This is a bad ass post from a pastor with her pulse on the changing landscape of Church and world. Based in the DC metro area her insight on the ability of the Teeter grocery chain to evolve over and above the church is fresh. Please, please, please check this out and give it some thought!
A Church for Starving Artists: "Teeter's" - Yesterday & Today
3 comments:
Very interesting. Thanks for the link.
I read this and I look at my beautiful church built in 1916 and our congregation which is mostly, but not wholely over 60 and I have to wonder - what DO I need to do differently. I know its not to change our regular service. It feeds those of us who love the tradition and love sharing it with others who do, but what else could be done? I even have to question whether there is a "market" for something different in a town our size - especially one with no university and only a community college. My leaning is toward something like a Celtic Eucharist ala St. Stephens in Richmond, more contemplative and feeding more of our senses, but I have no idea whether anyone else wants anything else like that. I've been here less than 2 months, so I am not upset with myself for not knowing, but when I/we are ready, how do I find out? Is it a matter of trial and error? Is there somewhere to turn? I get the concept its the praxis I'm struggling with.
CJ
This is a really good question. One that I too am struggling with. Sure, in the DC metro area it is clear that things have changed. But as I try to discern what a 3rd service, aimed at those 35 and younger, might look like in Foley, AL things get hazy.
The art filled expression of worship at COTA in Seattle ain't gonna fly. The hipster coffee shop feel of Common Table in Vienna, VA equally isn't going to work. What does it mean to have a locally authentic expression of church where we are?
By no means am I saying that this change is universal in nature, but I do think it is universal in scope. And so, like you, the concept I'm ok with, but its praxis for my context is still very, very up in the air.
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