Saturday, 2019.12.07

Dearly beloved,

This day began for me with prayerful yoga in the Big Red Barn among friends I trust, letting the Spirit of the living Christ wrap and wind Itself around and through my body. I’m hoping you’ve had time, also, to stretch and breathe and rest, letting yourself remember the care of the God who made you and knows you and loves you best of all.

The Missional Logistics Team has received notice that Champions and Survivors Worship Assembly will not be meeting for worship in our space in 2020. New church plants fail at an alarming rate, and C & S didn’t catch on as Pastor Mike Campbell (their founder) hoped. We offered supportive help, but it wasn’t sufficient for the season, and so they’re closing their doors for now.

While we’re sad that this black, queer-inclusive church didn’t take off – such a gathering is still so needed in DFW – we’re seeking and finding the good news in this development. Here are a few things we’re grateful for:

1. The timing has been gracious for Galileo’s future-planning. Our original 2020 Ministry Finance Plan factored in C & S’s partnership in paying rent and utilities, and we hired a custodial service based on their contribution. Knowing now that we won’t have that income stream is so much better than finding out next year after we’ve reached consensus on a budget. We’ve redone our planning in time for the congregational meeting after worship on 12/8, and we think you’ll see that it’s workable. (And we get to keep the custodial service, thanks be to God!)

2. Galileo continues to be a place where we take risks in service of our missional priorities, knowing that taking risks is, uhh, risky. We fail some significant percentage of the time, and failing fast lets us pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and try all over again. We’re not sorry to have risked a relationship with the fine folks of Champions and Survivors! With that move we reclaimed the reality that the gospel calls us to leverage our good gifts from God in service of the world God still loves. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. We remember that our very own church was at one time a huge risk, and lots of folks leveraged lots of privilege for our sake. Thanks be to God!

3. We’ve learned that failures, embarrassments, evictions, and even catastrophes of our own making have usually been preparatory for the next time God calls us to do something hard. We don’t yet know what our short-lived partnership with Champions and Survivors was getting us ready to do – and we can’t wait to find out! Please remain in prayerful discernment with the church leaders while we keep paying attention to new chances to join up with God’s brilliant plans. We are quite sure that God is not done with us yet – thanks be to God.

If you’ve got questions or ideas about anything you’ve read here, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me or any member of the Missional Logistics Team. We’re joyful every day to be on this path of faith with each of you, and eager for the work of God’s reign in seasons to come. And please keep Pastor Mike, his fiancé Keenan, and the handful of beloveds for whom Champions and Survivors Worship Assembly was church, in your petitions to God the Parent of our whole human family.

grace and peace,

Katie, on behalf of the MLT (Kim, Andrea G, Stephanie <3, Jessica, Amber, Brandi, Christina, Eleanor, Josh, Justin W, and Kieran)

Something We Tried Didn't Work