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Paul Wilkes In 1996, Paul Wilkes traveled to a church in New Jersey to speak at a revival. Although Wilkes is a lifelong Church member and regularly writes about religion and religious belief, he had an experience during that week unlike anything he’d ever had before. The church was exciting. The people loved to be there. They welcomed strangers into their community. The outreach and the reverence were real. Service and ministry were a natural part of their lives. And, all the while, they were enjoying themselves; there was no sense of obligation, only of opportunities. Wilkes interest was piqued, for he had sat in many a church that didn't have this same sense of excitement and spiritual depth. What made this church so appealing? Were there other such wonderful "homes for the spirit?" What did they have in common? And so, with a grant from the Lilly Endowment, he began to search for other excellent Christian churches. The churches he found are featured in his book: Excellent Protestant Congregations: The Guide to Best Places and Practices, Westminster/John Knox Press. The book contains a list of the successful—and reproducible—programs and approaches they employ, as well as their common traits. What began as only a dim realization of what was at the core of all these excellent churches and churches gradually began to become clearer in his mind. What he had found in these excellent Christian churches was that people felt a sense of attachment, that their individual participation was important. They had been asked to make a serious commitment to both the work of that church, but more importantly, to a lifestyle that included giving of themselves in some sort of ministry, whether it be church-related or in the larger community. They had made that commitment and both their church life and individual lives had blossomed. On the other hand, what he was seeing in the vast majority
of other churches he visited was that this commitment to ministry had
never been asked of them. People were attending worship, being what we
might call "reasonable members," but something hadn’t
clicked in for them. In these churches some 10 percent Wilkes wanted to find a simple, quick way for that 70 percent to be introduced to the ministry that God had already planted in their souls. New Beginnings 101, 201, 301: A New Way of Living a Christian Life was created for them. He then created New Beginnings: My Opportunity for Giving – Stewardship as a Way of Life, a curriculum that leads people to a deep, prayerful consideration of how they can become “intentional” and good stewards of their time, talent and treasure.
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of
the people were doing 80 percent of the work. Maybe 20 percent or so,
because of life circumstances, really couldn't be involved, but that left
70 percent, who, Wilkes felt, if given a compelling reason, could or would
be involved in ministry. 
