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HYATTSVILLE, Md. - Turner Memorial AME Church sits at a fork in the road of an unassuming community in
Hyattsville, a transitioning church in a county full of thriving megachurches. On this Sunday morning, the doors are open for all who will come and if the Rev. William H. Lamar IV's prayers are answered, they will remain open for a long time.
It will not be, however, without change and some hard work. Turner Memorial was organized in 1919 in Washington, D.C., and flourished there for more than eight decades. Like several other D.C. churches looking for more space to accommodate their growing memberships and expanding ministries, the church moved to Prince George's County in 2003 and settled into a threelevel sanctuary in the 7200 block of 16th Place.
Now, the church and its new pastor are examining what it needs to do to spur growth in an area where churches with thousands of members are increasing and a community where the demographics are shifting.
Lamar said he does not begrudge the huge churches to which many people are flocking, because they serve a purpose. Turner Memorial has a purpose too, he said.
"Many of those churches have found ways to place the needs of their constituency at the core of how they develop and do ministry," Lamar said. "There are enough people and enough communities in the metropolitan area that if we placed the needs of those outside [the church] in the center of ministry, then they would be attracted."
Lamar, who celebrated his 38th birthday on Aug. 12, was raised...