My wife and I work for The Salvation Army in southwestern New York State. Most people assume that means we work at a used clothing store or something. Actually, we pastor a small church (!) for the organization that seeks to be "a church for people who don't like church." We aren't really trying to be some hip, modern production, (one visit on a Sunday morning would disprove that theory) just a community of people who can be authentic with each other and God.
We took a trip on Sunday to visit The Freeway, a newish Salvation Army church in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It's always beneficial to see how other people approach establishing a new church. Keep the good ideas and dump the rest and all that!
We really enjoyed ourselves. Authentic community and nice people. We'd recommend it to anyone in the Hamilton area. Our approach to "doing church" is very similar, and we found ourselves comforted by that fact. It's hard doing something new in the church, and it seems like no matter how sincere your intentions or how good your results, that there are always people ready to "throw a stone" that you aren't doing it the old-fashioned way. It's natural to second-guess yourself sometimes, and my wife and I had been doing a lot of that lately. As my wife joked on our drive out of Hamilton, "It's nice to know we aren't the only crazy ones..." It was good to meet some people who knew the joys and struggles of establishing a nontraditional church plant.
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