{"id":13519,"date":"2016-07-14T22:18:36","date_gmt":"2016-07-15T05:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/?p=13519"},"modified":"2018-06-30T12:05:34","modified_gmt":"2018-06-30T19:05:34","slug":"off-to-a-creative-new-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/off-to-a-creative-new-start\/","title":{"rendered":"Off to a Creative, New Start!"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rev. Dr. William D. Gibson |\u00a0Director of Strategic Faith Community Development<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In a 2015 report, Professor James Wellman<\/a> of the University of Washington, noted that more than 60 percent of the population in the Northwest are \u201cNones\u201d or\u00a0\u201cDones\u201d \u2014\u00a0those who are spiritual but not religious, and those disconnected from the church out of frustration. Through our work of creating new places for new people, we can see our ministry context as either the greatest challenge or the greatest opportunity. Wellman argues that the \u201cNone Zone\u201d should be renamed as the \u201cAbundant Zone.\u201d I agree with Wellman. God has blessed us with a unique, abundant opportunity.<\/p>\n

The work of starting new churches in the None Zone of the Pacific Northwest just got a bump. In the wake\u00a0of Annual Conference, we are off to a creative, new start in many neighborhoods and communities, in our efforts to reach marginalized and disconnected people. Many of these efforts specifically target millennials, which make up the largest demographic in the U.S., falling between the ages of 18 and 35.<\/p>\n

With the onset engagement and release of the new Pok\u00e9mon Go<\/a> App for smartphones, Casey Banks, who leads a new church expansion site initiative out of First United Methodist Church of Vancouver<\/a>, recognized a unique intersection of technology and community.<\/p>\n

\"pokemon_vanfirst\"<\/a>
A screen capture of the Pokemon Go game taken outside Vancouver (WA) First United Methodist Church.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never played Pok\u00e9mon in my life, but I am a new church planter trying to reach younger generations, and Niantic, Inc. just handed churches across the nation a surprising opportunity for outreach,\u201d explained Banks. \u201cI downloaded the Pok\u00e9mon Go App and quickly learned that Vancouver First UMC is a Pok\u00e9mon Gym, which means that people will show up at our doorstep at all hours of the day for Pok\u00e9mon battles.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to a recent USA Today story<\/a>, the Pok\u00e9mon Go App has been downloaded more than 7.5 million times since last Thursday, taking social media by storm.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I was sitting on my front porch a couple of nights ago, two young men who were playing the game crossed the church parking lot,\u201d Banks continued. \u201cI started asking them questions about certain features of the game and then asked if I could walk with them. We spent the next hour and a half walking the downtown strip of Vancouver, engaging in great conversations, and joining with many other groups playing the game \u2014 all pure spontaneity because I simply happened to be sitting outside and was willing to walk alongside people I didn\u2019t know. We cannot just cast this off as a lame game for kids. Instead, we have to recognize its missional potential as a new language and intersection point for new people, especially millennials.\u201d<\/p>\n

Getting out into the community<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In south Tacoma, Paul Ortiz, who leads a new church project birthed under the movement Create Commons<\/a>, invited everyone to the table as he shared Holy Communion at the city\u2019s annual Pride event for the LGBTQIA community and allies. Along with rainbow-colored Communion bread, the Create Commons\u2019 tent offered a creative space where participants got to custom design their own colorful tote bags.<\/p>\n

\"create-commons\"<\/a>
Paul Ortiz, appointed to Create Commons, preparing to share a colorful communion with the community. Photo by Patrick Scriven for the PNW Conference.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cOur Create Commons booth was a huge hit at the Pride Festival!\u201d said an enthusiastic Ortiz. \u201cOver 200 folks joined us to print tote bags with our homemade stamps that celebrated Pride and the city of Tacoma. At 4 p.m. we transitioned into a time of celebrating Holy Communion, and we set up a small table in front of our booth with rainbow-colored bread and a chalice of grape juice. It was there I consecrated the elements for the first time as a pastor, and I had the privilege to serve over 50 people, many for the first time in years. One person teared up and said, \u2018I think Jesus would be here at Pride,\u2019 to which I responded, \u2018Jesus is here at Pride!\u2019\u201d concluded Ortiz.<\/p>\n

Create Commons represents a syndeo<\/em> (Greek for \u201cto connect\u201d) cohort-partnered initiative of three projects that are committed to working together to share and live the Gospel in south Tacoma (The Syndeo Project is a new foundational strategy in the Greater Northwest Episcopal Area). In addition to Ortiz, the two remaining projects are led by Nathan Hollifield (Fircrest community) and Abigail Perez (south Tacoma community). Perez recently became the first person of Hispanic\/Latina heritage to be commissioned in the PNW as a Provisional Elder.<\/p>\n

\u201cVisitors to our booth were lined up nearly blocking the street to get in and create a rainbow-printed tote,\u201d explained Perez. \u201cAway from our tent, there was a guy who told Nathan (Hollifield) about this great church with this great booth, not knowing that Nathan was one of the pastors. That was awesome,\u201d added Perez.<\/p>\n

The new work of Create Commons is focused on serving and loving the people of Tacoma, welcoming everyone to God\u2019s table.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe love Tacoma and she loves us. It\u2019s obvious, already, that God is working to take us to places we need to be so we can see and be Jesus,\u201d concluded Perez.<\/p>\n

New Church Development is a go!<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Whether by way of rainbow-colored Communion bread in Tacoma, or vividly colored and animated Pokemon creatures in Vancouver, or out-of-the-box steps of faith taken in other new projects across the conference, we are off to a creative, new start to engage new people.<\/p>\n

There are 10 new church development projects that officially began July 1, marking a new season in the PNW conference. These projects \u2014 four in the Tacoma District, three in the Seattle District, two in the Seven Rivers District, and one in the Vancouver District \u2014 are implementing various strategies, including: multisite expansion, hybrid repurposing, and a cohort-based approach.<\/p>\n

No project is operating by itself, but instead related to another project or anchor church in a syndeo cohort. We believe that we are better together than alone \u2014 sharing resources, strategies, and gifts in order to make disciples of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

How will you take a creative, new step outside and into the greater community you serve? How will you faithfully foster relationships with new people? <\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s the perfect time to start. There\u00a0is an abundance of opportunities!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rev. Dr. William D. Gibson |\u00a0Director of Strategic Faith Community Development In a 2015 report, Professor James Wellman of the University of Washington, noted that more than 60 percent of the population in the Northwest are \u201cNones\u201d or\u00a0\u201cDones\u201d \u2014\u00a0those who are spiritual but not religious, and those disconnected from the church out of frustration. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":13522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[262,32],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13519","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-faith-community-development","8":"category-news"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/van_first_sign.jpg?fit=1300%2C679&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2l75j-3w3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13519"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13526,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13519\/revisions\/13526"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}