By Terese Lewis

 

"Connecting God's Caring Community"

 

In May, when I went with our rector Blair Pogue and parishioner Laura Bathke to a large church in Oakdale to hear about a communications and social networking tool called The City, I went with my skeptic's hat pulled firmly around my ears. I expected to hear a glossy sales pitch about a product we didn't need - don't most of us already spend too much of our lives online? Instead, I heard powerful stories from users who had experienced The City as a space to deepen relationships among members, learn together, and collaborate more effectively for ministry. They were engaging newcomers more readily in the life of the church, and mobilizing more quickly to care for one another during hard times. I found I was blinking back tears as I listened to how churches have been using The City to more fully live out their calling as the body of Christ in their day to day lives.

 

20 years ago this August, my husband and I walked into St. Matthew's for the first time. We knew immediately it was the church we had been looking for -- we loved the global music and the vitality of the people, we were welcomed with genuine warmth, and when Birdie Carter zeroed in on my very pregnant belly, it seemed we would have no choice but to stick around. Even so, it took years for me to connect deeply with anyone. I was soon overwhelmed with caring for our first baby - at home with no car and no close neighbors, I felt isolated from adult life. When we managed to make it to church, I'd find any excuse to avoid going downstairs for coffee hour - I was shy and self-conscious and dreaded making small talk. Brand new to the Episcopal tradition, I feared making an ecclesiastical blunder. While I admired St. Matthew's identity as a neighborhood church with a worldwide community, I wasn't sure where I fit in.

 

Thank God it wasn't up to me. When our second son was born prematurely, forces beyond our control began to weave us into the fabric of St. Matthew's. Meals appeared, prayers were offered, babysitting arranged -- through his untimely birth and his death from cancer four years later, Charlie's life brought me deeper into relationship with this community and, in turn, those relationships helped form a new understanding of how God was at work in my life and in the world. That's why The City presentation moved me and captured my imagination. Through the movement of God's spirit, authentic connections nurtured over time can work deep change in us and reorient us towards God's vision of aliveness for all of creation.

 

A Neighborhood Church With an Online Community

In June, the Vestry approved a plan to launch The City this fall, creating a common space online where members can easily connect and be the body of Christ, participating in God's life more fully, wherever they are. Our launch planning team identified six key functions for The City at St. Matthew's:

• Building Community Across Distance: The City shares some features with social networks like Facebook - its visual interface makes it easy to join up, choose how you wish to interact (there's an app for that!), connect with members, and build relationships wherever our busy lives take us. But while Facebook's focus is on the individual, the purpose of The City is to build community. It's a secure, private space for church members to get to know one another more deeply - and a way for you to quickly find that new member's e-mail address at 9 pm when the office is closed.
• Learning Together: St. Matthew's is a learning community and The City will deepen our ability to share what we're learning in the Faith Forum, J2A, the book group.  Any member can post a topic for discussion, respond to a sermon, recommend a book, or ask a wondering question.  
• Empowering Our Ministry Teams: Groups are at the heart of The City-each of our ministries and small groups will have its own space  to communicate with one another, schedule meetings and events on the church calendar, post documents and photos, and share needs and prayer requests. Groups can easily share their news with other groups or with the whole church.
• Enhancing Care and Support for One Another: The City will enable us to quickly share needs and prayer requests within our small groups or with the whole church and will make it easier to organize meals, rides, or whatever is needed. We can follow prayer requests over time, share our thanksgivings, and care for one another through good times and bad.
• Welcoming and Engaging All: When new members join, The City will invite them to share their gifts, educate them about the structure and activities of the church, and quickly integrate them into the community. Although The City provides a safe and private space for deepening relationships and sharing authentically, it isn't a gated community. Our beautiful, engaging website will continue to reach out to newcomers and The City will have an active public presence on our site, where people will be invited to join the conversation.
• Streamlining Our Church Operations: The City integrates with our current database and financial management software so members can update their contact information, register for events, and check their giving statements at any time. As many have requested, we will now be able to give securely online. While many functions of our ministry teams must currently be coordinated through the church office, The City will enable members to collaborate more directly and organize from the grassroots as we discern together how we're being called to join God's work in the world.

Please stay tuned for more information in the weeks ahead. On August 2 our ministry team leaders will be introduced to The City. Launch preparations will continue during August, and The City will become available to the whole congregation on September 13. Meanwhile, here is a glimpse of how The City works (don't worry that the language used in the video is quite different than ours - our version will reflect the voice and theological vision of St. Matthew's).

I look forward to seeing you in The City!