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Worshiping Communities
“What does it feel like to be stuck?” asked the Rev. Sara Hayden, host of the “New Way” podcast, a production of the 1001 New Worshiping Communities (1001 NWC) movement. Her guest, Dr. Corey Schlosser-Hall, deputy executive director for Vision and Innovation at the Presbyterian Mission Agency, gave both a theological answer and a personal anecdote. According to Schlosser-Hall, to be stuck is to be without confidence and faith, i.e., lacking in “con-fidelis.” Feeling stuck reminded him of driving a brown Ford Pinto station wagon in high school and having to navigate the North Dakota winters with only rear-wheel drive. Sometimes, one needs more to get unstuck and stop spinning one’s wheels than to exert more effort doing the same thing. Sometimes, one needs a group of people pushing from behind or sand to help with traction under one’s tires.
“Here is the church, here is the steeple; open the doors, and … wait a second — the people have been priced out of the neighborhood,” the Rev. Sara Hayden said in her introduction to a recent episode of the “New Way” podcast. “Affordable housing is just one of the vexing challenges facing communities today,” Hayden, an associate in the 1001 New Worshiping Communities Movement, said before introducing two pastors in the Los Angeles area who are examining the complexities around affordable housing and finding local solutions. In the two-part series produced by the Rev. Marthame Sanders, Hayden sat down with the Rev. Carlton Rhoden, a longtime community organizer and pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church, and the Rev. Victor Cyrus-Franklin, is the supervising pastor for affordable housing development of Inglewood First United Methodist church and is the newly appointed senior pastor of Holman United Methodist Church.
Culture has many forms and resonances. Even the word carries multiple definitions. In anthropology, it refers to customs, social norms and material traits of certain groups. In science, it means to maintain conditions suitable for growth. In sociology, it simply reflects the characteristics of ordinary relationships between people who share a particular time and place. Culture, like faith, is how people grow. It informs how people care for others and share their daily lives together. It shapes an understanding of the world and how people envision a future beyond themselves.
According to the Rev. Dr. Chip Hardwick, when you Google “Why are Presbyterians like that?” one of the top five questions asked is, “Why are Presbyterians called the ‘frozen chosen’?” Hardwick, executive for the Synod of the Covenant, preached at a regional gathering of immigrant new worshiping community and church leaders in Cincinnati over the weekend. Hardwick brought greetings on behalf of the synod, which spans most of Ohio and all of Michigan with 650 churches and 85,000 Presbyterians, to a group that included the praise team from Korean Presbyterian Church of Cincinnati and other regional leaders as well as immigrant leaders from California and Georgia.
“The ministry you are called to serve may not even exist yet,” the Rev. Michael Gehrling said to a group of 18 seminary students and recent seminary graduates at a Discerning Entrepreneurial Ministry event held at Columbia Theological Seminary from Aug. 16–18.
Appalachia has long captured the imaginations of missionaries and politicians in the history of the United States.
Just two weeks ahead of the Covid pandemic began in March 2020, Sara Pantazes started the Young Justice Builders Club at First Presbyterian Church of West Chester, Pennsylvania, which she serves as Director of Faith Formation.
1001 New Worshiping Communities hosted a conversation for online and hybrid church leaders at the Wild Goose Festival in mid-July. Started in 2011, the four-day spirit, justice, music and arts festival took place at VanHoy Farms Family Campground in Union Grove, North Carolina.
The creativity, resilience and commitment of new immigrant churches in the PC(USA) are reasons to celebrate. Since the success of a conference focused on new immigrant worshiping communities in Atlanta held in 2023, 1001 New Worshiping Communities has been planning opportunities for regional gatherings of immigrant church leaders.
“What’s the worst that could happen?” musician Ike Sturm asked his co-composer and bandmate, Jesse Lewis, as they stood with their instruments and recording gear on top of a glacier in Alaska.
Lewis answered, “There’s a lot on the line, actually.” Sturm and Lewis make up the atmospheric jazz and folk acoustic duo Endless Field. Lewis, a guitarist, and Sturm, a bassist, compose and record songs out in the wild.
Sturm is also the convener of a new worshiping community that meets in the Times Square neighborhood of New York City. He is the latest guest on the 1001 New Worshiping Communities movement’s podcast, “New Way,” hosted by the Rev. Sara Hayden and produced by the Rev. Marthame Sanders.
