Next steps...

So- I've wanted to talk about this idea/next step with evergreen for awhile. This isn't exactly the way I wanted to do it (this is a modified post I put on our forum) but it will do for now...

From the beginning of Evergreen our desire has been to both grow larger by constantly introducing and re-introducing people to Jesus AND remain true to some of the values of small community that have been so important to our community these last couple of years.

The only way we've been able to come up with for doing this is to plant churches.
We've been praying as a community about taking some steps in that direction- basically, some ways to get large enough to have the people and resources for church planting and yet still keep those aforementioned values in place.

Earlier last year a picture started to take shape in my mind as to how we can continue to grow, become more "localized" to various parts of the city, have both the people and resources to serve Portland more strategically and effectively and eventually to plant free-standing, independent communities like evergreen around the Portland Metro area.

The idea was this: when we reached a consistent 120 adults on Sunday morning (we're about 140 adults now, though it never happens that everyone shows up at the same time to anything), move towards being one church in two locations by inviting 30 or so of them to commit to starting an Evergreen SE gathering that would be somewhat more focused on the SE section of the city and meeting at the SE Lucky Lab (which was where we met before outgrowing it and moving to the NW Lab).

At this point and for the forseeable future this would still be a part of Evergreen as a whole- we'd share the same elders (with a number of them being a part of the SE gathering from the start), the same website, homegroups, theology pubs structure, etc...
But as it grew, depending on the gifts/talents/passions of those who take part it would probably take on some of its own flavor, while retaining a commitment to the core values of the community as a whole.

I think at this point the elders would continue to share the pastoral load and we'd ask Dustin to be the primary teacher there along with support from the other elders...

This idea isn't novel, certainly. A number of other church communities are doing this (becoming one church community in a number of locations, without the whole Video Venue thing), which tells me I'm not crazy to be thinking this way. I think it's also a way to capture a good number of our values- remaining small yet seeing continual growth- valuing dialog by structuring Sundays to remain small enough so this can happen, utilizing more people's gifts and talents, becoming more focused on the different parts of the city...

After our community forum/discussion/prayer time a few weeks ago, we've continued to pray about the possibility and it seems like it may be able to happen in May.

We're still challenging Evergreen to keep praying about this though...
1. About whether this is really where God is leading us
2. That this process can be used to help us refocus on our values and mission here in PDX. If all we do is start another worship gathering, well... that's cool, but...
3. That everyone will realize the absolutely vital need for them to be involved in some way in what we're here to do (whether that's leading us out into the community by serving those in need in some way, or by helping out with the kids, or by being welcoming on Sundays and taking a special interest in newer folks, or even having a homegroup that serves as a front door for friends and neighbors to explore relationship with Jesus...)