Karen Ward – Church of the Apostles, Seattle.

[Update - Saturday's Seattle Times published an interesting article on new expressions of church in Seattle - COTA mentioned, along with others. Go here. May only be available to a limited time]

Paul writes – The story of Karen Ward and the Church of the Apostles has really resonated with me over the last 2 or 3 years. I realised this again recently as I was listening to an excellent interview with Karen by the Red Herring. The effect on me of listening was one of excitement and energy.

Several reasons I think:

1.         It’s a collaborative venture between two mainline denominations – the Episcopalians and the Lutherans.

2.         Alt-Worship. It’s creatively liturgical and sacramental - drawing on the ancient or classical traditions of its ‘parents’ (and the Christian tradition more broadly) while reinterpreting and recontextualising them in its own context (or “zip-code” as Karen remarks).

3.         It uses the church calendar and the lectionary.

4.         It’s seems just plain different from virtually all that I experience of church. That feels extremely hopeful to someone like me just beyond the edge of church belonging (in a conventional sense).

5.         It uses the arts (visual and aural).

6.         It’s about genuine community – that’s a real biggie for me!

7.         They haven’t just moved the deck chairs on the Titanic. They’re re-worked foundational things such as leadership and how leadership functions, worship, what it means for church to be an authentic community etc. It doesn’t seem to me to be about “smoke and mirrors.”

8.         It’s emphasis on “curation” – very similar to Cityside Baptist (another significant inspiration for me). For more on “curation” check out The Prodigal Project by Mike Riddell, Mark Pierson, and Kathy Kirkpatrick.

9.         It’s absolute commitment to participation. The movement away from an emphasis and a reliance on “the front” (and who’s up front).

10.    Karen – Now I’m not wanting to put her on a pedestal, but the sense I get of her from others I know and her blog is all-good. I’m particularly thinking of her vision, passion, creativity, her ability to articulate deep things in everyday ways, e.g. her sense of denominations becoming like e-bay (You’ll have to listen to the Mp3), and the sense that she is a pioneering practitioner in her own way. Visit her blog here. There are a number of links in its archives to great pieces of writing that tell the story.

Go and have a listen to the Red Herring’s interview. It’s a great downloadable Mp3 – you can find it here. Check out the other interviews he’s done: including Ryan Bolger (including an excellent overview of the characteristics of the emerging church), and Steve Taylor (two-parts).

Thanks Karen. Thanks Church of the Apostles for the gift of hope that you give-away.

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Karen was one of the first people who encouraged me to blog