Archive for the 'Planning' Category

the new kid and considering the other

Published
by
Joshua
on September 3, 2008
in Community, Dialogue, Family and Planning
. 0 Comments

I forget what it’s like to be the new kid.  I live in a neighborhood where I am pretty familiar, in a community where I practically grew up (got connected to Circle of Hope 11yrs ago this month!), I have a family, I have an office, and have a general sense of living in my own skin.

Today I began taking two classes at Temple, and I have a new yet strangely familiar sense of being the new kid.  Other students are rushing around anonymously.  Most people in my class seem to understand how to go and buy the book we need or ready a syllabus or the etiquette for finding a seat in class.  I don’t, really.  I forgot.  It’s been 10yrs since I was in college, and everything seems a little different. One of my profs (yeah, I call them “profs” now) said something to the class this morning about “eh, you all are upper classmen and know how this stuff works…”.  Not really.

I’m grateful for how much effort we as a church put into considering the “other”.  At the Public Meetings we try to speak in ways that the next person coming off the street can understand and connect with.  We acknowledge that people even at this meeting might be from a different background than us-class, ethnicity, age, and even faith journey.  The “empty chair” at our cell meetings that we keep is to make room for the next person.  We worship in styles and languages not necessarily familliar to all of us…it keeps us considering the other.   We want all to be welcome without implying “you’re welcome if your just like me.”

Thanks for thinking about the other and considering those who may feel like the new kid around Circle of Hope right now.

the church is not a building, or several buildings

Published
by
Joshua
on August 10, 2008
in Action, Circle Venture, Community, Creative Arts, Dialogue, Friends Projects, Partnerships and Planning
. 2 Comments

It’s funny sometimes to me when a church known for our paradigm adjustments talks a lot about buildings-and rehabs a lot of buildings.  By paradigm, I mean we understand that the church is people and we are the church.  Our buildings are practical, and they are used for much beyond just our Public Meetings or offices.   Over the past few years, we’ve done major rehabs for 3 meeting sites, Circle Counseling, Shalom House, a basement for CT on Broad, and the mezzanine for offices and kids.  Whew.  As much as that is, we have several more on the near horizon.

 

(photo of 2233 Frankford, future home of Circle Thrift by Carina Romano)

This season is filled with many opportunities for us to rehab some buildings.  We even happen to own two of them.  There is a lot of opportunity to serve, to hang together, share money, and to build in some more capacity for God to work in our neighborhoods.  Still, the church is not a building-or even several buildings.  Like we talked about at our recent Love Feast, we are part of that dwelling that God has been building for 1,000’s of years with all kinds of peoples with Jesus as the cornerstone.

So go ahead and keep being built into the place where God lives, where God can be seen and known.  It also seems good to keep practicing resurrection in our neighborhoods by making good use out of castaway structures. 

Over the next couple weeks, we’ll be focusing on 2233 Frankford Ave-Circle Thrift’s new home less than 2 blocks from her current spot.  Hopefully, on Labor Day we’ll have our human chain to move the CT inventory up a block.  Then we’ll be getting the new setup of 2007 Frankford for the next rendition including meeting/venue space on the first floor, expanding childcare capacity, a music/arts school run by psalters, and some sort of retail storefront.  We may even need to get a spot ready for our next congregation to launch in October/November in Camden!  We need a lot of prayer, a lot of togetherness, a lot of help, a lot of money, and a lot of love. 

So even as we are the church-God’s presence in the world in people-we can make some practical steps so God’s love can be felt and known by not only having more surface area…but how we renovate.   Go get ‘em! 

 

Dreams

Published
by
Jeremiah Alexander
on July 31, 2008
in Action, Dialogue and Planning
. 4 Comments

Have you ever experienced that period right before you wake up, where you’re dreaming but really half awake? During this time I typically come up with all sorts of revolutionary ideas and inventions. For example, the other morning I invented a machine that cleans your shoes right before you walk into the house so that your girlfriend and your mom can’t yell at you anymore for tracking in mud. A while back, I dreamed that it would be a good idea for the military to have missiles that drop food aid into villages, instead of explosives that kill everyone. This morning in my dream I gave up my apartment and went to live with the homeless person who spends most of his time in the median outside of the Wal-Mart on Columbus Blvd. We marched into Washington DC together and convinced Congress to pave the way for every city to have more affordable housing. I typically come up with all sorts of inventions and great ways to go about social action in these times, only to wake up a few minutes later and think that the ideas are actually pretty impractical (moms would never allow the shoe cleaning thing to take off, missiles are a lot more efficient when they are being used to kill people, and living on the street just isn’t realistic. I’m pretty white and I might get sunburned out there….right??).

I think my right brain overpowers my left brain when I’m asleep. Then when I wake up my left brain kicks back in, if only to tell me that my dreams aren’t realistic (or maybe my brain science is horrible and that’s not what happens at all). Either way, I don’t remember this being a problem when I was a kid. I want to be more like that again, to dream and actually think things are possible.

I have been thinking a lot lately about how much imagination it takes to follow Jesus. The Gospel doesn’t really place a lot of value on being practical. I think Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. captured how difficult this is when he said, “We are called to play the Good Samaritan on life’s roadside…but one day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that a system that produces beggars needs to be repaved. We are called to be a Good Samaritan, but after you lift so many people out of the ditch you start to ask, maybe the whole road to Jericho needs to be repaved.” I think it takes a lot of imagination to see how our little community is working to repave the entire road to Jericho. It’s really much too long a road. We can’t do it unless we allow Jesus keep our dreams from being devoured by our reason.

Pilgrimage

Published
by
Rod White
on June 12, 2008
in Community, Dialogue and Planning
. 1 Comment

It’s been about a month now, that I have been on sabbatical. Thanks again for sending me. The long sabbath feels good. I’m resting, I’m healthier, and I’ve learned and loved a lot. The long sabbath is a good thing that should make me better able to return to what God has given me to do — it is hard to know what to do if one doesn’t do, too.

Now Gwen and I are about ready to take off on our month-long pilgrimage to commune with the missionary monks of the 4th-9th centuries, along with some other striking Christian examples from the past and present, in Ireland and the United Kingdom.

The other day I was going over the itinerary I had planned for us, cleaning up the final details, and I discovered that the room I thought I had booked in Winchester (the beginning of the famous road to Canterbury) was actually about a hundred miles away in Aylesford! Hmmm. I began to wonder how many other connections had been missed!

The mistake was easy to correct. I got a further room in Winchester and asked the brethren in Aylesford to let me come for one night, not two. As it turns out, unbeknownst to me (they say things like that over there, I’m already beginning to talk like Reepicheep), the Aylesford Priory, where I had booked the mistaken room, is actually a traditional stopping place for pilgrims on the way from Winchester to Canterbury. And that is just what I intend to be!

I suppose the trip just may go that way. I can’t control things too well. I don’t know everything. I can’t do everything right. And the destination is still better than I expected. It is always like this: “In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps” (Proverbs 16:9). Of course, I don’t think I am a robot waiting for God to activate me by remote control! But I do think I explore far too little of how God determines the steps of a person who isn’t quite sure where the journey is going to end up. I need to trust God first and ask questions later. I want to know more about how to walk by faith, not just by sight. That’s pilgrimage and that’s life.

I’ll tell you about things via my MySpace blog from here and there. I hope you’ll look in from time to time. But we’ll probably be just as connected if we are both on our journeys, listening and looking for God, seeing what the Lord has next and receiving it, expected or not — even suffering or not, with hope.

Am I going to get a call?

Published
by
Melissa DiPento
on June 2, 2008
in Community and Planning
. 3 Comments

During my senior year of high school in Bucks County, I felt like I was being called to go to school in Philadelphia and pursue my passion for writing and following what was going on in the world. So I went to Temple University for journalism.

During my years at Temple, I had spent most of my time covering sports for Temple’s student newspaper. Somewhere in the past year or so, I felt called to branch outside of sports and to write about news, Philadelphia, politics and the local communities surrounding Temple—things that I cared a lot about.

And now I’m waiting for something else.

I just graduated from Temple last week and am now faced with the daunting task of finding my first real job.

Philadelphia is everything I had ever hoped for in a city and to have the chance to write about the news here is my dream. I care a lot about the city and am very interested in writing about things that are important to the people who live here.

I am trying hard to stay here in Philadelphia. I’m part of a wonderful community here at Circle and I feel closer to God now than I ever have been. My family and friends are all here, too. I feel so compelled to stay here, yet I feel like the outside world and the demands of my chosen career are telling me the opposite.

Since Philadelphia is in the Top 5 media markets, it is hard for me to find a secure job here in what I want to do. I’ve applied and interviewed at places that are certainly not close enough to commute from Philly. I went into one job interview last week in Central Pennsylvania with the premonition that I was going to hate it. I actually really liked it and could see myself working there and enjoying the job.

I realize I am going to have to make sacrifices for a job, but I’m not sure if I can sacrifice leaving Philadelphia. I was brought up to think that making money is not the most important thing in life and that being close to loved ones and doing a job you enjoy and love are more important.

I guess at this point in my life, I expected that God would be calling me to be doing something specific, somewhere specific. And now that I’m at the point where I have to start making some big decisions, I feel stressed and burdened by the choices I have to make.

After the interview yesterday, I called my dad and he was surprised when I told him I could actually picture myself working there. A couple of weeks ago, he told me that God would be with me no matter where I lived and worked. It seems obvious, but at the time, I had a temporary brain malfunction and had forgotten that simple, but true concept.

Even still, I am continuing to struggle with the idea of not feeling called to be anywhere. I know I am called to do something, but I am struggling with where I need to be to do it. Does it matter where I use my talents?

I have been trying to pray about it lately and that has cleared my mind. At this point, I’m just praying and trying to leave it up to God.

Why Plant Circle of Hope in Camden?

Published
by
Nate Hulfish
on May 6, 2008
in Action, Community, Dialogue and Planning
. 7 Comments

It is the poorest city in America. In 2007, it was the 5th most dangerous city in the country (it was the most dangerous in 2004 and 2005). It is home to less than 80,000 people. It has 3 college campuses downtown and a bevy of developing local attractions. It is ethnically and culturally diverse. It is growing. It has unimaginable needs. It has untapped resources. It is passed by and passed through on a regular basis by people with no consciousness of the needs or the potential. It is made up of and surrounded by an ever growing population of people who simply need hope. Some of them have already entered our circle. They are in our cells, they frequent our public meetings. You probably know them.

One of our friends called it, “just like Philly without any of the good stuff.”

We are the good stuff, Circle of Hope. We have good stuff to offer. Let’s bring the good stuff. Because people need Jesus. Our God is saving the world and there are thousands of people who might partner with him to embrace hope and bring hope if they were just asked the simple question…“do you want to help God save the world with Jesus?”

We are a circle of hope in Jesus Christ called to be a safe place to explore and express God’s love. We build the church for the next generation by the power of the Holy Spirit, multiplying cells that are authentic expressions of life in Christ, forming congregations as diverse as the kingdom of God, and constructing a reconciling network to bring hope to the challenges of 21st century urban life.

Wow!

That’s who we are and what we do. Are you ready to be who we are and do what we do in Camden? It’s a good mission to have. Camden is a good place to have that mission.

Perhaps you’ll pray with us…perhaps you’ll plant with us…we’re doing it together. I can’t wait to see where God takes us!

Urban Farm Team Update

Published
by
Matt McFarland
on March 6, 2008
in Action, Circle Venture, Community, Dialogue and Planning
. 0 Comments

However inappropriate it may seem right now, Spring has been on our minds. The Urban Farm team has put in our seed order, is setting up the florescent lights in the basement Grow-Lab and is trying to get our plan in place for the upcoming season. Our friend, Dan, has been working over the winter adding more plating space, paths and a whole new design to the south side of the garden, we can’t wait to see how it turns out. For the past few years, we’ve been working on adding a little bit of color to Frankford Avenue by working on our large garden, growing a variety of flowers, vegetables, and fruit trees. It’s a place where we can be reminded that there’s more out there just than concrete and brick, experience a change of season, and maybe get a fresh bite to eat. There’s always people around, and we’ve made so many friends from people just stopping by and wanting to do some work outside. We’ve always relied on the help from all of you: the weeding, new construction and clean up of the relentless tide of trash the blows in - and this year is no exception. Please, drop in to help out, or just drop in to walk around or hang out. If you’re interested in joining the team and being a part of the next stage where we start a small scale urban vegetable farm, drop us a line.

Another way to help out this year is by participating in our nursery sale fundraiser. As we’re starting seeds to plant in the garden, we’re also starting some to sell to help us cover the costs of operations. This spring, we’ll be selling:

  • Market Pack Veggies (6 pack): 2 Tomatoes (slicing & cherry), 2 Bell Pepper (Orange & Red) and 2 Eggplant.
  • Market Pack Herbs (6 pack): Classic herb mix of Italian basil, thyme, rosemary, oregano & other culinary herbs.
  • Also, individual seedlings of Cucumber, Zucchini, Rainbow Chard, herbs, tomatoes, peppers and Eggplants.

All you need is a sunny spot in your backyard, on your roof or balcony or even your front stoop and a container, and you can just transplant these packs and enjoy fresh veggies all summer while you also help keep the garden running for another year. Free compost is available from the Garden Center on Frankford Ave, and any bucket, enamel-ware pot from Circle Thrift or simple raised bed structure (with good drainage!) should be enough for any of these plants. We’re also going to be selling a pot-culture dwarf pea, called Tom Thumb, that can be grown inside on your window-sill. We’ll have complete care guides to go with any plants you take.

The sale will be in mid to late May, just as these plants are getting hardy enough to be put outside. We haven’t come up with the price for these yet, but the market packs should be under $10, and the individual pots will be just a couple bucks. We’ll post info on the dialogue as we get closer. These plants would make great gifts for your neighbors or family, and please spread the word!

To help us start the right number of seeds, it would be really helpful if you could let us know what you’d be interested in getting this Spring. Email us at urbanfarmteam@gmail.com with the quantity you might want, we won’t hold you to it, but it’ll help prevent us from having too few or too many seedlings come May. So enjoy your last few weeks of Winter and we’ll see you in the Spring.

music is not the only part of the PM

Published
by
Lauren Stichter
on February 21, 2008
in Community, Creative Arts, Dialogue and Planning
. 1 Comment

About a year ago, Joshua asked me if I’d like to “step-up” and become the Public Meeting Coordinator. As a PM Leader who loves to organize, teach and facilitate things, this offer made sense to me, and I easily accepted. Over the past year Joshua and I have been figuring out exactly what that role means. Currently Circle of Hope does not have this role defined yet. Because of this, I often bumble around trying to figure out what is mine to facilitate, and what is not. In an effort to begin to clarify this role, I have begun to think about exactly what I do as the PM Coordinator. I co-lead a team of musicians, organize love feast music, organize Evensong, recruit musicians, meet with the PM Leaders once a month, help create and maintain the PM team covenants, I got the L&A team rolling, etc. Nothing is in writing yet, and some of these responsibilities will change too, but I like that by thinking about these things and discussing them with Joshua, I get to figure out exactly what I’m supposed to be doing.

The one thing that became confusing about this new title of PM coordinator was that I often got emails from other teams (hosting, children’s, tech.) telling me that they couldn’t be in that Sunday, or asking me where to find someones email address from their own team. “That’s not really my job” I thought, and I often redirected these people to the coordinators of their own teams. I mentioned my annoyance about this issue to a friend recently and they said “but you’re the PM Coordinator, of course they think they should check in with you.” I responded by saying “well, I don’t actually coordinate the whole PM, I coordinate the PM teams.” To which they replied, “well I’m not a musician, but I think that my team IS a PM team. I help facilitate our Public Meetings too.” True! The music teams, aren’t THE PM Teams. We have lots of teams that help facilitate our Public Meetings- thank goodness! I wonder if my title should change, and if the title of our music teams should simply be that- Music Teams.

I assume Circle started the title PM Teams to steer away from calling our music teams, worship teams. Rightfully so, the music teams aren’t the only groups worshiping either. All of our teams, and basically we as a whole body and community, create an environment for us to worship in, and I love that music is not the only part of the PM at Circle of Hope.

West African Drumming Class and Black History Month

Published
by
Jay Beck
on February 16, 2008
in Action, Circle Venture, Community, Creative Arts, Dialogue, Friends Projects and Planning
. 2 Comments

I want to share with you some classes coming up and to reflect a bit on why I am so passionate about it and why you should be too! I was really excited last week when Johnny Rashid brought up at our Public Meeting what the Reconciliation Team has been discussing. I am so grateful that we have a team concentrating on issues of cross-cultural understanding and healing.

As some of you already know, because you took the class last year or because you are just brilliant, music is a powerful way that we can begin to communicate and understand each other across cross-cultural dividers. When we learn and try to hear what people from other cultures are expressing in their collective artistic communal voices, it can sometimes be a bright light that illumines our understanding of the way they see the world and also their struggles and joys.

So, I want to offer a drum class this year as an extension of meditating on and actively learning something active about Black History. I know this month is specifically focusing on African-American history, but it truly should not be separated. The world –views and cultural truths and strengths of the African peoples whether still in Africa or not are connected and are in desperate need of recovery and understanding here in America by both blacks and whites and everybody. These are timeless truths and long-tested ways of communicating that should be celebrated by all peoples.

The Reconciliation Team needs some help right now, so please if this resonates with you—get up and do something about reconciliation. Move with your body and mind to understand others and to bring healing.

Class Info:

Learn the intense and exciting polyrhythmic drum music from west africa.

Class will cover history, technique, cultural significance, and musical traditions of the djembe, dununba, sangban, kenkeni, gonkogui, and shekere.

8 week class beginning Feb. 27
7:00-9:00pm
wednesday evenings
@ 2130 N. Hancock St.
Philadelphia, PA. 19122
$15 a week

contact: jay beck
734-945-3225
jay@psalters.org

any skill level welcome
some drums provided, but bring your own if you have one.

(expanded version of this post at Jay’s myspace here.)

Click here for more info about psalters, here for more info about Circle Venture or our other mission teams such as the Reconciliation team and psalters.

birthing the Next Thing

Published
by
Dave Valentine
on February 14, 2008
in Community, Dialogue and Planning
. 2 Comments

Well, here we are almost a year later and we’ve come to the close of one process, and the beginning of something great for Circle. The search for the Director of Operations is at its end and within a couple of days we will be able to announce the person who will lead us into one of our next phases of development as a body. As the person who’s had the pleasure of shepherding the selection process I am even more amazed at how we partner with Jesus to do what we do, and how honoring it is to people.

We spent the last month and a half gathering the names of six great people who decided they wanted to pursue this impossible role. Very different people, all with varying degrees of experience and connection to the community, but at the same time all of them had, in their own way, a lot of passion about serving the community and finding a way to integrate their faith with their work-life.

Our interview team took on the task of handling the first round, and did it in style. The team was made up of members from both congregations, and consisted of people with a lot of experience as well as some for whom this was their first time interviewing someone. It was a great process that allowed people the chance to participate in something that they may or may not have the opportunity to in their places of work. I was impressed by the questions people asked and the seriousness with which they approached these discussions. Especially since many of them were interviewing their friends! Capping the process was a feedback mechanism which ended with four of the six being selected to go to the final round with the coordinators. Kudos to the interview team for all of their hard work and discernment.

During the interviews one of the things that was refreshing for me was the honesty with which we were able to communicate with the candidates. They reciprocated by being honest with us about their apprehensions and things that, in a different setting, they might have been inclined to come up with some grandiose way to massage an answer. This process was honest, and organic, and allowed the candidates to really grapple with what it was going to mean for them to attempt to meet the call of this role.

As we entered the final night of interviews with the Coordinators I felt a great sense of relief that the Next Thing was about to be birthed. And the night felt like it had that sense of birthing a common discernment. One of the special things was seeing candidates hug each other as they passed on their ways in and out. Watching the camaraderie of them really pulling for each other, and also their statements of support for whoever was selected, was very Jesus like and encouraging to watch.

I was honored to be a part of this time for Circle and I’m excited to see the fruits of all the work we’ve accomplished over the last year. I’m glad that we try to really follow the growing pattern that Jesus lays out for us. Fruit. Vines. Wheat. The seeds coming up out of the good soil, with plenty of water and sunlight. We should cherish the organic nature of how we discern with each other through the Holy Spirit. We can trust it, and grow in the safety of it.