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Over time, I have learned two
things about my religious quest: First of all, that it is God who is seeking
me, and who has myriad ways of finding me. Second, that my most substantial
changes, in terms of religious conversion, come through other people. Even when
I become convinced that God is absent from my life, others have a way of
suddenly revealing God's presence.
-Kathleen
Norris,
from Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith
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HEADING TOWARD SUMMER
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Shari has completed her radiation and has been able to take a few trips! Pray for her as she has a body scan this month. We are praying for the most lovely "ALL CLEAR" from the doctors.
Pray for the Parakaleo Staff (Shari, Tami, Cristina, Maria, and Carrie) as we continue to seek God (and practically everyone else we know) for continuing support and funds for this growing ministry.
Also pray for us as we are STILL editing, updating, and finalizing our new and improved Tool Kit. We are so very close to completion!
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Greetings!
Things Worth Doing
by Stephanie Witt Church of the Incarnation
Church planting is hard. Living in New York City is hard. Church
planting in New York City is really hard. I'm not complaining (really) just stating the
facts.
We live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The neighborhood is
predominately Jewish, highly educated, and very cultured. We walk or take
public transportation everywhere we go. We don't own a car. Most days we carry
our groceries home from a local market. We live with our three (ridiculously energetic)
boys in an 800 sq. ft. apartment. Our church doesn't have a building, so we are meeting in a comedy club (insert joke here).
When Jared and I decided to move here and help start Church of
the Incarnation, it was not a decision we made lightly. We were living near our
families for the first time in our marriage. Our youngest son was just over a
year old. But we had prayerfully considered this for about three years and felt
this was the direction in which God was leading us--despite the insanity of how
it looked on paper.
Moving to NYC almost two years ago, we knew what we wanted to
do: start a neighborhood church that would appeal to the people around us who
had grown up in a church (but had since left), and to the people who were unsure of
church in general (though maybe not unsure about their faith).
We had been sharing space with an Episcopal congregation on
Sunday evenings, but we found that it was not a great time to have church. So,
we started looking for a new space. In NYC, finding space means that you rent a
room (or a couple of rooms) from another church or business for a few hours on
a Sunday. All of the things you need for any given week must be transported to
and from that space. Did I mention we don't have a car? The phrase beg, borrow,
or steal comes to mind, but we usually beg, borrow, or rent to get things where
they need to be.
Letting people know we exist is also challenging. We have done
mass mailings, handed out water bottles and granola bars with church cards, and
advertised in the newspaper and through Google. Many of our mailings have been
returned to the church PO Box with nasty letters attached--many of them funny,
but not deliberately so. Most people take a granola bar and a water bottle and
immediately toss the card on the ground. Honestly, we know that word of mouth
and the relationships we form are what reach people in the city. And that takes
time.
We are meeting many great people through several outreach
activities in which we participate. We have a great relationship with the
church where we used to meet, and once a month we cook and serve meals to the
homeless there. We have also worked with a mission that serves meals to the
homeless every Saturday morning. This summer, we are partnering with a local
farmer for a community supported agriculture project that will allow 50
families to get weekly deliveries of fresh produce. And we have sponsored two
free nights at the Salmagundi Club, allowing artists we know to showcase their
work.
I have read the Bible differently since I've moved to
the city. Mostly, I am struck by how God moves in ways that are not
expected--like David, the anointed king, running for his life in the wilderness,
or Mary, without a husband, but with child. At Incarnation, we are still
learning how God is moving and working here.
Through the events we have done, we are meeting and getting to know more and
more people--and they are getting to know us. We are serving and sharing that
we, as a church, care about some of the issues that average New Yorkers care
about, too. And hopefully, we are
showing people that we, as a church, want to add to the city instead of just
taking from it. We are here because we love the city and believe God loves the
city as well. And so, this is really hard. But as I recall, someone once said
something like that about things worth doing. |
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