curiosity piqued when we were first searching for a new church to attend this past week, and we incidentally stumbled upon the Dueber United Methodist Church's website, which is mostly bilingual. More commonly shortened to Dueber Church, their 11:11a.m. worship service fit our schedule needs for this past weekend (intentional wording—the irony of the consumeristic American church-goer), and we were eager to find out what God was doing at this little church in downtown Canton.

For those unfamiliar with the city of Canton, it was once a thriving metropolis. Decades of a declining need for factories and the rise of the American suburbs has left Canton a charming, but somewhat decrepit little town, with certain parts that are in desperate need of an economic face-lift. Dueber Church is nestled in one of these dilapidated neighborhoods and towers above the boarded- up one- and two-story houses around it; a nostalgic reminder of better times. Nonetheless, Dueber Church thrives. Hosting two services, several weekday activities and study groups, as well as constant community involvement, the body of Christ at Dueber has not given up on their calling to extend the body of Christ into the local neighborhoods of downtown Canton.

The elegant structure in which the church gathers is not to be understated. Like a modern-age cathedral, the church was built when Christians valued worshiping God through every facet of the gathering, including the architecture of the building that housed them. With lofty decorated ceilings and a vibrant crimson santuary, Dueber Church is the juxtaposition of the traditional with the contemporary. The golden saints were leaving as we arriving with the rest of those preferring of contemporary worship, which is to be assumed when the traditional service precedes the Sunday School hour. The new arrivals that filed into the pews around Hannah and I were dressed primarily in street clothes and seemed to be less-well-versed in the ways of 'church,' bringing a fresh vibrancy and truly awesome dynamic to the service. These seemingly younger Christians obviously valued the community at Dueber for reasons far beyond their own preference or taste. They seemed eager for the Word and eager to join the brotherhood of believers in corporate worship.

I always find it refreshing when a church is trying to gracefully bridge the gap—that uncomfortable switch between the traditional and the contemporary. The liminal space between such phases in the life of a church is awkward and often results in natural growing pains. Any church that has crossed the gap can relate to these pains: people leaving, new people coming, complaining, griping, lobbying for this or that preference, etc. But the grace with which Dr. Chet Harris and his staff seem to be handling this transition is beautiful. Though we weren't able to attend the early service, the amount of golden saints we saw exiting was demonstrative of the growing that is still happening in all aspects of the church.

My wife and I found it interesting that the senior pastor had his doctorate. Though it's not terribly uncommon, it's still something to be revered, and his twenty-some years of pastoring Dueber and pursuing further education is clearly seen through his "Bible-grounded, thought-provoking sermons."* This past Sunday, he tackled a topic that has the potential to be one of the most difficult and uncomfortable things on which to preach: Adultery, as a natural progression in his series through the Ten Commandments. Harris stood hard ground, refusing to waffle or compromise in any way when it came to dealing with a biblical perspective on adultery. The ability to present sound biblical, culturally relevant truth in a way that is engaging and thought-provoking is not something to be taken lightly, and Harris treaded difficult waters with acute precision and deliberation.

In this day and age of throwing away things that "don't work," or in some way fail to meet our expectations (cars, iPods, marriages, jobs, etc.), Harris serves as a model of true faithfulness, being true to the congregation at Dueber for over 25 years, through what have apparently been some less-than-stellar days (as all churches inevitably experience). I am excited that Dueber Church wound up on our schedule, albeit a last-minute, God-planned addition. Though the city of Canton is not the vivacious entity it used to be, churches like Dueber remain a constant source of life and spiritual light amid otherwise ever-darkening streets.

*http://www.dueber.org/content.cfm?id=304