Shalom Anglican

Friends of Shalom,  Is ordinary okay? Looking back on the month of January I'd say it was an ordinary month of ministry. We continued to gather each week for Word and Sacrament. Relationships continue to grow deeper. Individuals are growing and wrestling with God. Folks are serving. In other words, the ministry goes on.  I don't have anything earth shattering to report. Or do I? Perhaps what I just wrote is earth shattering because simply by being the church in our day as an outpost of the Kingdom is not ordinary!  Updates: I was able to have a lot of rich one on one's this month. One thing I've learned is that people really appreciate having a pastor and being pastored. I haven't always been able to pastor in past ministry rolls the way I'm embracing as an Anglican priest and I'm really grateful for the change.  We've been experiencing some slow and steady growth with a few new folks joining with us.  We have a young couple who have been opening their...

 Friends of Shalom, Painting by David Zelenka - Baptism of Christ We are now several weeks into the season of Epiphany! This is a time in the church calendar following Advent/Christmas where we focus on the reality of Christ being revealed to the world. As the Apostle Paul said to Timothy: Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of        godliness: He was manifested (epiphany) in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. 1 Timothy 3:16 In Epiphany God is doing something new! His son is being revealed to the world through the star that guided the magi, the Father's voice from heaven at Jesus' baptism, the water turned into wine, and through Jesus' own pronouncement of the purpose of his ministry in Luke 4:16-21.  And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the...

 Friends of Shalom, As we are in the midst of Advent, I'm reminded of how it's a season of tension. On the one hand we are looking forward to Christmas, to remembering our Lord's birth and all the beauty of the story.  But on the other hand we are longing for his final coming when he will make all wrongs right.  In Advent we're invited to be honest about our longings for freedom from cancer, oppression, sin, war, depression, and all the brokenness of the world while at the same time putting our hope in Jesus the shoot from the stump of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1-11).  But this is how we always live isn't it? We live in the in-between and in a perpetual Advent of sorts! As Karl Barth said, " What other time or season can or will the Church ever have but that of Advent?" So we live in the tension. And as a church planter I also live in the tension. I live with a heart of gratitude for all that God has done and is doing in our church while at the same time longing fo...

 Friends of Shalom, Last month Beth and I helped move our oldest son Sam into his first apartment. We brought him a futon we weren't using (he was sleeping on a camping mat) and took him to Ikea to help him get set up. The experience reminded me of church planting and where we are as a church plant. When you finally move out and get your first apartment it's easy to think because you have a bed, a table, perhaps a couch, that you basically have what you need. When you put the "big things" into your apartment it can feel like you're moved in. Until you realize you don't have a shower curtain, a broom, trash bags, a plunger, paper towels, etc.  Shalom Anglican has moved into our first apartment. The church is going and growing. We have most of the "big things." We have a place to meet, a priest, a team of leaders, a website, a bank account, a core group of committed folks, coffee pots (very important!), etc. So that feels great! Compared to how far we...

 Friends of Shalom, Through the years, I've had many friends who are teachers. And what they've all told me is that the first few years of teaching are the hardest part because you have to prepare ALL your lessons from scratch. Of course there's curriculum to pull from, but each lesson must be curated and put together. Once the new teacher has those lessons worked out and developed, the following years are much easier.  In many ways, the early years of a church plant are like that. Like a new teacher, a church planter has to develop many "lessons." We have to work on websites, discipleship plans, policies, statements around key practices/beliefs of the church, etc. And that's the work I've been doing over the last month and it will likely continue for some time. Of course this work only makes sense if you have a "class" to teach. I'm so thankful that we have one! Over the last few months I have consistently heard from our folks how much they ...

 Friends of Shalom, Just like life has many phases, so does church planting. Recently I was reflecting on this for Shalom as I believe we are heading into a new phase. Here's where we've been and what's next. Phase 1: Is anyone going to come? When we began at the end of October of 2023 this was the question we were asking. We wondered if this new church plant would even work. This was evident in the fact that we only reserved the church we were meeting in for 1-2 months. We started with Evening Prayer on Saturday night and began slowly seeing folks join with us and begin to explore Anglicanism and starting a new church in Kitsap. This phase lasted through the end of March. Phase 2: What will happen when we actually start the church? As we began Sunday morning services this past Easter followed by my ordination to the priesthood, this was our next question. It was interesting to see how some folks dropped out once we began Sunday morning and others joined us. Overall beginn...

 Friends of Shalom, "Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain." -Psalm 127:1 In the work of church planting we get to learn this lesson over and over. There are many moments where it's easy to wonder, "Is this going to work? Will people come?" God often brings me to the edge of my faith and wondering. And then... He works! He shows me that He is building Shalom Anglican. Here are some ways I've seen him build his house over the last month. Shalom Update A local business owner saw our sign and contacted me. We had a great meeting over coffee and a few weeks later he showed up on Sunday morning. Later I learned that it had been years since he's been to church. He's excited to keep coming!  We were asked by the school we rent from if we were able to clean up the grounds around the building. I put it before our church and not only did we have 10+ volunteers but one even volunteered to lead the project! It's encouraging to se...