PURPOSE/IDENTITY STATEMENT: FINAL DRAFT WITH ROAD CREW

Here is the full text approved by the Road Crew, August 28, 2008, including the parts that are meant to be a "deeper explanation" which will pop up as people scroll over the basic lines (see the meeting minutes for details):

EMMAUS ROAD: WHO ARE WE? WHY DO WE EXIST?

EMMAUS ROAD: NAME & STORY
from Luke 24:13-35.
The resurrected Lord who walks alongside us
reveals himself and we discover him

CHURCH BEYOND SUNDAY: our MOTTO
We experience the fullness of God in both Gathering and Going.
In the worship gathering
of fellowship, Word,
prayer, sacrament, and song,
we experience God together.

Sent beyond the weekly gathering,
we are led by the Spirit,
to walk alongside others,
listening and telling our stories.

EMMAUS ROAD IN BELLTOWN, 

EMMAUS ROAD AROUND THE SOUND
our Call and Mission

As a congregation
spread around the Sound,
we support and equip one another
to join with the "Word made flesh"
in our homes and communities.
Gifts of the Spirit empower us where we live, work, and play.
We are called to love and serve our families,
passing the faith along to our next generation.
We are called to walk alongside neighbors in relationship,
enjoying mutual hospitality.
We are called to look for the reality of God in all life’s routines and activities
We are called to be creators, above and beyond consumers.

As a congregation
which gathers and grows in Belltown,
we are called together
to join with the "Word made flesh"
among the people
in our church's neighborhood of gathering.
We seek to reconcile Tower and Street cultures,
to plant seeds and cultivate new life with our neighbors.
We envision community development,
in partnership, service, art, and industry.
We accept the role of Christ’s body serving the world,
embracing grace,
sharing Good News of Christ by word,
and demonstrating Good News of Christ in deed.

ROAD CREW MINUTES, AUGUST 28, 2008

Hello Road Crew.  Thanks to those who came out last night to New Horizons for our late summer Road Crew meeting, especially you busy moms with bunches of kids!  Here are notes from the meeting.

We welcomed Everett McCullough as a new member, benefiting from his testimony and story of how God has been speaking and breathing new life into him.

We spent time looking at the proposed Purpose/Identity statement, the updated version of our Name/Story, our Motto, and a summary of our Call and Mission.  Prior to last night's Road Crew meeting, your Council had carefully worked through five drafts.  Several folks offered helpful feedback and insight, and we made a few adjustments before approving the update which you can read here...  

The hope of this particular project is for members to find these short statements helpful in grasping how Emmaus Road approaches the Great Commandment and Great Commission, in our particular time, place, reflecting the crowd God has brought together.  While the Church's call and mission are clearly expressed in Scripture, we aren't trying to better the Bible in stating who we are and why our church exists; our statements are meant to be local expressions of how we follow the Word.  We discussed the importance of linking our statements back to the foundational, biblical statements, communicating how Emmaus Road stands in the historical stream of orthodoxy.  

We also touched on the duality of our Call and Mission - a regional identity as well as a neighborhood identity.  One of the phrases used - the "Word made flesh" - was discussed, as to it's clarity.  We wondered if it is too insider, too churchy or christianise.  In the end, we decided to keep this phrase from the Gospel of John, as a possible launching point for a conversation about incarnational ministry, both in our daily lives "around the Sound" as well as our church's somewhat institutional role, taking an incarnational form, in our "neighborhood of gathering."

Pastor Likkel will be gradually entering the new statements onto the main web page; some of it has been updated already today.

Two "Green Space" initiatives in Belltown were presented, examples of our congregation functioning as "Spark Plugs" or "Glue" in the context of community development.  See the "Spark Plugs and Glue" article from December '07 here, and read the article about these two specific ideas here.

Pastor Likkel mentioned topics to be addressed at our October 30 Road Crew meeting:

• Leadership Changes, among Elders and Deacons; between now and then, the nomination process will be initiated; look for information in the next couple of weeks.
  
• Community Health: how are you experiencing ministry TOGETHER?  While we tend to view life as "me living my life," the countercultural call of the Gospel, the created order from the beginning, is that we view life as "our life".  How is that being experienced by the people called Emmaus Road?
  
• Budget: time for the annual approval of a new budget for the '08/09 ministry year; look for information this coming month in preparation for the October meeting, discussion, and vote.
  

The meeting ended as it began, with prayer.

Big thanks to Chandra, Nell, and Josiah, who watched our little ones during the meeting.

SPARK PLUGS AND GLUE: SOME FOLLOW-UP

Back in December of '07, we published a short article about Emmaus Road functioning as SPARK PLUGS AND GLUE in our neighborhood.  Later, at a spring retreat, we considered cultivating GREEN SPACE.  It's time to follow-up! Here are a couple ideas:

THIRD/CEDAR OPEN HOUSE

Could Emmaus Road host an open house for the neighborhood?  Not by ourselves, but in partnernship with New Horizons and Streetbean Espresso, we could spark some awareness and activity in our microhood.  Here is an idea and a rough plan for accomplishing a relatively short-term project:

The Idea: 

Hosting an OPEN HOUSE - Emmaus Road, New Horizons, and Streetbean Espresso - for the neighbors across the street at Mosler Lofts, as well as the Vermont Inn and some of the surrounding buildings.

The OPEN HOUSE event would accomplish several goals at once

• share hospitality with Belltown neighbors
  
• cast ministry vision and expose what we each do for and in our neighborhood
  
• invite neighbors' participation in a variety of ways (future customers at Streebean, volunteers, etc.)

The Plan:

Form a group comprising a project leader, a person from each of the three ministries, to plan the event and lay out the next steps:

• choose a date
  
• publicize
  
• line up music?
  
• etc.
  

GROWING A GIVING GARDEN IN BELLTOWN

In South Lake Union, the Cascade P Patch brings neighbors together around growing vegetables and harvesting them to  combat hunger among the local homeless. Could the same thing happen in Belltown?  This is much more of a long-term project.

The Idea:
Gathering a coalition of "giving gardeners" in Belltown, from among the ministries and neighborhood residents, to grow and harvest vegetables, to be given away to local homeless. Could be a single-site or multi-site operation.  The Giving Garden project could conceivably accomplish several goals:

• feed the hungry
  
• learn from and respond to "slow food" movement
  
• develop community among neighbors from the towers as well as the streets

The Plan:

• Find a project leader/recruiter who can form a Giving Gardeners team
  
• Learn from the Cascade Giving Garden, the Belltown P Patch, or any other local/regional co-op type farms
  
• Identify possible partners among the City agencies, Belltown Business Association, Belltown Community Council, and Belltown Covenant partners
  

GETTING ON THE SAME PAGE: WHO ARE WE? WHY DO WE EXIST?

ROAD CREW, this is the updated version of Emmaus Road's statement of Purpose and Identity that your leadership Council has crafted. Pastor Likkel worked on several drafts with the Elders and Deacons over the last few months to come up with a statement which honors the original vision and mission as we understood it, but reflects how God has shaped us along the way. As a congregation, it's important for us to be "on the same page" with regards to our purpose.

Emmaus Road: our Name and Story
The Lord who walks alongside us reveals himself and we discover him.


Church Beyond Sunday: our Motto
We experience the fullness of God in both Gathering and Going.
In the worship gathering of fellowship, Word, sacrament, and song.
Going beyond the worship gathering, led by the Spirit,
we walk alongside others, listening and telling our stories.

Emmaus Road in Belltown; 

Emmaus Road around the Sound:

our Call, our Mission

As a congregation spread around the Sound,
supporting and equipping one another 

to join with the “Word made flesh”
in our homes and communities.
Sharing each other's gifts of the Spirit,

empowering us where we live, work, and play.
We are called to love and serve our families,
passing the faith along to our next generation.
Walking alongside neighbors in relationship,
enjoying mutual hospitality,

inviting into fellowship.
Looking for the reality of God in all life’s routines and activities,
called to be creators, above and beyond consumers.

As a congregation which gathers and grows in Belltown,
we are called together to join with the “Word made flesh”
among the people in our church’s neighborhood of gathering.
We seek to reconcile Tower and Street cultures,
to plant seeds and cultivate new life with our neighbors.
We envision community development in partnership,

through service, art, and industry.
We accept the role of Christ’s body serving the world,
embracing grace,
sharing Good News of Christ by word,
demonstrating Good News of Christ in deed.

AGENDA AUGUST 28, 2008

7:00 PM Arrival

7:10 PM Worship/prayer

7:20 PM Welcome New Members

7:40 PM Emmaus Road: Purpose and Identity Statements
Brief presentation/explanation; Q & A

8:00 PM Vote to Adopt/Reject updated version of Statements

8:05 PM Green Space; Follow-up plans

8:20 PM Looking to October
Leadership Changes
Community Health
Budget

8:40 PM Worship/prayer

9:00 PM Dismissal