A Partner in the Community

It's been our dream from the beginning to be a church that is perceived--and actually is--a partner in and with our community. I've learned the hard way that people outside the church often shake their heads at the church's insistence on 'doing its own thing.' We prefer to partner with other people and organizations in our community if possible, and not just because we're small. If we're huge one day, we still won't want to fly solo.

Some recent developments are encouraging markers on the road to community partnership. The first is that I've been asked to serve on the Bay Area YMCA's advisory board. During the interview process, we talked about our church's partnership with the YMCA in our community. I am still amazed at the generosity and support of the Y, without which we would probably not have been able to get off the ground. We hope to add significantly to the few things we have done to support their efforts in the community in the months and years to come. The other board members told me that several YMCAs in the Houston area have churches that meet in their facilities, but few of them would consider those churches to be partners. The relationship tends to begin and end with paid rent and facility usage. In our own case, that is a scenario we cannot afford and do not desire.

We're also joining Heritage Park Baptist Church on November 30 at 10:45 AM to worship and usher in the holiday season. I suppose logistics tend to get in the way, but I still don't think this kind of thing happens enough. We are not 'this church' and 'that church' in our community, we are THE Church in our community, and we seldom look like it. I've often wondered how people who are not a part of the church process this. "Let's see...my neighbor John is a Christian, and my other neighbor Sam is a Christian, but they go to different churches, and they seem to have no connection to each other because of their faith. Hmmm..." Frankly, that stinks. The relationships between fellow Christians in the first century was the single greatest attraction factor for the early church, and we suffer for the lack of it today.

Another development is our entry into the League City Holiday In the Park Parade on December 6. This is one of our best opportunities so far to say to our hometown, "we're excited to be a part of this community!" It's also an opportunity to say that we like to have fun, which is no small point to make. We'll be decorating a flatbed trailer to pull in the parade, singing Christmas songs and passing out candy as our community celebrates the holiday season. It would be fun to be at the parade even if we didn't have a float, but I'm really excited that we'll be full participants as Church @ the Springs. We'll be living out our core values this way, much more than in preparing our own Christmas celebration and trying to get everyone to come. Maybe one day we'll do both, but I hope we never stop jumping in with our community whenever we can.