Best Known as the Church Across the Street
By Ben Ries

Click here to return to the Church Innovations web site.

Editor's Note: The following article was written by Ben Ries, the lead minister at Federal Way Church of Christ in Edgewood, Washington. Federal Way was one of nine Church of Christ churches in a Partnership for Missional Church Cluster in the Oregon, Washington, Idaho area that completed their third year in the partnership in early 2010. Ben writes:

Over the past two and half years Federal Way Church of Christ has been partnering with an elementary school less than half a mile from our church building. The staff, faculty, and administration have been willing partners, slowly allowing us more opportunity to serve them and work alongside them in school and community initiatives. Generally speaking, only a handful of congregational members have been doing the heavy lifting in this partnership. Since we are a commuter church, developing congregational participation and buy-in has been a challenge. While most people have been supportive of the Partnership for Missional Church process, figuring out how to pull people in has been difficult.

Six weeks ago I had the opportunity to participate in my first SLT meeting at Wildwood Elementary. SLT is a handful of school teachers, administrators and community leaders commissioned to help the school fulfill its mission and Title I responsibilities. The community members present were myself, Terri Wolfe (church office administrator), and Joe Calkins (church member who’s had significant involvement at Wildwood). One thing was particularly striking to me about this meeting. Every representative from the school went out of their way to not only thank us for our involvement; they literally begged us for more help and partnership. A public elementary school is not only willing to let a church share in its life and mission, it is begging for its help and partnership. If that’s not the work of the Holy Spirit, I’m not sure what is.

A few things grew out of this meeting:

The congregation had the blessing of serving chili at the school’s December 9th reading event. Eighteen of us set up and decorated the gymnasium, greeted the 150 children and parents as they came in, served dinner, cleaned up, and offered help in various other ways. It was remarkable watching people from the church as they had conversations with children and their parents. There was laughing, sharing, and community taking place. At one point, the teacher directing the reading event came over to me and confessed that the entire time we’ve been in partnership together she had never remembered the name of our church. She told me that everyone at the school just calls us “The Church Across the Street.” I was hesitant to share what our official name is because I like the one we’ve come to be known by.

Two days later our congregation hosted a free neighborhood tamale dinner. We cooked 600 tamales, and even though we didn’t have as many people as we anticipated, we were blessed to share a wonderful meal with 63 of our neighbors. Children built ginger bread houses and we sang carols together as a group. Families, children, and even adults dressed up in nativity costumes, had their picture taken, and decorated a frame that holds their picture. A blessing we received from the school was when the administration went to the school board asking for permission to hand out fliers to their students inviting them to our church for the tamale dinner. The school didn’t directly benefit from this dinner, yet they took the time and effort to fill out the appropriate paperwork to petition the school board so that we could get the word out. Maybe it’s a small thing, but we receive this as a gift from them.

Many families at the school rely on the free and reduced lunches their children receive every school day. Over the years the school has discovered that many of these families overextend their budget to buy Christmas presents for their children. An overextended budget combined with the winter break means hungry children and parents at the end of December. At the request of the school our church began to collect food for distribution by the school to these families in need. In an effort to increase congregational involvement in the lives of these families and in the hope of providing an experience that would sweep people into our Missional vocation, our church leaders decided to try something outside our normal practice of corporate worship. As a part of our worship experience on December 12th the entire congregation prayed for the families that would receive the food as the groceries were placed into bags. Then as a congregation we walked the food down and across the street to the school. Well over 100 people (nearly the entire church – even those unable to make the walk rode the church bus) participated in delivering the food we had gathered and packed. It was an overwhelming, unbelievable experience together. Who knows how our worship together on December 12th will form and shape our life together in this community?

Let me add one more item…Joe and Marlene Calkins are two people that have been intimately involved in the life of Wildwood Elementary. Marlene volunteers every day at the school (loving known as “Mrs. C” by all the children) and Joe is a staple as well. Over the past few years they have developed a relationship with the janitor. He recently stated that Joe and Marlene are really his only friends. Three weeks ago he called the church office asking if there were any projects around the church he could help with. A week later I met him hoping I could convince him to let us into the school for our December 12th worship walk. Since our conversation together he has not only been with us for worship, he has also helped with the Tamale dinner and inserted himself seamlessly into the life of the congregation. He has a remarkable life and faith story and is anxious to learn more, be involved more, and share more. Witnessing him being a part of our December 12th worship walk was moving.

We are discovering that it is important to narrate our story well, to reflect on it together and with others, as we continue to move deeper into those places that God is calling us.

Let me also say that Church Innovations and the Partnership for Missional Church has played a significant role in my life and ministry. For this, I thank God.

Grace and Peace,

Ben Ries