Children at Savior

People often comment to me about the children at Savior: “I love how the kids are so included” or “Pastor Mary gets my kid.”

What’s behind those comments is a deep commitment to children and youth. I was trying to explain this at our Welcome to Savior dessert recently, and here’s what I came up with (on the fly, so much more could be said):

* We take children’s spiritual lives seriously. They are not just “the church of the future” but “the church of now.” They experience God and pray and take in the Word of God. In our ministry to them, we don’t think, “How do we entertain them?” (not that fun is bad) but “How do we guide them in their spiritual lives?” A child this Saturday, in the younger room, commented on the mystery of Ascension, “Jesus went away so that he could be with us always, at all times and everywhere.” "

* We involve them throughout our life together. As our staff plans, we make sure the children and youth are fully participating with us—as musicians, acolytes, dancers, Bible dramatists, worshipers, missionaries. They help teach all of us, lead us, add to our joy. As Pastor Mary says, "When we don’t find ways to integrate children into the life of the church, the church misses out. Our worship can become too heady, our fears grow out of proportion. We need to be reminded that God has asked us to cling to our unyielding child-like faith that God can do it all; that God loves us; that God, in his very mysterious way, is truly with us, even in us."

I am thankful for Pastor Mary, for youth mentor Rick Page, and for the many of you who serve our children and youth.

--Fr. Kevin

What's Great about our Diocese: C4SO

Our church family, Anglian Church in North America, is organized by dioceses, many geographical (e.g., Western Gulf Coast) and some, like ours—called Churches for the Sake of Others--non-geographical. Thus, we in C4SO have 40-some churches across the country, from Boston to LA, and from Oregon to Florida. (If you wondered, our nearest church is in Milwaukee.) Our bishop, Todd Hunter, lives in Southern California. 

Having just attended the C4SO clergy conference, I have to say, we are in the perfect diocese for Church of the Savior. (Thank you, Fr. Bill, Mtr. Linda, and the Vestry who helped us move into C4SO!) Here are some reasons why:

1. We have a godly bishop with a huge heart for people. That’s why he named his diocese Churches for the Sake of Others. He gets made fun of for this name, but I love it. It captures our heart at Savior, too, which is why (for just one example) you all gave so generously to help single moms at Jubilee Village.

2. We have a canon theologian, Scot McKnight, who uses his prodigious scholarship to serve the church.

3. We have a welcome and respect for women leaders.

4. We have the freedom and encouragement to try varied and creative ministries, from fledgling church plants to long-established churches with buildings, from missions to Spanish-speaking moms in Kansas City, KS, to coffee-shop ministry reaching “spiritual but not religious” folks in California. Many dioceses ask their churches to contribute 10% of their operating budgets; but Bishop Todd says, “Send me only 5%, and I’ll figure out how to run a diocese on less, so you can invest the other 5% in local mission and church planting."

I could go on, but let me simply say, one of the best things about being an Anglican church is that you are connected to other churches and under authority. And when those churches and authority are filled with the Holy Spirit, it is a great gift to us all.

--Fr. Kevin

Meet Our New Pastor of Adult Formation

I’m delighted that because of your generous giving, we are able to add a dedicated pastor of adult formation. Starting May 1, Sandy Richter—who has served so ably in Savior’s children’s ministry for 3 years—will be giving 10 hours per week as Pastor of Adult Formation. Sandy will be helping all of us adults at Savior in (a) forming community, (b) understanding and practicing our faith, and (c) because weekly worship is the most formative thing we do, guiding the leaders of our worship-service teams. Sandy lives in Oak Park, with husband, Ian, and their children, Kiah, Elle, and Ezra. She is finishing an MA in theology. Sandy says, “My passion is helping walk alongside people as they work out their faith in their everyday life.” If you want to connect with Sandy: SandyRichter@friendsofthesavior.org.

--Fr. Kevin

A Word from Fr. Kevin on Church Growth

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.

"Everybody needs a Savior"

I like to say, “Everybody needs a Savior,” which means 2 things: (1) Everybody needs Jesus; and (2) everybody needs a life-giving Christian community like Savior.

I see this in many people I meet:

• Most people are lonely. They have few social connections that are meaningful. They need a place where they can be known, and know others.
• Most people are overly busy and therefore, exhausted. They need a community that has a Sabbath, that refuses to hurry.
• Many people who’ve tried church have been hurt by it. They need a safe, sane community, that is both solidly orthodox, and spacious enough to allow some difference of opinion.
• All people are looking to contribute, to feel valuable. Here we welcome into service men and women, young and old, people with disabilities of many kinds, , et al.

As we delight in what we receive here, we also delight in welcoming others who “need a Savior.”

--Fr. Kevin