For Hill Country United Methodist Church in Marble Falls, growth doesn't always look like more people filling seats on Sunday morning.

Sometimes it looks like a drum circle in the park. Sometimes it's a group practicing chair yoga at the local senior center, neighbors gathering around a canvas to create art, or a conversation about faith between a pastor and local musicians who might never walk through the doors of a traditional church service.

Now beginning its fourth year as a church plant, Hill Country UMC is exploring what it means to meet people where they are and build relationships through Fresh Expressions of ministry.

The congregation began with around 40 active leaders and first worshiped in a classroom at a local Texas Tech extension campus. As the group grew, worship moved to the Senior Activity Center in Marble Falls and, more recently, to a meeting room at a local hotel.

But Sunday morning is only one part of the church's ministry.

Hill Country UMC regularly takes worship outside the walls through monthly services in a local park. Recently, one of those gatherings included the church's first baptism.

The congregation has also begun rethinking what worship itself can look like. Once a quarter, Hill Country holds a "Worship Through Service Sunday." Instead of its usual worship service, the congregation celebrates Communion and then spends the next couple of hours serving at the local food bank.

The experience has become a meaningful rhythm for the congregation and has helped broaden its understanding of worship beyond a traditional Sunday morning service.

hill country umc congregation at food bank.

That same spirit is at the heart of the church's growing Fresh Expressions ministries.

Earlier this year, three Hill Country lay leaders attended a Fresh Expressions conference in Ocala, Florida. While the church had already begun experimenting with new forms of ministry, Pastor Cody Logan said the experience helped church leaders more fully understand and embrace the Fresh Expressions approach.

One of the church's longest-developing Fresh Expressions is a monthly drum circle in the park.

What began as a gathering around drumming has gradually created opportunities for deeper relationships. Smaller gatherings have formed for people interested in learning more about drumming and meditation, and Hill Country has been invited to offer drum circles at local schools.

Some of those helping with the ministry have never attended Hill Country's Sunday worship.

After an invitation to help with one of the school events, one participant told the church, "I'm not a member of the church, but I will happily serve alongside y'all to offer this experience to the kids!"

That participant continues to return to drum circles and has introduced Logan to other local musicians. Those connections have led to something simple but significant: people who aren't connected to a church regularly making music and having spiritual conversations with a United Methodist pastor.

The ministry, Logan said, has taken about two years to develop.

"Growth has been slow, but relational and getting deeper all the time," he said.

Similar relationships are developing through other ministries.

"Art as Worship," led by a professional artist in the congregation, began with several four-to-six-hour workshops over the past two years and has now expanded into a weekly art gathering. The ministry has also become a place where participants from other Fresh Expressions can connect with the broader life of Hill Country UMC.

A Wednesday morning chair yoga group grew out of the congregation's previous relationship with the Marble Falls Senior Activity Center. Around 15 to 20 people regularly participate, with only about five typically coming from Hill Country UMC.

chair yoga with the marble falls senior activity center.

Through those weekly gatherings, Logan has developed relationships that have led to prayer, hospital visits and conversations about wellness and Christian faith.

Hill Country has also spent the past three years participating in the local Pride festival, building relationships within the community over time. This year, the congregation invited festival attendees to contribute to a large community painting at its booth.

The finished artwork will be given to the local Equality Center, with hopes of eventually displaying it in the community and auctioning it at a future art event to support the following year's Pride festival.

Those relationships have also opened conversations about the possibility of creating a local LGBTQ+ grief and church-trauma sharing group alongside pastors from inclusive churches.

For a young congregation, none of these ministries has produced an overnight transformation — and Logan doesn't believe that's the point.

Hill Country's story, he said, isn't one of doing something new and suddenly seeing an explosion in numbers. Instead, it is about recognizing the smaller ways God is at work over time.

"Over time, and in small moments, we have seen the Holy Spirit move through the development of relationships," Logan said.

Those relationships still need time, attention and care. But for Hill Country UMC, they are helping reshape the congregation's understanding of where church can happen.

Rather than focusing solely on building the church, Logan said the goal is ultimately "the building of the kingdom of God."

And in Marble Falls, that work is taking place on Sunday mornings — but also in parks, art classes, senior centers, schools, service projects and wherever else people are willing to gather in grace-filled community.

Story information and photos provided by Pastor Cody Logan, Hill Country United Methodist Church.