We just held the second information night for our new church. Like the first one two weeks ago, we met with about forty people who our team knows, bringing this first round of introduction to about eighty. Today, we go public on social media as we move forward to roll out our ambitious plan.

As I mentioned recently, this will be unlike any church I expect most people are familiar with. I don’t think any of the eighty people who’ve heard the presentation feel disinclined to be involved in some way. In fact, the response has been overwhelming.

We begin with a plainly different premise. Instead of building a church that is largely inviting to Christians who desire a certain kind of music, preaching, and programming, we are building a place where all will be welcome. No pretense. Come as you are. Seven days a week. A welcoming place. A place that is relaxing and unpretentious. A place where people will naturally just want to gather. Really good coffee. Really good food. Maybe even beer and wine. A place that feels home to both 90 year olds and 9 year olds. A place that is a touchstone to the kind of things people yearn for.

Three values undergird such a place. They are Faith, Love and Community.

I have written about faith before. Everyone has it. We can’t meet a new day without faith in some thing or some things. Some of us pay more attention to what faith means and how it affects our lives than other people. But, I believe we are deeply hardwired for meaning, to know our purpose. We want people of all faiths to find a place at the table. Traditional churches do a whole lot of speaking and a whole little of listening. At Uncommon [good], we value conversations. We are not in the business of saving souls. That’s above our pay grade. We are in the business of caring.

Which brings me to the second value: Love. I have written a lot about love and its uncommon expression: Grace. How do people know love? How do people give and receive it? How much does love influence each person’s life? In what ways has love shaped a person’s life? In what ways has the lack of love (or worse) misshaped a person’s life? Everyone craves love unless so beaten down it is but an obscure thing without connection to a known reality. But, even the beaten down, disheartened, broken and discarded person is able to emerge into the light of love. I have seen it and know it to be true. How does this happen? How do we who know of love and we who do not know of it, find and grow in it?

The answer is by engaging in Community, our third value. Just as we are designed for faith and love, we are designed for community. While some may reject community for a variety of reasons, it is when we exist in a loving community that we are able to flourish in the most remarkable of ways. Desolation is its antithesis. There are narratives that teach there is no meaning or purpose, just existence. These philosophies may hold some kind of intellectual allure (Nihilism, Existentialism) but I am of the mind they ultimately crumble into ash and just disappear into nothingness. On the other hand, when we are truly in the right kind of community, we are led to flourish. What does that look like? It is a place where we share life, the good and bad, the joyful and the sorrowful. It is a place where we can be vulnerable because others don’t judge our many inadequacies, past failures, and places where we might feel guilt or shame. It is a place where there is no dividing line between “church” and the real world. It is a place where people learn to be both gracious givers and gracious receivers.

The brackets in our logo are really a representation of such a place, or space. They are also a representation of the gospel which, of course, is all about faith, love and community.

The vision being cast is rather audacious. Many obstacles lie ahead. There will be people who doubt the odds of coming to fruition. The amount of money, time and talent it will take to go from vision to reality will be substantial. But, gazing upon the faces and listening to the excitement of the first eighty people who’ve attended the first two nights, representing young and old, professionals, students, retired, wealthy and poor, my heart is full.

When I was concluding one of my pieces of the presentation, I related that my license plate for the past twelve years is MTW1720. It is a fact of life for me, thankfully. It’s a verse from the Book of Matthew, 17:20.

Jesus: “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Of course, we have to understand what he means by faith and mountains and that the mustard seed is incredibly small. But, you get the point. I look forward with anticipation and would appreciate your prayers if you think this cause is worthy. Thank you for listening.