Greetings….As you all know, the Apostle Paul traveled among the newly forming Christian congregations of his day and thanks to his letters, we have a remarkable portrait of the struggles and learning’s involved in this formative time in Christian history.

Today, in many ways, I feel a sense of kinship with Paul. You see, I have the opportunity to travel among the nearly 50 churches of the Columbia District on a regular basis and witness amazing “Antioch moments,” as congregations reflect the kinds of essential attributes of the Christian life that led Luke to write in Acts 11: 26 that it was in Antioch that people called them “Christians” for the first time.  But as I move from church-to-church I also see contemporary versions of the struggles involved in “living in Christian community.” These struggles are not unlike those Paul saw in Corinth, Galatia, Thessalonika, and Philippi.

In the Columbia District, we are engaged in a number of new experiments in living out the Christian message today… from house church models to new ecumenical partnerships. From time-to-time I want to update you on what we are learning from these experiments that may be helpful to your work of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Today, I want to share a few reflections from the Legacy New Start work that began at Pioneer United Methodist Church and helped birth CrossBridge in January 2013.

As you know by now, CrossBridge is a community-based United Methodist fellowship that started at Pioneer UMC, with Christy Dirren as the founding lay-assigned pastor. After a year and a half of being there, CrossBridge has moved out of that setting to be on its own. Pioneer UMC has returned to being a congregation served by a ¼ time pastor, and Rev. David Bean was appointed there September 1. This change came about because of some growing pains that occurred between the old and the new. This is not totally surprising. It happens often in life, and it is not an easy thing to become a “legacy new start church,” where over time one church moves towards discontinuation, while giving birth to something new. Those of you involved in starting “new ministries” in your own congregation know this experience as well.

Here are a few things we learned in the process of working with Pioneer and CrossBridge:

• Not surprising, different generations communicate and understand the world differently, which makes it easy for misunderstandings to develop…and they did. But in order for a new venture to succeed, the established group must let go of control. In fact, if this doesn’t happen, the new venture will never take flight.  
• At the same time, any new venture must be aware that change is traumatic for those who have been around for a long time, but who also want to contribute and leave a legacy behind. How do you honor appropriately the past without returning to old ways and approaches? While this can happen together, sometimes the new venture needs enough distance to try things on its own.
• When misunderstandings and issues of power arise, people often tend not to be their best selves. Sometimes things can even turn ugly. When this happens, those involved fail to be the kind of community they seek to be as disciples of Jesus Christ. In these situations, it is easy to move off mission and no longer be a positive witness to the gospel. Those who experience us in this way as a church will not be interested in joining us in our ventures.  
• When we are conducting “an experiment in the Christian faith” it is important to remember when a difficult moment occurs that it does not automatically mean that things can’t move forward. In fact, this is precisely the time to step back, examine what has happened, adapt our work based on what we have learned, and choose a new path forward.

Both CrossBridge and Pioneer are moving ahead in this spirit.

Hopefully, your congregation is also exploring new ways of being church today, knowing that this is not any easy task. In this spirit, I invite you to pray for the ministry at Pioneer UMC and the new venture that is CrossBridge….and read Christy’s update on their good work as well. Click here. If you are interested in considering “new start” work, read Steve Ross’ article on the New Start Initiative. Click here.

Blessings,
Lowell