CALVERTON, Md. ( AP ) — The Rev. According to Matthew L. Watley, it is not just coincidence that his suburban Maryland church, a branch of the previously Black African Methodist Episcopal church, is at the top of a list of the nation’s fastest-growing churches.
All paths lead to the church and finally Kingdom Fellowship AME Church for this son and grandson of AME ministers, from hearing his visit to government while dancing with his Action Afrika band in South Africa to giving up his desire to attend law school and joining at Howard School of Divinity.
” There’s a saying that says,’ In America we believe in God, but in Africa, they depend on God,'” said Watley, who likewise met his wife, a attorney and provincial lawyer, at Howard. ” I had never seen belief like that before”.
In 2019, the time Kingdom Fellowship AME was founded, the church had about 3, 000 people and an average weekly presence of about 1, 800 folks, according to the church’s numbers. Now, membership has swelled to almost 8, 000, and its regular companies draw about 2, 500 attendees immediately.
On a recent Sunday morning, Watley, 50, preached to a packed sanctuary from the Gospel of Luke about Zacchaeus ‘ transformative meeting with Jesus. After climbing a tree and seeing Jesus over the crowd, the short and corrupt tax collector made a change of heart.
Watley said,” When Zacchaeus climbed that tree, that was his way of doing what he needed to do to become whole — to become healed from the things he’d been carrying his entire life.”
Afterward more than 20 people, some with tears in their eyes, retreated to an intake room for new members. Kingdom Fellowship is averaging about 110 additions per month, according to the church’s count.
Before Kingdom Fellowship, Watley built a robust following for years through a ministry called Power Lunch, the first of which drew about 300 people. These were midday worship services that were held in the District of Columbia and the greater Washington, DC, areas that offered free food to attendees before returning to work.
Watley also provided a church to the electorate by taking note of the numerous Black Americans who needed a place to worship after moving from Washington, D.C., to the suburbs. Although outside the district, Watley and Kingdom Fellowship have remained in the capital’s political orbit, sharing his pulpit with Baptist pastor and U. S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D- Georgia, and hosting Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff for the inaugural service in its new church building. Additionally, they welcomed Angela Alsobrooks, the Democratic nominee for the Maryland governor. Larry Hogan, among other politicians.
Despite what they do outside the church, Kingdom Fellowship still wants to be recognized for its homespun hospitality and a culture that treats its members equally.
” We appreciate that you’re the CEO, whatever. On the parking lot, we need some assistance. It’s great you’re … the head of the ER medical unit. Someone needs to unlock this door. And that’s the culture”, Watley said.
Watley served as the executive pastor of Montgomery County’s Reid Temple AME Church, where Kingdom Fellowship was established in 2004. There, the congregation oversees the budget, local ministries, and its 132, 000 square-foot facility, which includes a sanctuary, credit union, and bookstore. Watley also served as the de facto chief of staff for Reid Temple’s senior pastor, the Rev. Lee Washington.
” He had a lot of ideas”, said Washington, who recently retired. I gave him the freedom to choose what he liked to do.
With Washington’s blessing, those ideas included launching Reid Temple North with a small contingent of volunteers. The Montgomery Blair High School cafeteria where they met up until 2010 hosted the first worship service in 2006. In Silver Spring, Maryland, Watley added a second Sunday service in 2011 and a third one in 2013, and the congregation moved into a newly renovated building. The campus eventually became financially self- sufficient.
Washington chose to spin-off Reid Temple North as an independent church in the wake of Watley’s appointment as his successor rather than name him. Watley became the organization’s inaugural senior pastor in 2019 and it was renamed Kingdom Fellowship AME.
” Our church was growing by leaps and bounds, and I did not believe in hoarding”, Washington said. ” I believe in sharing”.
Watley, even as a young leader, was noticed within the denomination for his maturity and strong opinions, said Bishop James Levert Davis, the presiding prelate for the AME district that includes Kingdom Fellowship. Watley is being chosen by Davis to represent his district at the upcoming AME General Conference, where the denomination’s ban on same-sex marriage is scheduled to be discussed, an issue Watley hopes wo n’t lead to a rift.
” I tease Matthew constantly telling him that he’s the oldest young person I know,” Davis said. He has been anchored and nurtured by the best of who we are, according to his father and his grandfather.
Watley’s appointment as the first leader of Kingdom Fellowship also came with a labor-intensive capital project, constructing a new worship center with sky-high ceilings and an amphitheater-style sanctuary. Kingdom Fellowship was preparing to begin operations when the COVID- 19 pandemic struck, not to mention there was a recent instance of a similar project falling apart at another church in the area.
” I was very cognizant of that. Absolutely”, Watley said.
But no one pulled out: neither the bank nor the contractor or the congregation. Instead, Kingdom Fellowship members increased their giving, and the congregation celebrated Easter with their first service in the new worship center in 2022. Recently, Outreach magazine named the church the fastest growing, a ranking based on a self- reported Lifeway Research survey that compared average weekly, in- person attendance for February and March 2023 to 2022 numbers.
In the U. S., Black Protestants ‘ monthly church attendance declined 15 % from 2019 to 2023, a larger drop than any other major religious group, according to a 2023 Pew Research study. More than half ( 54 % ) of respondents claim to attend services virtually, making them more likely than other groups to participate in religious services online or on TV.
The pace of growth at Kingdom Fellowship AME has been rapid but seamless, said Sharon and Billy Watts, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland. The kindness and care of church staff have remained constant, they said.
Prior to joining Reid Temple North, the couple regularly witnessed Watley’s gift for preaching and reaching out to people. Watley inspires people as well outside the church, according to Sharon Watts, noting the speech the pastor delivered at her husband’s retirement party that left the audience of soon-to-be retirees wondering how and where they could hear Watley again.
” It’s something about that man and what he brings forth in his preaching”, said Sharon Watts, who first noticed that Watley’s knack for drawing crowds in the Power Lunch days. ” To me it seems like we’re called to bring the community together, to hear the word of God, to not just prepare them spiritually, but to prepare the whole person”.
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