A funny thing happened on the way to Church

Hi friends,

Life has been a roller coaster these last few months. As I have noted many times in this blog, I have been given the opportunity to begin a new congregation in Vancouver, WA. In the process of starting this new community of faith, I am constantly learning new things about being and doing "church".

As a way to foster some discussion about those learnings, and also to put them in some type of public forum, so others can glean anything useful from my experience, I am starting another blog specifically dedicated to that topic. Click over to "A funny thing happened on the way to Church" If you would like to read those thoughts and participate in the discussions.

I will still keep "Mark's Mind" up and running as a place to share some more personal thoughts (both deep and shallow).

I hope you all are having a wonderful day and I look forward to sharing more with ya'll in the future!

Mark

1 year later...

Well today is an odd day, a year ago my father passed away after a massive heart attack. There are alot of jumbled emotions, I expect it will be a long day. If you think about it raise a toast to my Dad Bill McMurray today

Compassion is always a good thing

One of the things I have found in starting a new congregation is that in talking with people about doing church a new way, people are pretty willing to talk. In fact they are willing to talk a lot... especially about hurts and struggles. I must admit I have been surprised by the amount of people I have met who struggle with addictions, or have suffered some type of abuse in their past. It only reinforce how much a community like the one I feel called to help create is needed. A safe, honest community of friends to experience faith and grow together in a life that reflects that faith.

Having said that, I wanted to post a link to a monologue from my favorite late night talk show host, Craig Ferguson of the Late Late Show. This clip is a couple years old now, but I still think it is admirable and one of the best things I have seen on television in years.

Welcomed Friends!

Well, now that I have got a couple months under my belt at this whole, starting a new congregation thing. I am starting to feel like I kinda’ know what I am doing. I had planned on using this blog to try an record some of the things I have learned, and am learning, as I go through this process so that others can benefit from my wisdom, or as more likely the case... my ignorance and naivete’ ( I have always wanted to use naivete’ in a sentence)

The four areas that the launch team at Via Nova and I are focusing on, as we make this journey together, are: “Gathering people” = Getting groups of people together to have conversations about faith and “what church could be...” “Celebrating/Worshiping with people”= Gathering people to worship God and celebrate our relationship with God and each other. “Serve people” = If you don’t get that one...well, i guess ...buy a dictionary... and “Discipleing people” = Helping people form friendship and a community as they make this journey of faith together and grow spiritually.

Our first “Gathering people” event was two weekends ago, It went so well that we decided to do it again last weekend. It’s cool when doing a “church thing” is actually fun and you like doing it!

So anyway, I want to debrief a little about what I learned from the event:

Here in Vancouver we have a very good farmers market downtown. One of the members of our launch team came up with a great idea of having a booth at the Farmers Market to tell people about Via Nova (You Rock Kimmy!) So I went down to the Farmers Market one Saturday morning and find the information booth. I met a very nice gentleman at the booth and we started a conversation. Things were going well, he laughed at my jokes, I laughed at his... Then I make my first ignorant step... I say “ Well, I’m Pastor of a new church in town, and we were wondering about setting up a face painting booth at the market...” The nice gentleman’s posture changed, his facial expression changed, and he stopped laughing... His reply was “Well, the market is supposed to be non-political and non-religious.” Now I want you to know that I, in no way fault the nice info booth guy. That’s his job! I was just surprised at the change in his sub atomic structure, when I said I was from a church. But since Via Nova was wanting to just paint kids faces and have fun, we were in a weird grey area; not being there as a church, but there as face painters, so he wanted more info. “Are you gonna ask people for money?” he asked. “Nope, just paint faces, meet people and have fun” I replied .... “Are you going to confront people as they walk through the market?”... “Nope, just paint faces, meet people and have fun...” We talked a little bit longer and he started to warm up to the idea that maybe I wasn’t so bad, and we might be an ok group to be at the market...maybe... He gave me some other possibilities, but I could tell it was going to be a lot of work to get a booth. So I thanked him for his time, shook his hand, wished him a great afternoon and went home.



Here is the first couple of things I have learned from this exchange with Mr. Info Booth Guy. First of all, the “church” is not seen as a “welcomed friend” to an awful lot of people. I say that because at the core of what we are trying to do, and be, at Via Nova is to be involved in our city as welcomed friends in the community. That is not as easy as it sounds. In this part of the country “church” is not a welcoming word. In fact for the people with whom I have an affinity, there is still a bit of mistrust because I am a pastor and connected to the church. If we can’t live lives that contradict that mistrust and image, we will not get very far in forming this community God has called us to.

The second thing that sticks out for me as I think about Mr. Info Booth Guy, is that the first two things he thought of when I said “church” was “Are you gonna ask for money” and “Are you gonna confront people?” Of all the things that I pray we will be known for, as we form this community, confronting people and asking for money aren’t two of them. (Having said that, I do pray that we will the type of community that does call people on their crap, and stand for justice, mercy, life and hope as disciples of Jesus, and I do believe that you can tell pretty quickly what is important to someone if you look at their Visa Statement for about 15 seconds) In fact that part of the conversation with Mr. Info Booth Guy didn’t make me mad, or just point out a public relations problem the church has... It really just made me sad. Not “oh thats too bad” sad, but a “quiet, kinda cuss a little to yourself, cause something is wrong” sad.

Ok ready for the good part?... I am! We decided that the nearby park with the huge play structure is probably a better place to set up a shelter and hand out balloons, paint kid’s faces and have conversations anyway. So after a call to the Parks Dept. and a thumbs up from them, we set up a shelter and started handing out balloons, painting faces, handing milk bones to people’s dogs and having fun with people, while we talked about forming a group of friends who wanted to see the world be a better place as an act of faith. (Notice no use of the “C” word) We had fun! People said “thank you” to us, and things like “right on, that is great!” Even people from my motorcycle group came out and told us what a great thing we were doing. People sat under the tent and talked and laughed and smiled.

There was another “religious group” at the park that day as well. (They wore white shirts and black ties and had little name tags... the group name rhymed with “granola spitless”) People interacted with us in a very different way then they did with our tie wearing friends. People walked quickly past their tent and and avoided eye contact, or did that zombie stare right through them, thing. At about lunch time I noticed the difference. There were people people waiting in line to get faces painted, kids were playing with dogs by the tent people were smiling and having conversations with the launch team. I leaned over and said to one of my launch team folks “See all the people just hanging out with us?... Now look at the tent across the park and see how people avoid it? That’s what I mean by “welcomed friends” in the community. If we can get a grip on that we are on our way!”

Sooner or later we will find ourselves in the place where we realize what Jesus meant when he told us to love God and love everyone else. I’m glad that Via Nova is a community that is moving there!

I’ll post up some other reflections/learnings from this first Gathering people event.

Have a great week friends!

A name by any other name...

Ok, so it's official now, as of 12:01AM July 1st, I am appointed to a new church start in Vancouver Wa. My best wishes to Kathy Neery who is now the Pastor of Orchards United Methodist Church.

So, I have a pretty clear idea about what I feel God is calling me to begin in this new church start but am running short on ideas for a name. I wanna stay away from the "churchy" names that are so prevalent like "Living hope" or "Living waters" or "Crossroads" or any other thing that sounds "gimmicky" (No offense if you are pastor/member of a church named one of those :-)

The driving idea behind the community we are creating is a desire to be disciples that tangibly and intentionally make a difference in the city we are a part of. That means intentionally being involved in service as an act of faith and discipleship; being part of a community that shares their lives together, cares for one another and become "spiritual friends" on a journey of faith; and creating a community of faith that sees their identity as a compassionate community called to transform the world as disciples of Jesus, not a group of people that gather once a week for a worship performance or to listen to a "self help" lecture.

Those are the type of things that we want to reflect in the name of this community, but also stays away from the image of traditional/attractional Church that so many people are running from, or scared of.

Any Ideas?? Please post up a reply and let me hear them :-)

18 years ago today...

I know i promised to write some reflections about the language we use for church and what that says about our ideas regarding “church” but today is my 18th anniversary to the most beautiful and awesome woman i have ever met - Jennifer.
At the moment we have way too many unresolved things going on in our lives like job transitions for both of us, and being 7/8 of the way through buying a new home which is always stressful (anyone have $200,000 lying around taking up space they need to get rid of???) So instead of spending time today writing here I’m heading out to try to put together something nice (and cheep) for my anniversary. Talk to ya next week

Pick-ups or Motorcycles???

It has been an interesting week for various reasons. First of all, my family and I are in the process of finding a new place to live come July 1st, as we start this new chapter in our lives by starting a new congregation in the Vancouver area.

Second, I have had several conversation the last couple of weeks that I would like to unpack a little here.

Earlier this week i was sitting with a group, and the conversation turned to the new congregation I was starting. As I spoke about the values and methods I am hoping to instill in this new community, I found several people becoming defensive. It was very apparent that in hearing me talk about something new and different, they heard that the old style/system was was wrong or evil or worthless. It dawned on me that our churches (the ones that exist now) are pretty fragile, not only financially or in terms of facilities, but emotionally as well. I find myself reassuring people (my colleagues included) that the style of “church” they pastor or participate in isn’t evil, wrong, or worthless. After all it was in a church like that where I first learned of Jesus.

I admit that I am running up against something that I didn’t expect, even before the official date of an appointment to start a new congregation begins. This notion that a new or different church is a threat to existing churches. Well, let me clarify that. I always new that some people will always see a new church as a threat, due to turf issues and and the fear “of stealing members” (as if we own them). I have certainly run into that , but what i didn’t expect was the defensiveness and perceived threat that voicing something new is needed for a different group of people evokes.

It feels like a conversation I had last year with a stranger in a parking lot. I was riding my motorcycle and had stopped to get a coke and fill up with gas. I came back out after paying for my coke and sat on my motorcycle. For those of you that don’t know, motorcycles typically don’t come with cup holders, and drinking a coke through a full face helmet is not really very practical. I took a drink of my coke, screwed the lid on the bottle and tucked it into my jacket and was about to put my helmet on when I hear from the guy next to me in the parking lot “That's why I don’t ride those things...” I looked over and smiled and said “ya sometimes you have to be a little creative when carrying something”... He then went on for 5 minutes about how his pickup was the only vehicle worth a damn, and that motorcycles were worthless. I just smiled realizing 5 minutes of my life was gone that I will never get back, and restrained the urge to throw my empty bottle in the back of his pick up as i drove off. What a worthless conversation! If i were wanting to haul a palette of 2X4’s my SV650 wouldn’t be the vehicle of choice. If i want to get 50 MPG and always have a place to park, a 1973 Ford F150 wouldn’t be my vehicle of choice. To argue that one is worthless is just idiotic. To argue that a congregation that addresses the issues of discipleship and faith in a different way for a different group of people somehow implies another congregation is worthless is a conversation that i am growing weary of. But I also know that when I feel emotionally fragile or vulnerable I make arguments that maybe I wouldn’t otherwise. Your milage may vary...

Next week I will be writing a little bit about the language we use for “church” and what that reveals about us . In the mean time please continue praying for my family and I as we prepare to begin this new congregation.

1 month and counting till I am officially appointed to start a new congregation in Vancouver, WA!