Ministry: 2019 Reflection (Part III)

With Launch Sunday behind us, Ecclesia adapted to a rhythm that cultivated presence and rootedness in our Princeton community. We now met every week and in the same place, and people began to hear more about this new church in Princeton. A church-wide invitation initiative resulted in an increase in service turnout. We invited our neighbors, our friends, our colleagues—anyone that feigned interest. My Facebook feed became a compilation of Ecclesia content. With all the inviting in person and promoting on social media, most of the seminary drew some synonymity between me and the church; often, I was introduced in relation to “that church you see all over Facebook.”

In addition to services, people were also invited to “Welcome to Church Nights” at On the Border Cantina, because who doesn’t like free Tex-Mex and Coronaritas? I’ve talked about these nights before, but I’d like to add here that these meals were a great way for people to learn more about Ecclesia in a comfortable, public space. There is much more to a church than its services; gathering at the table called attention to the humility and joy of our church family by altogether suspending the formalities of liturgy.

Furthermore, we hosted a number of one-off summer events. We held a worship night in May to help form a worshipful church culture. We participated in a kickball tournament in June to build team dynamics through some healthy competition. We celebrated our very first baptism in July as an expression of the seriousness with which we carry out our call to be a church-vessel by which people are made disciples of Jesus. And we took a two-day prayer retreat in August to emphasize the importance of continued spiritual formation for those involved in the life of the church.

My most cherished memories from the summer of 2019 derive from time spent in my Community Group. As I have mentioned in a previous post, these two groups fostered a perpetual growing-together. Community Groups expanded both the quality and quantity of Ecclesia. While many new Ecclesians were connected to a Community Group through the “I’m New Table” in the lobby on Sunday mornings, the opposite was also true: people were invited to a Community Group and eventually thereafter started attending services on Sunday morning. We inevitably outgrew the living rooms in which we met; by the end of the summer, we branched into a third Community Group.

Invitation and collaboration define Ecclesia for the summer months of 2019. With the church launched, we had the breadth to assess our preexisting ministries and experiment with new ones. Collaboratively, we practiced living into the routines of Sunday morning and aimed to improve our setup and teardown processes, liturgy, and image. Invitationally, we welcomed Princeton to meet us at our middle school sanctuary, in our living rooms, and around our dinner tables. We had something important to share, and we wanted everybody to hear about it!

Separately, I preached at Ecclesia on July 14th. We were between two sermon series, and I felt called to preach on Mark 2:23-28 (“Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath”). In short, because many Ecclesians (including myself) feed into the Princetonian culture of overworking, I preached that we should reevaluate and reprioritize Sabbath in our lives. I outlined five guidelines for a good Sabbath: 1) it is restful; 2) it is time-abundant; 3) it is distraction-free; 4) it is communal; 5) is it creative. If you struggle with overworking like myself (yes, even—if not especially—during this COVID-19 quarantine), I encourage you to read the transcript of this sermon or listen to the podcast.

My time as a part-time pastor-in-residence came to a close in August, when Gabrielle and I took a few weeks off from Ecclesia for our wedding and honeymoon. Our wedding was, in some ways, an Ecclesia wedding. Ian officiated, and we had enough Ecclesia guests to designate for them two tables at the reception. We couldn’t invite the whole church to our wedding, but everyone enjoyed leftover desserts during service the following morning.

I loved working part-time at Ecclesia (and I love working fulltime all the more). It was a transformative time in which I grew alongside a growing church. While these posts have tended to highlight the church’s development, I hope that they nuance the ways in which I became a better person through my connection to the Ecclesia family. After all, I moved to Princeton to learn more about ministry; little did I know that I would be diving into it like this!

My next post will pick up with our return from honeymoon and our leap of faith into fulltime ministry on a part-time paycheck. Thanks for reading!

If you would like to learn more about my work with Ecclesia Church, please visit our website.

Blessings, Tom Dearduff