Big Birthday Party Sunday!!!
February 5, 2023 will be Kitsap House’s birthday! When a church plant is launched, normally the launch date is a church’s birthday. But COVID completely redefined how we define “launch.” And I, for one, am glad for that.
It used to be [in the 21st century movement of church planting that is] that a church was considered “started” when Sunday morning services began. But that’s not all a church is, is it? A one hour service on a Sunday?
What the past 3 years have made very clear to me is that I am so glad that we are a church for our neighbors. And that means that we are defined by more than our Sunday morning gathering. It is significant– don’t get me wrong! It’s where we remember the story of God, where we practice communion, where people are received into the community through baptism and by vows of commitment, where we worship with our voices the One True God! This is holy! I love this work!!
And what it is to be a church is also the deep times of prayer that happened over the summer of 2020 in our backyard, the Tuesday night gatherings of worship in 2021, the Wonder Week where we introduced children to the way of Jesus that summer in that same backyard, the hours spent walking together in prayer for Port Orchard from 2018 to present, the two households of young adults at 703 Kitsap St, the ways we’ve creatively met the needs of one another and our neighbors with food boxes and meals, and the numerous dinners we’ve held in one another’s homes in active awareness that it is Jesus who brings us together as the Body.
So when does a church begin? Tough question.
Well I can tell you when Kitsap House will organize! This Sunday! And this is nothing to think lightly about. Especially in a day and age when so many (maybe you, too) are deconstructing the organized church and historical expressions of faith, it is so important to also construct community. To define who we are, what we are about, and claim commitment to that community. While we see church leaders failing, it’s important to construct authentic accountability and policies that will protect especially the most vulnerable. So we are organizing as a community called Kitsap House to ensure that this local community remains a church that exists for our neighbors, seeking God’s shalom in our neighborhoods.
That organization involves a first crew of people who are committing to this community. These 21 folks have invested their time in Practicing the Way, defining together what it will mean for us to be with Jesus, become like him, and do what Jesus did, in community. (Join the next crew Monday!)
The official beginning involves five people who are being anointed as elders of this community. As spiritual leaders, they will pray for the community, provide strategic vision, and construct policies that will protect and hold all of us who call Kitsap house accountable to the way of Jesus.
And – we are so grateful for this– the beginning also involves calling Larry and I to be the first pastors of Kitsap House.
Jesus gave us this vision for his church – a united community, connected with the same love and power that unifies him with the Father and the Spirit (John 17). And while the organization of the church has been at times woefully and at times inspirationally engaged in bringing the Kingdom to earth, we are inheritors of her faith all the same.
I hope you will come and build something new with us and be there Sunday when the ceremonial foundation is laid, not just for our Sunday morning gatherings, but how we are truly a church for our neighbors.
Shalom and Celebration!
Pastors Megan & Larry
