BART HESS AWARD

The Bartlett L. Hess Award for church vitality is given annually to the EPC church that has demonstrated the most innovative approach to church growth or revitalization. Church growth—in both its spiritual and numerical aspects—is an essential part of the mission of the church. The Hess Award provides a vehicle by which positive, reproducible innovation is encouraged and shared with others in the EPC.

Click here to download the Bartlett L. Hess Award nomination form. Save the fillable pdf to your computer, complete, then return to the Office of the General Assembly.

WHO IS BART HESS?

Dr. Bart Hess, 1910-1999

Dr. Bartlett L. (Bart) Hess was a great leader. He was a visionary. He pastored rural, ethnic, urban, and suburban churches with skill and care. He planted daughter churches and revitalized tired churches. Dr. Hess was one of the founding fathers of the EPC. All to the glory of God.

At age 86, his last pastorate was a successful interim ministry at First Presbyterian Church in Trenton, Michigan. He was age 81 when he led the team planting Knox Presbyterian Church in Ann Arbor, Michigan. For 36 years he served Ward Presbyterian Church, which had campuses in Detroit and Livonia (simultaneously for 12 years with his wife Margaret driving him between churches while he took a quick nap). Then, at the request of his presbytery, Dr. Hess focused only on Ward’s Livonia campus until it grew to some 5,000 members.

Dr. Hess believed that the people of his church were the “living stones” of 1 Peter 2:5. He counted his stones one by one, and was known for saying, “If one of the stones is missing, pastor and people need to know why.” If you were absent from his church for three Sundays, you could expect on the third Sunday afternoon his rumbling voice on the phone saying, “This is your pastor calling.” If you were a first-time visitor in his church, by Sunday evening you would have heard from him. By Monday morning your name would be on the Evangelism Pastor’s desk, and if you returned the next Sunday, Dr. Hess would greet you by name.