One of the great Christian leaders in our world is Jean Vanier, the founder of L’Arche communities for the disabled and their caregivers. So many things Vanier says capture the heart and calling of Church of the Savior.
For example, what Vanier learned at L’Arche I know I am learning at Savior:
“Those I have lived with have helped me to recognize and accept my own weaknesses and vulnerability. I no longer have to pretend I am strong or clever or better than others. I am like everybody else, with my fragilities and my gifts.”
One interesting corollary of communities this beautiful: they work best at a certain human-scale. Vanier said in an NPR interview, "Small is beautiful because small is where we relate. There we can touch them [people], we can be with them.” But we live in “... a world where people are being pushed to pretend that they're big.”
It is for reasons like this that our Vestry believes our future as a church, as we grow, is not to place more people in one service, but to multiply “accessibly sized” communities.
We are still prayerfully discerning this; no decisions have been made, and none needs to be yet. We updated everyone on this at our Annual Meeting on February 3, and I encourage you to read more here. As you read that, we invite your prayers, questions, and Scriptures. God is doing something special.