So, we're starting a new church in a retirement community. To be clear, the intention is not to drop in on occasion, do a mass and leave - shoot, that's been done for ages - but to start an actual, live church with a vestry, bylaws and all the other stuff that goes along with a church. We are leaving out a couple of bits...
- the building: don't need one.
- salaries: we're bivocational
- which, in general, seems like a bad idea, but seems to be working out here
Having eliminated the two biggest financial sinks for any congregation we're left with...
- worship
- communitiy
- mission
- We like mission
- I sort of hope we can stay more or less broke all the time all in support of mission
perhaps I should edit out the above for the sake of the treasurer
The inspiration
The Long Suffering Mrs. Sutcliffe and I have been taking long walks in England as vacation for several years now - hop on a plane to England, hop on a train, hop off and walk for two weeks and come home. We have been through many a small village and they all seem to have two things in common - a pub and a church. Well, this retirement community has about 150-ish residents and if this doesn't constitute a village than what does? So, we're starting a church there (I am not in the pub business. Besides, if you think there is a lot of paperwork involved in starting a church, try getting a liquor license.).
OK - there's more to it than that so, more will be revealed later.
OK Now I get it.
ReplyDeleteYou're breaking new ground - caring for an underserved population - a village, even.
It's magnificent - majestic.
Wow, Dave. Majestic? I don't think we've ever thought of it as majestic before. Day to day it just feels like dragging some churchy stuff around in a black and gold box on wheels. It's easy to forget that we're supposed to be bringing the courts of the King a little closer to another corner of our earth. Majestic. Hmm... cool.
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ReplyDeleteWell, could be a magnificent idea that's majestic in it's vision and possibly in its eventual reality. Hmmmm.
ReplyDeleteNo Angel Tree, yet. Could there be a corporate gift to somewhere from StEAM for Christmas as a beginning of sharing. This year?
If you sit in the front row at the ballet and hear those butterflies grunt and groan with the effort, you'll wonder how you ever thought of it as beautiful. A lot of things look rough around the edges up close.