The Church in Post-Christian America

Much has been said about the recent article in the Christian Science Monitor, The Coming Evangelical Collapse.  Now, it isn’t just evangelicals who are in trouble, but Mainline Protestant denominations find themselves in similar circumstances. In coming years, many churches will be forced to close shop because of dwindling attendance . These churches will be forced to close because they will no longer be able to afford the cost of their buildings or their staff. One solution to this new scenario is something that Church of the Apostles, the church I’m currently working at, is doing quite well: Open the building to the community.

COTA meets at the Fremont Abbey, a building that we are currently in the process of buying from the Lutheran Church.  The building for most of its life was St. Paul’s Lutheran Church.  After St. Paul’s closed down, the building was used as a homeless shelter for a few years, and then 3 years ago, COTA moved in.  Instead of slapping our name up on the building, and making the building a “church”, the COTA community decided that this building was going to be for all of the Fremont Community.  And they thought the best way to serve the Fremont Community was to make the building a place for the arts.  Because of this the Fremont Abbey is home to two separate non-profits: Church of the Apostles and the Fremont Abbey Arts Center. Because of the Arts Center, the Fremont Abbey is occupied 7 days a week with a music school, dance lessons, a jazz band, concerts, mediation weekends, kids art classes, etc, etc…  And because our building is occupied 7 days a week, supporting (and paying for) the building does not fall entirely upon the church congregation.

I need to make something very clear, the Art Center does not exist as a bait and switch (i.e. “Let’s get people in the building so we can convert them”).  The Art Center is its own non-profit that lives in the Fremont Abbey.  And secondly, the Arts Center does not exist to support the mission of the church.  The Arts Center exists because the community of Fremont values the arts, and because so many people in the community volunteer their time, expertise and money to support the arts in Fremont and in the Fremont Abbey.

Now what is taking place in the Fremont Abbey is a mutually beneficial relationship between a church and a community arts center.  Neither of the missions are more important than the other, and we try and treat each other that way.  And because of this relationship we can both continue to exist, own property, and pay a staff in a very expensive urban area.

If the church wants to continue to have buildings and paid staff, but can’t attract large enough numbers to pay for these things it will have to figure out ways to open up their buildings to their neighbors.  And it will need to do this in a mutually beneficial way, avoiding a patronizing, bait and switch relationship.

A new leg of the journey

On November 1st I started a new job. I am now the Community Architect at Church of the Apostles, a sacramental/liturgical/emerging church in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle.  My main purpose as the Community Architect will be working to create systems of communication and connection that allow for the fostering of community within the church.  

This new leg of the journey has caused me to reflect upon the path that I have been traveling for the past few years (though it goes back even farther).  Back in 2005 and 2006 I completed a year of study at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.  During my time there I had the privilege of taking classes from the late Robert Webber.  In his classes on worship and spirituality Bob introduced me to ancient and liturgical forms of worship as well as integrating them into the postmodern world that we live in today.  He taught me that to worship is to participate in the enactment of the story of God (See Why Episcopal I, II, III).  Under Bob’s teaching I was soon an Evangelical on the Cantebury Trail.  

During this time I was also becoming more and more disillusioned (if you are at all familiar with my theological musings the reasons for this are quite obvious) with the church tradition that I found myself in.  This disillusionment and other circumstances that Kate and I were going through brought us to the realization that we needed to go West.  In the summer of 2006 Kate and I packed up our stuff and headed to Seattle to attend Mars Hill Graduate School.  We went to MHGS with the hope of re-imagining our Christian faith with the help of others.  Little did I know that my journey towards Anglicanism would pick up here in Seattle.  Some friends of ours were attending St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Lower Queen Anne (the neighborhood that Kate and I moved into).  Upon their invitation we started attending, and it was pretty soon that Kate and I knew that we were home  (Again, see Why Episcopal?).   

However, this new found home also caused me a vocational dilemma.  I am now part of a mainline protestant denomination where most of the paid jobs belong to ordained priests and I just graduated from a little known evangelical/emergent seminary that has no ties to this church.  Where in the $&^% am I going to find a job?!  And then right as I am graduating I am presented with a unique opportunity to work at a church here in Seattle, that is both Episcopal and emerging.

I resist using language of “God ordained this” or “it was God’s hand leading me the whole way”, etc…  That language is difficult for me because one, I used that language to describe choices in my life before that turned out to not be the healthiest choices, and then I am left with the dilemma of “Did God want to cause me harm?  Or did I mess up God’s plan, etc…”.   And two, I believe that God wants me to make choices, wise choices, that reflect upon a whole range of things, only one of which is “What is God leading me to do?”.  

In this situation though, I can’t help but smile a little bit with the sense that God is walking with me as both God and I make our way into this next leg of the journey.

Snow Day!

One of the advantages of living is Seattle (if you are a student and you are already safely at home) is the city’s completely lack of ability to deal with snow. Case in point: Monday night I was up in Bothell attending class, a snow storm hit while class was in session. It took me one hour and forty five minutes to travel the one mile between the off site class site to the main campus. It was insane! Class got out at 5:30, Kate, Sarah (visiting from out of town) and I didn’t make it home till 10 pm that night.

But back to the advantage of living in Seattle. Right now I am sitting in my warm apartment, not in class, catching up on some relaxation and home work, all because of the mere threat of another snow storm. With a couple of weeks left in the semester, when the classes start to drag and assignments pile up, this wonderful snow day couldn’t have come at a better time. So thank you Seattle for not having salt trucks; leaving us with lethal roads, long commutes, and blessed snow days.

I don’t need your twenty dollar parking!

So Kate’s job has come through with another bonus. Free tickets to the Seattle
Super Sonics tonight. Who knew people were still playing basketball after Michael Jordan retired? But anyway, what I am most anticipating about tonights game is the experiencing of walking to the game from my apartment. I just think that is fantastic. No bad traffic, no over priced parking, no being stuck in the parking lot for 6 hours after the game. Nothing but a 4 block walk for me, now thats good times.

On another note, there is a little football game going on tommorow. GO BLUE! I gotta admit though, I am a little nervous, but you never know what is going to happen when Michigan plays OSU.

Only in Seattle

If you ever visit Seattle you quickly realize it has quite the thriving homeless population. It is a sad situation, and it break’s your heart as you encounter these people and realize the amount of pain they have suffered in thier lives. But the unique thing about the people who have come upon hard times in Seattle is that they often have quite the sense of humor. This is seen in their creative signs they hold expressing their need for money. I thought I would share this one with you. It definately made me laugh.

Pike Place Market

Reds, yellows, greens, violets, blues fill the air. Faces of people unknown pass by. Fresh. Clouds clearing, sun peering. Fruit divine, flowers sublime. Wife smiling. Stop and look. Reach and taste. Wait and savor. Soup and bread. Coffee and chocolate. Sabbath rest. Life is good. Joy is real.

Upon request: Our favorite Uptowners!

Uptown, Seattle: Our Neighborhood

Our building

Thai, Vegetarian, Mediterranean

Seattle Center

Queen Anne Ave: the heart of Uptown

Uptown Espresso

I thought it rained in Seattle?

So once again I have woken up to an absolutely perfect day in the Pacific Northwest. Not a cloud in the sky, temps in the 70’s, and I can smell the ocean. Kate and I have been here for almost two months now and we could count the rainy days on one hand. This may all sound wonderful but it is starting to drive me nuts. This is because I no longer have any free time. I make coffee, I go to class, I do homework, and I sleep. And everyday that I wake up to an absolutely perfect day, I think to myself “Today would be a good day for a hike.”

Kate spoke of ambivalence on her blog, well I’ll give you ambivalence: beautiful weather, beautiful mountains, and no time to climb them.

My prayer for today: Rain please come. Cover the skys in darkness; erase my view of the beauty around me, so that I can spend long hours of my day sitting at this desk reading and writing, unencumbered by the strong desire to escape into the wild.

Golden Gardens Park, Seattle