Saint James Blog

Last night, I got to see a Bingo Hall (that had once just been another building I passed on the way home), turn into a sanctuary. With many months of planning, hours of team work and prayer, we saw this transformation happen quickly and smoothly. When 6:40 rolled around and new faces began to appear, well, there is no way to describe that feeling. The abstract concept we had of what this new community would be like became real.

In the ministry, it is rare to end up serving in a community with more than your spouse and children. I feel so blessed to have been called to serve in a community with not only my husband, but many family members, friends, and other incredible people. I sat towards the back last night to greet new people and to get things we discovered we needed from the lobby as we realized we needed them. As I sat there and worshiped from the back, I looked around at all the people gathered together, over 50 on our first week, with 17 new people, and I knew without a doubt that we had followed God’s will to this place.

Watching the old and the new interact before, during, and after worship was incredible. The special thing I have seen at Saint James since coming here, is that people are so open to each other. They were getting to know each other and working together and it felt like we had all always been together, one big family defined by more than genetics. Afterwards many of us lifted up things in prayer and many stayed long after the doors of the fire department were closed, even getting to talk to the wonderful Fire Dept secretary.

We all got to meet some great new people yesterday and I know we are all looking forward to getting to know them more. Praise God for bringing it all together and for allowing us to see it through. Praise God for those people who got a mailer and decided to come check out what God is doing in our midst. Everyone I met was just delightful, from 8 weeks on up, everyone was so nice and wonderful. We already have someone interested in a small group so we will be praying that others are interested and that God will provide.

A community is knowing you belong and sharing a common purpose, I saw that yesterday and I look forward to seeing it grow.

I did not grow up Methodist but I have always been encouraged by their tag-line, “Open hearts. Open minds. Open doors.” Jesus certainly taught those around him to be more open, expanding their perspective and understanding of who was considered worthy of God’s love. There were a lot of boundaries by human perspective then and unfortunately there still are, but Jesus made it clear that there are no walls that we can build to separate us from God’s love.

I went off on a tangent there, but I think it’s fitting that our journey at the FVFD began with an open door. I wasn’t sure where the entrance was, if the door would be unlocked, or even if I was allowed to go in that day in July. Three months later, when we walk though those same doors, they are the doors to our new home.

This past Saturday we had the opportunity to serve at the FVFD Open House. It was great to get to know the men and women who serve the area we live in. Each of them has an incredible story–they are parents, students, lawyers, government workers, veterans, and more. This past summer when doors were closing on the search for our second site, I never would have imagined the possibilities that I saw this past Saturday.

On Sunday we held our private launch of Saint James Kingstowne. It was surreal being there and seeing it all come together. Pictures can be found at http://saintjames.shutterfly.com. We’re ready and on Sunday, our doors will finally be open to the public.

Aren’t there already plenty of churches there? Yes, there are and plenty of good faith communities at that! Recently, any number of folks have asked me about our choice of location for Saint James-Kingstowne. Wasn’t Franconia Road in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most churches on a street? I believe the answer to that question may be “yes” as well. My answer to questions like that tends to go something like, “We are not replacing any other church, we are adding to the variety of options available for connecting with Jesus.” I’ve always thought (maybe more truthfully, in the last couple of years I have begun to think) that connecting to Jesus could at times be a very elusive adventure and that no two of us make that connection exactly the same. It is not quite the same thing as re-inventing the wheel every time someone connects with Jesus, but since all of us are unique, we are unique in our relating as well.

Saint James as a whole (both Alexandria and Kingstowne campuses) respects that each of us finds Jesus along the way in different fashions. Saint James tries to offer an open space in which to connect and carry that connection into everyday living. We are not about easy answers; we believe life is messy and that sometimes there simply are no easy answers (maybe more than sometimes). We hope to offer another way of connecting with each other, with God, and with the world God created.

So, yes, there will be another church in the Kingstowne/Franconia area and it will be us, Saint James-Kingstowne. Another choice, another opportunity, another perspective amid many. We are looking forward to it…