pomo labyrinth 4 seattle

our little 2.5 month old church (apostles, seattle) is sponsoring a not so little pomo LABYRINTH, in lent, here in seattle (thanks to the pomo creative u.k. labyrinth folk who made up this pattern).

our lenten service will be to put on this labyrinth at the "mothership" church in our city, st mark's episcopal cathedral.

thank you to cathedral dean robert taylor and the st. mark's labyrinth group for working with apostles on this project. it is nice when a baby church can roost in a big mama church nest.

and kudos to "uncle carl" knirk and the episcopal diocese of olympia who kicked in some benjamins after hearing about how apostles was big on vision but way short on funds to sponsor this.

we are steppin out on LABYRINTH and RISE (a 25 person church doing a labyrinth for a whole city?). together LABYRINTH and RISE will cost more $ than we have in the bank, and we are still 3 months away from being flat broke (which is keeping me sleepless in seattle on many a night), but we are trying to trust that god will provide somehow, as we feel called to be missional and to sometimes throw agora/communal god events for seattle (instead of only having worship services at or for apostles).

we are gonna jump out and off a few cliffs to sometimes instigate bigger stuff than our numbers indicate. this is our base "modus operandi" (when we dream bigger than we are and feel inadequate, weak, crazy and afraid) at these moments we always remember that all the stuff jesus did, he did with mostly twelve... so we can dare dream up and vision cast events and happenings like this, cause as andrew jones always tells us, "god likes to throw kingdom parties," cause that is how god has chosen to welcome beloved prodigals home. to throw kingdom events, god always needs a waitstaff /diakonos/kingdom servants... so, with a few apostles (psyched and loosely organized) we can work a god banquet for many hundreds of people.

ryan marsh is our LABYRINTH curate. ryan is one of the most gifted young millennial gen leaders in seattle. ryan will also curate "RISE" our easter vigil/party on april 19th from 9 pm to 3 am (in a 400 person space in capitol hill). more posts on RISE will come later, as we are very busy with our graphic designer tim, working on the final print stuff for LABYRINTH (a sample of which is posted here).

if you live in the emerald city, LABYRINTH could be a great spiritual pilgrimage for your parish youth group, prayer group or any kind of group open to exploring a true spiritual retreat, right in the heart of seattle.

LABYRINTH: thursdays march 20, 27, april 3, 10, st. mark's cathedral (bloedel hall), 1245 tenth ave east, seattle, 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm

god, sex and politics (a conversation) with CAST

you heard it here first. taboo subjects be gone!

postmodern christians can and will discuss "the big three" in public, and in seattle.
the discussions begin on february 22nd. there are six different topical classes/modules being held (one per month). you can sign up for the whole series or register for one class at a time. this series is the brainchild of several seattleites, including sean dimond (of damah fame), and is not to be missed! so if you are near seattle, check out the new center for arts, social justice and theology a.k.a CAST

church plant i.p.o

iggie added a "donation" button to this blog for me (on the right under the "links" section. now church of the apostles can receive funds from anyone who wants to "invest" in god's future and help us plant this small mustard seed mission in seattle (a city 90% non-churched).

apostles has little money, but we do have a great love for god and great dreams of coming alongside non-churched postmoderns as they discover god's love for them in jesus christ (just like philip came alongside the ethiopian seeker). we don't wanna buy a fleet of chariots, but we do wanna turn an old church building into an alternative neighborhood art gallery/cafe for god.

we'll need to raise about $150,000 in two years to get the gallery up and running. the gallery will also be our main "hub" or "church" home.

if any of you are major donor types, i'd love to talk to you to tell you more about this vision. send email to karen@apostleschurch.org

"baby onboard:" a special invite to episcopalians and lutherans (we are your future now)
dear momma church (and uncle ed and auntie lisa) out there somewhere, anywhere .... we are a baby church of your own tribe. our tribes have almost forgotten how to help midwife and birth new churches from the grassroots and using local vision given to people on the ground and deep in the dirt... we want our tribes to get back in the business of church birthing, because tribes who stop reproducing become endangered species. we have great stuff (rock solid theology, kickin' liturgy, deep catholic spirituality...) that need to be opened up and "morphed" to communicate in the postmodern world.

new churches "built from the dirt up" as native to today's cultural context will provide us with the "missional labs" we will need to move into god's future and pass on our great tribal heritage to postmodern generations.

to support apostles mission, click the "donation" button on the right side of the blog. thanks and god bless!

my church plant (apostles, seattle) has little funds, but big dreams... we are seeking to raise $200,000 to launch a non-profit cafe/art gallery for god in seattle. we need both small and major donors. click below to make a tax deductible donation. if you are a major donor, please contact me off blog at: karen@apostleschurch.org

i ain't oprah, but here we go...

digital storytellers by len wilson and jason moore: at last, a book to save the world from the "modernist use of powerpoint in worship hell." if you want to torpedo boring ppt. bulleted sermon points from a modernist pastor who thinks he or she is now hip because he or she is using technology, read this book! better yet, buy the book and send it to the modernist pastor and do his/her congregation a big favor. read digital storytellers

gen x religion, ed by richard w. flory & donald e. miller, provides an accurate "npr like" documentation of religion, as actually practiced by xers, and even reflects theologically on xer subsets (like the goths) and on the phenomenon of piercing among us.
and, unlike many other xer books (filled with clever quips by boomers about xers), this book was written by serious sociologists of religion (many of them xers) who actually researched and studied churches founded by and for xers. amazing and authentic...
read gen x religion