On Mission in the Magic Kingdom

By Josh Avery

For almost 16 years, I worked in “traditional” Free Methodist churches. By that, I simply mean that we had typical Sunday morning services, small groups, a children’s program, and events throughout the year inside a building that had been there for many years before I arrived.

Counting numbers of people — whether it was members, attendees at a summer cookout, those present during Sunday morning service — was the primary way that we could gauge success at the mission of our church. If people were not only showing up, but growing numerically, we knew that we were being successful. This measuring method seemed unavoidable despite the cons. Even as we considered church multiplication, it seemed like we would come back to counting the individuals inside our churches.

Over a year ago, our family was forced to rethink the entire scenario and what it means to gauge the success of the mission. In May 2022 at the Ohio Annual Conference, Bishop Linda Adams appointed us to what is officially called the “Disney Church Plant,” but what we simply call Beyond the Pixie Dust.

Our mission field is the size of San Francisco; the land now known as Walt Disney World in central Florida. With over 76,000 employees called cast members coming from all over the world to work throughout its four parks and many resorts, the potential harvest for the kingdom is great. Our outreach happens daily amid castles, flying elephants, and parades, and our two church gatherings meet weekly inside our home.

Because I’ve worked as an ordained elder in the FMC for so many years, I had come to expect a certain method in the way that we do church: services at the same time each Sunday morning, small groups that are formed out of the various members of the congregation, ongoing potluck dinners on certain afternoons. There are always those who are sporadic in their church attendance, but for the most part, you have an idea of who may be there on any given Sunday.

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“It’s been a difficult transition… but the transition has been more helpful than I could have ever known.”

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Rethinking Success

At Disney, we’ve been forced to rethink the structure entirely. Since Disney is a 24/7 operation and schedules are always changing, a cast member who was available last Tuesday morning for our church meeting may be scheduled the next four Tuesday mornings. With such high-quality entertainment available every single day in the parks, hosting a fall fest (something we may do back in Ohio to gather together the unbelieving community) isn’t much of a draw in comparison. Simply put, the old strategies and ideas that seemed to lead to success in the traditional church won’t work in this unique place.

Because of that, we’ve also needed to come up with new ideas about what constitutes success. We no longer have a large building like we did in Ohio to host services, so we don’t plan to ever evolve into a single gathering of hundreds of people. It’s been a difficult transition, because counting Sunday morning attendance was a primary way I felt I could gauge success in the past, but the transition has been more helpful than I could have ever known.

At the risk of looking bad as a Free Methodist elder, I’m going to be honest with you: When I focused on the bottom line number, it was very easy to lose sight of the individual. A new family visiting on Sunday morning was exciting first and foremost because we were now reaching 90 people instead of the 80 we had in attendance last week. Of course, I ultimately cared about their individual needs and their apprenticeship to Jesus — but much of the initial excitement centered for me around the fact that the number itself of our congregation was growing, not staying stagnant or — God forbid — decreasing. If we were seeing an increase, that meant I was succeeding as a pastor.

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“When it comes to success, we’re no longer thinking about the number of people who are gathering.”

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Kingdom Influencers

Here at Walt Disney World, our gatherings are anywhere between two to five individuals — certainly nothing worth bragging about. However, in intentionally keeping our groups small, we are able to have dialogue, discussions, and relationships with people like never before. When we meet in our home, we spend time challenging each other to deeper levels of apprenticeship with Jesus, determining ways to live as kingdom influencers within our various roles as cast members at Disney.

When it comes to success, we’re no longer thinking about the number of people who are gathering. We’re thinking about individual people and their stories. Last year, we met a Mexican cast member named Joao who was skeptical about Jesus. Although he believed that there was a God, he wasn’t quite sure which God to believe in. One year later, he is now one of our most active members, actively following Jesus — but the requirements of his visa sadly force him to return to Mexico in October. While we are sad to be losing him as a part of our church here in Florida, we’re excited to see what God will do with his new plans to plant a church among his friends in Tampico.

I’m working as a cast member myself at the Magic Kingdom outdoor vending carts. Every day at work, in very ordinary places like popcorn carts and churro stands, kingdom opportunities are popping up. A prayer meeting happened earlier this year in the middle of Liberty Square, and discussions about the hope of a life after this one have been ongoing in Fantasyland. There are questions about joy next to the Jungle Cruise and fights for justice over at Storybook Circus (equality for our cast with special needs).

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“It’s not as exciting to talk about at first as the big numbers were, but it’s been much more life-giving.”

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When I think about success now, my mind no longer jumps to a number. Instead I think about individuals like Fred, John, and Michelle. Success comes via the long, slow, process of investing in people and building relationships in authentic ways. It’s not as exciting to talk about at first as the big numbers were, but it’s been much more life-giving.

I know all sorts of people will read this, and you may wonder how this could apply to you and your church. I am certainly not saying that large church gatherings are bad, or that you shouldn’t ever count how many people attend your services (we had a cookout with cast members recently, and I can confirm there were exactly 30 people there).

Instead, I’m encouraging you to examine your source of success. Do you find yourself relying often upon the growth of your gatherings to inform your definition of your success? If so, consider an individual person right now who God may be calling you to invest deeper into. As you focus on faces and names instead of numbers, you’ll find yourself enjoying even deeper the kingdom adventure that God has called you into, and then the multiplication will begin to take care of itself.

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