So, I'm in Seattle and you should see how they do church

I'm in Seattle for J-term and what an experience it is! This is my cross-cultural immersion for seminary and at first I thought "how is this cross-cultural?" Well, now I know. The people here are very nice, but the way they do ministry is off the charts for most of my experience.



They really live into the idea of ministry in context and do everything they can to be relevant to the culture. For COTA (Church of the Aposltes) where I'm living for a couple of weeks, that means serving as a commnity art center in the Fremont Neighborhood of Seattle. They have one of the few spaces large enough to fit the need and by golly they've made it work. As I type this we are preparing for "In the Round" which is essentially an open mic event for the community to share music, drama, other artistic outlets, etc. Apparently a couple hundred people come in for this each week! Worship was cool, I kept feeling like it was a youth group event if that tells you anything.



We've also journeyed to Portland Oregon to experience other "emerging churches" and see what it means to be culturally relevant in their place. We went to The Bridge, a church that feeds the culture by being punk and edgy.







They hold services in a public space that they rent, everything during the week happens in peoples' homes.





I suppose taking an offering in a Spiderman trick-or-treat bucket seems relevant to the culture.....hmmmmm. Important to note here, it's not about ME or about how I think the Gospel should be shared, it's about God using people to change lives and give new life to those who are on the fringes and probably would be passed by on the street by most of us without a word.