Church Hopping #1: The Gathering Church and Durham Resurrection Community

This past summer, my friend and classmate Tom Lewis went on a whirlwind tour of the U.S., visiting churches along the way to experience their worship services and learn about how they are connecting with the local community. He documented the entire experience (exhaustively) at 8000milestoordination.blogspot.com. Tom came back enthusiastic about encouraging other seminarians to do the same—as he said, besides what he learned about church, he learned even more about himself that he thinks will be vital to his self-awareness in his future ministry.

I have decided to do something similar my last year of seminary. I am generally opposed to church-hopping, but this is my last chance to experience first-hand how a variety of churches worship and engage the community. Plus, as I looked toward hopefully doing more with worship design and faith community development, I want to know what others are doing. Ministry is all about stealing (er, borrowing) good ideas for the sake of the kingdom.

I started yesterday. I went to church twice and did not set foot in a church building. In the morning, I went to the Gathering Church, where one of my classmates is an associate pastor. They meet at Creekside Elementary School, which leaves much to be desired in terms of acoustics, but they managed well. I had heard a lot about the Gathering Church (and actually helped with music there one Sunday a few years ago on a fluke) and had been intending to visit for a while. They have a great community of musicians within the church and put out a Christmas album last year; they are also working on a hymns record now.

The music did not disappoint. I knew I'd like it from the moment I walked in: the band, which consisted of 3 guitars, bass and drums, including one female guitarist/vocalist, was warming up as people found their seats. The congregational songs included two hymns, two more contemporary selections, and a song by Thad Cockrell, an artist who came out of that church (and whose music I love). The service opened with a Psalm reading and closed with a rousing rendition of the Doxology. The music was punctuated by prayers and Scripture readings, and pastor Mark Acuff offered a sermon on Mark 7:31-37. I liked it.

My second church visit of the day was in an even less traditional setting: outside. Then again, this could be considered more traditional, depending on how far back you go...anyway, a few of my friends are part of a new church called Durham Resurrection Community. It's a Nazarene congregation, and the pastor is a 2011 Duke Divinity graduate and friend. Yesterday, they went to the Eno River State Park for swimming in the rock quarry (a favorite, if somewhat dangerous, destination of Duke students and Durhamites alike) followed by a picnic and outdoor worship, complete with a water cooler standing in as a communion table. It was a beautiful day, and I really enjoyed seeing the people I knew and meeting those I didn't. It's a small community, and they've been meeting in various places since they began worshipping together. Next week, we're meeting at a member's home. I've already been recruited to help with music. It's a laid-back but intentional community, and I liked it too.

What I think I'm going to do is to continue going to Durham Resurrection Community in the evenings while I church-hop in the mornings. I realize (and Tom warned me) that hitting lots of different churches might make me feel without a center, so having a consistent community might help me with that. Who knows, maybe one of the churches I visit will turn out to be a good place for me to make my church home for the duration of my time in Durham; but until I get a better idea of what I'm doing, I'm going to try to give myself a little grounding.