Hot down...winter in the city!

So, what does it take to pick up your young wife and little kids, move to a new place and set up Kingdom shop in the center of the city? Increasingly, we are hearing from young pastors in the Heart of North America (HONA) who want to do just that. Rev. Ryan Hofacre has just moved from Chicago to Columbus, OH where he is in the first stages of the new Columbus Anglican Church which is planning to launch next year. Rev. William Shontz and a group of Steeler fans are camped out in the heart of the city of Erie, PA and Rev. Rick Leone has recently begun growing a multi-racial work in Fort Wayne, IN. These intrepid city-planters are a part of a vibrant movement which is carrying the Church of Jesus Christ back into the inner-cities.

The need for new churches in our cities is obvious, the statistics overwhelming, and retaking our downtowns is something very much in the heart of the Anglican Mission’s church planting efforts. But this is a very difficult calling to follow; it takes a strong faith and a tireless determination. New works in the city usually begin quite small, sometimes with just a husband and his wife. There is only the smallest budget to help planters, and then there’s, well, the city. The vibrancy of traffic and the glimmering of lights in the towering office buildings belie the inherent loneliness, poverty, and pain of many who call the inner city their home. This is not a ministry for the weak of heart…but if you talk with HONA’s Dean Simmer and Chris Peterson, you might just begin to believe that it is the most rewarding.

After relocating in June of this year to the Detroit neighborhood of Corktown (a gang-laden and decomposing part of the inner-city), HONA Lay Pastor Dean Simmer and his wife Giles spent the summer months getting to know their neighbors and spending time getting their hands dirty in the community. Under the leadership of other community leaders, they worked to revitalize a city park, clean up the Michigan Central Depot building, and police the neighborhood in the late night hours.

Why the city; why serve in such a challenging manner? Dean told us that it started on Maundy Thursday. I had to work at Starbucks instead of attending the service at our former Episcopal Church in central Michigan, which, if you're unfamiliar, has the symbolic washing of feet and stripping of the altar to reflect Christ's evening with his disciples and arrest. I was annoyed that I couldn't attend the service, but a priest reminded me that rather than having my own feet washed at church, perhaps Christ was giving me the opportunity to wash someone else's feet. So the Simmer’s picked a spot that really needed washing and with little more than prayer support made the move downtown.

Starting in August, Dean began the process of securing property to build a community garden. When operational, this garden will supply neighborhood homeless meal programs and will serve as a healthy educational tool for youth and families and in the neighborhood. A non-profit was formed to oversee the garden and planting is scheduled for the spring.

November will kick off a weekly coffee and tea night at their home featuring Rwandan coffee from The Land of 1000 Hills. The Simmers will be throwing their home open to their neighbors and nearby friends to relax, build relationships and share conversation over coffee with a missional purpose. In the winter, they plan to begin a Bible study using the local pubs and restaurants of the historic Irish Corktown neighborhood.

The Simmer’s are committed, and their work is paying off in new relationships with people who are truly making Christ known in the inner city.

 Five months later and almost 300 miles away, Rev. Chris Peterson, his wife Miriam and their young family moved to Northern Kentucky to start an Anglican church in the large river-city of Covington. (Just across the river from Cincinnati) They had no idea how that was going to happen. They envisioned a church with the character of Saint Barnabas—a man with a reputation for loving and encouraging people nobody else wanted. They prayed for a church where the Spirit would make Jesus’ presence so potent, that the world would see him in their midst and be drawn. How that would happen was uncertain. 

Since then, God has drawn 17 adults and children while several more are visiting. He brought them from a variety of places. The first member found the Peterson's by calling the AMiA. Some are family of people in Anglican churches in Kentucky and Minnesota. Others moved to Northern Kentucky and were looking for an Anglican church. Still others came after being invited by another member. Watching new people come has been a blessing to this little church.

The church, now named Saint Barnabas, is built upon one core conviction: that God sent Jesus to embrace the world and that by his Spirit, Jesus does this through his church. St. B’s seeks to find Christ in his Body and experience Christ in participation with his mission (Eph 4:4-16). So St. B’s has 4 values—worship, prayer, children and outreach—and 1 universal practice—hospitality. Since they began meeting in June, they’ve been gathering to worship and pray in the Peterson home around a common meal. The whole community embraces the children, and all are finding Christ there. Now, they’re building on that base. Smaller Prayer Communities within the church are forming. They’re looking toward developing a toddler church during their teaching times. They’re also turning their attention to mission. In October, St. B’s held a food drive to support a Women’s and Children’s shelter in Covington. Five members gathered three car-loads of food & clothes, and two neighbors expressed curiosity about the church. We found Christ in the work, says Peterson. We’re also praying toward hosting Theology on Tap starting this January in an effort to embrace those who wouldn’t normally visit a church. 

St. B’s member Matthew Joyner has been leading worship at the house meetings in Covington. St. Barnabas Church and Fr. Chris have been an unbelievable blessing to me and I thank God for our little congregation every day. It is amazing to see the way that God sometimes draws people together and makes them a community. He has definitely done so in the case of St. B's. Each person that comes in the door comes expecting to meet Christ, but also to give of themselves to Christ and each other in true Christian love. We are truly blessed to have St. Barnabas Church and to have Fr. Chris leading us in the service of Christ!

Saint Barnabas Church belongs to Jesus. According to Peterson, It’s his Table we join, his prayers we pray, his children we embrace and his world we love. Our prayer has been that he would be the one people find when they come. So far, he’s answered that prayer. Now we’re praying he will draw in more of the city of Covington.

Recent News

New churches and clergy are making 2010 an exciting year in HONA-land Read More »

The House of Bishops of the Province of the Anglican Church of Rwanda (PEAR), meeting in Kigali June 12-13, 2009, elected three missionary bishops to serve in the AMiA...
Read More »