Casual clothes, serious faith: How a church is building community

Oris Guillaume has seen people avoid church in his native Haiti and near his Georgia home because they couldn't afford to dress in fancy clothes for themselves and their children.

So the church planter, who pastors Connection Church in Roswell, Georgia, started leading change so people dress however they want for Sunday worship. Now, the church emphasizes wearing casual clothes to be more welcoming to families with many young children or people with fewer resources.

"Jesus will meet you just the way you are," Guillaume said. "It's not about your dress. It's about your heart."

Helping people in Christ's name

Guillaume, who pastored a church in Haiti for three years, now works as a professor in the University System of Georgia. He moved to the United States in 2000.

Upon arriving in the United States, he realized ethnic groups new to America faced significant challenges. In response, Guillaume wanted to minister to these groups so they could share the gospel with all nations. He launched Connection Church in Roswell in 2021.

He believes the church can impact different ethnic groups and create leaders who do ministry that nurtures local churches and start congregations. 

Connection Church is beginning to create Connect to Our Neighbors, an organization that will help immigrants get identity documents or driver's licenses, transfer school credits from foreign colleges, sign up for social security and learn how to send their kids to school.

That's one way the church emphasizes helping people in Christ's name with all kinds of needs. Connection Church emphasizes caring for the whole person.

"We focus on all three areas of your life: your spirit, your soul and your physical," he said.

Building a community without waiting on people

Connection's youth group meets twice monthly to serve families from Nigeria, Mexico, Honduras, Haiti, Jamaica and other locations in and outside the United States. He believes the church can help connect these different generations and cultures of believers and make a tremendous impact.

"We have a diverse ministry that strengthens the church and reaches out to the community," he said. "We're not a church that's sitting and waiting for people."

They want to display the love of Christ and teach Christ's doctrine to the community so people fulfill the great commandment to help others know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. 

Connection has an online Bible study on Friday nights, and they also do Vacation Bible School. Twenty-one people have been baptized since December 31. More than 45 adults chose Christ as Lord in Sunday services, plus seven teens came to Christ this year in a VBS ministry.

"We have a lot of new people accepting Christ," he said. 

A three-pronged approach to loving neighbors

The congregation compassionately emphasizes education, evangelism and entrepreneurship for people. The church's motto is "We connect, We believe and we belong together."

They want people to return to school, learn English, take a computer class, and be prepared for future work and contributions. He said the church takes a route of education as one way to influence more people, transform their lives and attract them to Christ.

"Instead of building a church, I'm building a community," he said.

Entrepreneurs are part of that community. They are people that Guillaume wants to help become self-sustaining and help them come to Christ.

"When people see this church is educated and has more business leaders, we will attract more people," he said. "Educated entrepreneurs also become good moral Christians who praise God in the best manner possible."

Connection focuses on those who don't know God's love

Forming a people who worship God and make disciples is Guillaume's desire and the mission of Connection Church. They want to plant other churches among people who are lost and disconnected. They want to reach people who don't know God sent his son to die on the cross for their forgiveness.

Part of that pursuit is helping people become like Christ and do his work with sincere hearts of faith, practicing repentance and forgiveness of one another. That will be a group of people who share their faith and overcome the barriers to the gospel among all the nations.

They can do that, no matter what clothes they can afford. The clothes people have, whether high-end or ordinary, don't matter to Jesus and don't help make disciples, Guillaume said. So, the church prioritizes the heart-transformation of themselves and their neighbors in East Roswell.

"We want to focus on the inside instead of the outside," he said.

Converge's 10 districts have committed to deploying 312 church planters before 2026. Read more inspiring church planting stories and learn about the goal to send out 312 church planters in five years.