August Breakfast Recap

Thanks for the gathering this morning. With all of the needs and events going on in my congregation, it is good to step out of if for a while and sit with other folks who share some of the same hopes and burdens.

Thanks again to Danny and Grace Place for hosting our breakfast this morning. It really is fun to watch the place physically change so dramatically each time we visit. I feel like the change isn’t just physical, but sounds like it is also reflective of the spiritual change going on in many folks lives because of the congregation.

Our question for the morning was for folks to share a highlight of the summer and a hope for the fall. It was nice to hear what is going on in the various congregations and to hear the ways we both overlap (lower participation in the summer) and ways we are diverse. Jim and Jeff, I look forward to hearing about how the boot camp goes. Rich and I were talking afterwards how it would have been nice to have some more time to process some of that bold ministry. I think one of the benefits to an ecumenical group is the chance to share our diverse approaches. We each take different approaches to being the church, but it doesn’t mean we can’t learn, encourage and challenge one another. I look forward to more of this in the future.

Jeff, our prayers went and continue to go out to your father in law. As Jim mentioned in his prayer, we pray that in some way, God will use even this struggle for his glory. Certainly we hope that way includes a full recovery for your wife’s dad.

As the meeting started to finish, I shared a bit about an opportunity coming up where our church relationships might be able to help. As some of you may know, South Tacoma has been slated as the next community to receive a farmer’s market. Several folks have lobbied for this to come to our community as we are currently a place that has a shortage of gathering places where folks from the community naturally encounter one another and celebrate our shared space. A farmer’s market would be a great summer event for South Tacoma. However, there are struggles ahead. In order for this to happen, there needs to be enough community support for the vendors to sign on with South Tacoma. After serving churches in South Tacoma, you probably know that our community doesn’t have a reputation like the North End or downtown. We are going to have to work hard to get shoppers and appeal to the shoppers in the community. To that end, I would love to invite your church to send a representative to the next South Tacoma Farmer’s Market meeting which will be held on Monday, August 31st at 6:00 at South Park Community Center. If you have someone who can make it, just shoot me an e-mail with their name so that I’ll know to look for them.

At this point, I have ways that I think the faith community of South Tacoma can help facilitate the birth and life of a farmer’s market.
1. Provide people who will visit and shop at the market which we hope to open the first Sunday of July 2010. Laura the coordinator said that a market needs at least 200 people spending $25 each to make the market work. I think that comes to about $5000 a Sunday. A tall order until you realize that there are 22,000 people just in South Tacoma.

2. Provide a way for the ethnic diversity of South Tacoma to shine and be an asset. South Tacoma is one of the most diverse communities in Tacoma (60% white, 20%African American, 10% Asian-American, 5% Latino, 5% Native and Pacific Islander, these are rough stats from the 2000 census, I’d be willing to bet that our Latino population is much larger). Despite the fact that our community is diverse, many of our neighborhood meetings are not. I think the Farmer’s Market would be a great place to invite our Korean, Phillipino, African-American, Latino, etc. congregations to get their people involved.

3. Offer a space for our church folk to participate in the basic life of the community in a way that reveals God’s love. Sometimes the best form of evangelism is simply being a good neighbor. I think I remember Jesus saying something about that. For better or worse, many members of the community have negative views of churches. If many of us were to simply go to the farmer’s market, be kind and purchase goods, then who knows how God might use that.
These are just some thoughts.

Our next meeting is scheduled for 8:30 Wednesday, September 2, 2009 at Evangelical Reformed Church where Rich is the pastor.

Til then, Shaloma in South Tacoma,
Ken