Hello! Here's my June prayer letter for supporters. Enjoy!
________________________________________
C H A N G E S
C H A N G E S
It has been quite a month for h2o! There are some things on the horizon for the ministry of such significance that I thought I would give the look of my prayer letter a slight makeover! Hopefully this will help as you read it to organize my thoughts and updates into different topics or ‘articles’ if you will.
Well, as many of you know well and as a number of you know only from my letters over the months, h2o has always operated under the umbrella of ministries in association with Chestnut Ridge Church here in Morgantown. We were intended to be a downtown church plant of Chesnut Ridge, a ‘next generation’ church that would be in great position to reach the campus and the residents of downtown Morgantown, and I believe that’s what we became, and the Waterhouse has been our church’s home. Our small congregation has always been a part of Chestnut Ridge as a whole, committed to the church’s vision for reaching the state for Christ, functioning under the leadership and guidance of the church’s elders, and upholding the same values that bind all Great Commission Association churches and ministries together. However, it has been a joy for Billy and I to serve and grow with our brothers and sisters at h2o in a different environment from the ‘big church’ that is more in line with who we are according to our personalities and backgrounds and preferences.
As Chestnut Ridge has grown, the need for a new building for the main congregation has prompted us to design and begin construction on a mammoth project out at Cheat Lake, and we’re set to move in to the 2000-seat, campus-layout building this November (again, many of you are quite familiar with this!). As costs of construction have increased along with the size of the project, we have had our faith stretched as we have sought the Lord for funds and asked people to give to complete the building. However, a deficit of a few hundred thousand dollars has remained, and the staff has had to look for ways to erase it. An idea came up a few months ago to think about the possibility of selling the Waterhouse, which belongs to Chestnut Ridge, and the funds from which would more than cover the deficit as well as provide for some options of other meeting places for the campus church. Of course no one highly desired this course of action, and Billy and I were willing to do anything to help raise what was needed for the new Chestnut Ridge building, if only we could save the Waterhouse. But as time passed, fewer and fewer alternatives presented themselves, and we at h2o were given the opportunity to reevaluate a lot of things, including our identity as a ministry and our purpose on campus.
We came to conclude, through many discussions with Chestnut Ridge’s senior pastor Tim, that though we had been operating as a distinct church as a result of being planted downtown, it would be better for the church as a whole if we focused less on providing a separate Sunday service and more on what we consider (and what I’ve affirmed to you all along) to be the ‘heartbeat’ of who we are:
canvas groups and soul groups, the small environments where life-change really occurs. There are a few hundred college students and young professionals who attend Chestnut Ridge on the weekend but aren’t plugged in to any meaningful small group during the week. So our main function is to connect with people in this phase of life and get them involved with people who can sharpen their God-guided lives. What atmosphere would be best for such connections? Well, h2o has always wanted to have a café of neutral ‘churchiness,’ and the storefront you see to the right has recently popped up on our radar.
Well, as many of you know well and as a number of you know only from my letters over the months, h2o has always operated under the umbrella of ministries in association with Chestnut Ridge Church here in Morgantown. We were intended to be a downtown church plant of Chesnut Ridge, a ‘next generation’ church that would be in great position to reach the campus and the residents of downtown Morgantown, and I believe that’s what we became, and the Waterhouse has been our church’s home. Our small congregation has always been a part of Chestnut Ridge as a whole, committed to the church’s vision for reaching the state for Christ, functioning under the leadership and guidance of the church’s elders, and upholding the same values that bind all Great Commission Association churches and ministries together. However, it has been a joy for Billy and I to serve and grow with our brothers and sisters at h2o in a different environment from the ‘big church’ that is more in line with who we are according to our personalities and backgrounds and preferences.
As Chestnut Ridge has grown, the need for a new building for the main congregation has prompted us to design and begin construction on a mammoth project out at Cheat Lake, and we’re set to move in to the 2000-seat, campus-layout building this November (again, many of you are quite familiar with this!). As costs of construction have increased along with the size of the project, we have had our faith stretched as we have sought the Lord for funds and asked people to give to complete the building. However, a deficit of a few hundred thousand dollars has remained, and the staff has had to look for ways to erase it. An idea came up a few months ago to think about the possibility of selling the Waterhouse, which belongs to Chestnut Ridge, and the funds from which would more than cover the deficit as well as provide for some options of other meeting places for the campus church. Of course no one highly desired this course of action, and Billy and I were willing to do anything to help raise what was needed for the new Chestnut Ridge building, if only we could save the Waterhouse. But as time passed, fewer and fewer alternatives presented themselves, and we at h2o were given the opportunity to reevaluate a lot of things, including our identity as a ministry and our purpose on campus.
We came to conclude, through many discussions with Chestnut Ridge’s senior pastor Tim, that though we had been operating as a distinct church as a result of being planted downtown, it would be better for the church as a whole if we focused less on providing a separate Sunday service and more on what we consider (and what I’ve affirmed to you all along) to be the ‘heartbeat’ of who we are:
canvas groups and soul groups, the small environments where life-change really occurs. There are a few hundred college students and young professionals who attend Chestnut Ridge on the weekend but aren’t plugged in to any meaningful small group during the week. So our main function is to connect with people in this phase of life and get them involved with people who can sharpen their God-guided lives. What atmosphere would be best for such connections? Well, h2o has always wanted to have a café of neutral ‘churchiness,’ and the storefront you see to the right has recently popped up on our radar.
The storefront is actually quite near to the Waterhouse. While the Waterhouse sits at the top of High St. on the perpendicular Willey St., the storefront is in fact on High St. near the top, on the right side of the street and to the left of the pizza place Casa D’Amici, which is next to a building on the corner of High St. and Willey St. opposite the Waterhouse. Basically, a stone’s throw away! We had originally wanted a café to be inside the Waterhouse, but the truth is the Waterhouse has always been a somewhat imposing and uninviting edifice, and it would have taken quite a lot of time and money that we may have never had to get it the way we wanted. This unapproachable nature of the building I believe has perpetually been to our disadvantage as a church and is further enhanced by a near lack of windows.Don’t get me wrong; I love the Waterhouse, and I hate to see it go. I had a lot of big dreams for it, including (but not limited to) an art gallery, a reading room, a study hall for students, a recording studio... I was very distraught when the proposition to sell it first came up, and I prayed very hard that we wouldn’t lose it. But I begin to see God’s hand in all of this, and I’m actually very excited about the future of our campus ministry. I believe we can accomplish most of the above-mentioned endeavors as well as others and everything we’re doing now in the café environment. There is actually a great advantage for many of these things in the café due to it being smaller; it actually becomes more intimate and friendly for conversation. And it’s definitely more visible than the Waterhouse with nice, big storefront windows. College students and young people in general are hard to ‘pin down’ to come to meetings with set times, so a café that’s open a lot where Billy and I can work and other leaders can come and study or chill or whatever is ideal to connect with people in a more spontaneous, casual way.
Another huge positive as far as the operation of our ministry is that Billy and I will be working more closely with the members of the Chestnut Ridge staff team as the ministries of the entire church move toward greater centrality of vision and purpose. It’s nice being part of a team, and it’s hard being kind of a ‘satellite’ out on your own, connected by some communication but not much else. We had a great meeting with Pastor Bill (the associate pastor and other elder of the church) and Trey (the technical director/executive pastor who helps advocate needs of various ministries and who has a been a huge help with our transition; he also is who I used to work more closely with for h2o and who I’m looking forward to reconnecting more with again) about programming for the café and philosophy of ministry. They, along with the rest of the staff, will help lead and guide and work with us through this process and as we carry on in ministry.
I’ll let you know in a future letter more about all the ‘goings-on’ of the somewhat new look of h2o as we sort through it. Though as a congregation h2o will be joining the big church for services on the weekends, much of our thrust will remain the same. We want to help independent young people truly embody Christ in all they do, or INCARNATE Him in the flesh just as He was God incarnate, and to live out their Kingdom lives together, becoming fully human, as Christ was. I bolded this because it will never change. And actually, we will still put on a low-key small service on Sunday evenings, starting this fall as an alternative for those who don’t prefer a very large service.
________________________________________
H O P E
Well, normally I’ll have more than one article in my letters as I alluded to in the beginning of this one. J But obviously this is such a big thing, so I wanted to devote a good chunk to it and keep you informed. What should you pray for, you ask? Probably the biggest things right now are that we can sell the Waterhouse, start renting the café, and get it all set for the fall. Through these changes, Sarah and I have great hope for the future. Thank you for hoping with us.
In Christ,
Cameron
No comments:
Post a Comment