Starting a Church in Montpelier?

There's supposed to be seminars or classes you can take on this sort of thing. Now, I've never taken a course on church planting, but I don't even know where I'd go to take one. Plus, Vermont is such a unique kind of place I wonder if it would be of any use. Even if I did take a course, in so many ways it's easier to talk about what church should be than to manifest it.

But it looks like my Bible study may be moving that way...

Gosh, I don't how long my Bible study has been meeting - a couple years probably? People have come and gone, but this iteration seems pretty stable. At one point church planting was just about all that we ever talked about. Or maybe that was just me. :) 

I had dropped the subject months and months ago when one of the other couples said something about it a few weeks ago. And POOF! Tomorrow we meet for the 3rd time ever - we've been meeting every other week - and I'm actually really excited about it. Does this church have a name? No. Is that a problem? :) lol. Maybe. Can you tell growth is not high on the priority list? 

Here's what we do at church. We're attempting to chase down God through... 

1. EATING! usually potluck style. And we have 2 gluten free people and 2 vegetarians, so you know the potluck is an act of love. 

2. Prayer & Music. This is usually where I play guitar, but there are other musicians in the group - note to self: ask them to lead sometime (if they like). 

3. A Thought to Share + Discusion. The first week we read MLK Jr's Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Tomorrow will be some reading from St. Francis of Assisi. 

4. Service. Two weeks ago, our second "church" time ever we gathered at my place, ate, and then visited an old guy who needed some help stacking wood in his basement. There were 4 of us, and it took us 20 minutes. SUPER easy. Delightful time chatting with this old guy. 

It's worth mentioning that my sister started a group at her church called "Do Kindness", a group whose entire purpose is to bless people. She told me this great story about one of their early meetings. 

My sister's got a great mac & cheese recipe and she knew of at least a couple invalids who could use some meals. But she figured there were probably others in her church that could use some meals, but she didn't know who. So, leave it to my sister, she just started calling around people in the church saying, "Would you like to receive a meal from the Do Kindness group?" People she called were very polite and generally declined saying, "I'm sure there's someone else in the church who probably needs a meal more than I do." Not to be thwarted, my sister changed her tactics. She found much more volunteer meal recipients when she asked, "Do you like mac & cheese? ... Would you like to receive some mac & cheese?" :) Ha. I love it. 

This sort of thing makes me so happy. I really hope it catches on in churches. It seems odd this this would be unusual or novel for a church. It seems with all these Sequester cuts to aid programs, the church may be able to step in and fill some of that gap. Here's hoping something fills that gap.