Frequently Asked Questions 1. Have we looked at


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Frequently Asked Questions 1. Have we looked at other options besides building? When we began meeting in September of 2010, we had a choice between meeting in an existing church space (probably not on Sunday mornings), or renting/leasing a space on Sunday morning in a school or some sort of commercial/office space. Because of Christ United Methodist Church’s generous offer, we opted for meeting in their space for several reasons. First, it would require much less volunteer energy and resources than meeting in a public space. The setup and takedown for public spaces is intensive for a new church plant. Second, since our Anglican identity is a part of our mission, meeting at Christ UMC offered us a sacramental space, a space that enhanced our worship and identity. A present factor in the current discernment process for our future is the recognition that we need to move our worship services to Sunday mornings. Presently, there are two options for moving to Sunday mornings; moving to some sort of leased space and altering it up to provide worship space, educational ministry, fellowship meals, and space for children’s ministry and nursery; or building our own space for these needs and moving to our new space directly from Christ UMC. Moving directly to our own space, if possible, seems most desirable. 2. Why have we decided to build at this time? The gift of land that we received (raising funds to purchase just the land would have taken us several years) pointed us in the direction of building our own space. Parcels of land in good locations in Williamson County are rapidly disappearing and are escalating in price. The amazing blessing that this piece of land represents, both in its location and character, cannot be overemphasized! It uniquely supports and enhances our vision of what we envision St. John’s to be. We believe this to be a generous provision by God for our community. 3. Is there a possibility that we could stay at Christ UMC? It is easy to be comfortable at Christ UMC. They have extended rich and rare hospitality to us. But the comfortableness can make us forget that we are guests here and are severely limited in what we can facilitate beyond worship services. Among those limitations: • We can only have weekday programs on Thursday nights, and Thursday nights are not ideal for the rhythms of Williamson County.• We are too big to meet for fellowship dinners downstairs, so we can only host fellowship dinners in the CUMC fellowship hall on Sunday evenings when CUMC is not using that area. • Meeting on Sunday evenings, combined with space limitations, regularly restricts our options for ministry to youth and children. • Major worship celebrations such as Christmas Eve and Easter have to be worked around CUMC’s services. Our Easter service is held at 8am (a bit early for some) and we can only do Christmas Eve at 7:30pm. Other services, such as Ash Wednesday, and much of Holy Week, we aren’t able to have at all. Finally, we are growing as a church. Ten new families have joined our parish since August and we welcome new visitors every week. Take time to notice all the new people

God continues to bring—and say hello to them after the service. Christ UMC is also growing. We cannot expect to stay in this borrowed space indefinitely. 4. Does this area really need another building? Shouldn’t we focus on missions instead? We think of St. John’s as a missional church. Our understanding is that mission begins with God, who has a missional heart to redeem the whole of His created order. His heart for the world was the reason He sent Jesus into the world, and the church is first and foremost an expression of His missional heart. “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” (John 20:21) From this perspective, mission is not one of many activities the church is involved in, but the church itself is an expression of God’s heart for the world. The church’s entire reason for existence is to be an expression of God’s love for the world. We are both recipients of God’s mission and agents for His mission. This way of thinking prevents a dichotomy of thinking between resources devoted to the “church” and resources devoted to “missions.” This perspective helps us see mission as integral or essential to the church. If a church isn’t participating in mission, why should it even exist? But it also helps us understand a more holistic approach to mission; to see our parish in the larger story of God’s missional heart for our own neighbors, our work, our neighborhoods, our city and county, as well as to the ends of the earth. 5. How will having our own space help us be a missional church? The Anglican tradition embraces a ministry to persons from cradle to grave. The prayers and liturgies of the Book of Common Prayer shape and guide our encounters with God from birth to death, from Baptism to Burial. Our tradition acknowledges that because we are embodied souls, our worship is physical as well as spiritual. Space matters. Place matters. The spaces we hope to build for worship, education and fellowship will be places that will mark important times in our lives. Our children will be baptized there. We will connect with fellow Christians with whom we will share life with as we celebrate, struggle and serve together. Our daughters (and perhaps sons) will be married there, some of us will have our funerals there. At one point in Wendell Berry’s poem Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front, he writes,“Ask the questions that have no answers. Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias. Say that your main crop is the forest that you did not plant, that you will not live to harvest.” This is my hope for St. John’s, that it will be a mission and ministry that will outlive us, a blessing for us and a legacy that we will give to future generations. 6. We are a small church; how can we afford to build our own building? As we approach the funding of our building project, I want to invite us to trust God together, to grow in our faith in our generous God. My hope and desire is that every member of our congregation will participate joyfully and sacrificially to help our parish establish a permanent home. All of life is a gift lived by grace and the only appropriate response is gratitude expressed through generosity.

We are able to consider this possibility earlier than normal in our life together because of the gift of land we received. I have also spoken to a number of folks in our parish who have pledged financial resources toward this project. They desire to support the wellbeing of our parish and recognize that having our own built space is essential to our ability to sustain our community and mission in Williamson County long-term. As a result of these conversations, I am confident we can trust God together for the finances for this project. Humanly speaking, it should be next to impossible for us to build our own building, and yet all that has happened has allowed us to consider the possibility. My desire is that our community will humbly recognize and receive this gift; a home base for the community of St. John’s, an outpost for the mission of God to the people and places around us. In our January meeting, the Parish Council established a Building Campaign Committee to develop a plan and timeline for the fund-raising campaign. Wouldn’t it be cool if we could have our first worship service in our own space during Advent of 2016? 7. How will decisions be made regarding the design and budget for the building? How can members of the church give input and ask questions about the process? There are theological concerns that will shape the design of the building. Our process will take into account the Anglican architectural tradition, our unique character and personality as a church, the vision and mission of our church, the practical needs of our common life together, and the land itself. The Building Committee was formed by the Parish Council to work with our architects to steward this process. They are accountable to the Parish Council, which will give final approval to begin the project. While money is an important part of the equation, it will not be what drives the project. Our trust in an abundant God, our experience of His goodness and grace, and our confidence that He wants to use St. John’s as a part of bringing His Kingdom will provide the energy to bring this next step of our life together to its culmination. The desire of the Parish Council and the Building Committee is to trust God to provide a built space for St. John’s parish that is beautiful, functional and affordable. We want to remain open to God to provide, while at the same being shrewd, not putting the church in an untenable financial situation. We will continue to call congregational meetings as needed to share important milestones in the project, so that the full congregation can ask questions and offer input. Church members may submit their questions, in written form, to the Parish Council. We want to hear what is in your hearts and minds regarding our building project. Your written comments can be submitted at any time via email to Fr. Kenny at [email protected] or by post to the church office.