Building Search Task Force Seeking Volunteers
Dear Mission Cincinnati,
If you've been with us since at least last fall, you know we've begun the process of discerning where Mission Cincinnati should call "home" over the next few years. While meeting at House of Joy has been a tremendous blessing, we've also encountered logistical and missional constraints. After several discussions as a Vestry and a very insightful congregational survey, it seems the next steps should be in the direction of seeking out rental or other space-sharing opportunities.
To that end, we are forming a Task Force that will hold responsibility for a search process. This small group of people will lead the effort to leverage connections, gather viable options, and act as the primary point of contact for ideas from the congregation.
Many details of this group's structure and process flow will be determined at our first meeting together the week of January 30 (actual date TBD), but, roughly, we believe this will be initially a two-to-three month project. We also have very helpful search parameters based on the responses to the congregational survey.
If you are interested in being part of this Task Force, we would love for you to fill out and submit the interest form (link below) by no later than January 20.
Whether you are interested in this particular opportunity or not, we ask that you commit to praying for this group and for our church's next steps in seeking a place to flourish in all the ways God calls us to.
If you have any questions about the Task Force or the building search process in general, please reach out to me (erinduncan1118@gmail.com) or Sarah Love (smzorko@gmail.com). We're excited to talk more about it!
Erin Duncan
Mission Vestry Secretary
Christmas Eve Service Cancelled
Greetings Mission Family,
Unfortunately there is no heat in the building at House of Joy, and given the already extreme temperatures outside, the geographic dispersion of our congregation, and the sub-optimal condition of many of our roads, our staff has made the unfortunate and painful decision to cancel this afternoon’s Christmas Eve service. We are so sorry to do this, but we believe it is the wisest decision we can make at this time.
I will be livestreaming my Christmas Eve homily to our church’s Facebook page today at 2 PM, so you can view then or any time thereafter.
We will also cue up our Lessons & Carols service from 2 years ago and post it on our Facebook page at 5 PM.
While we know these cannot replace being together in person, we do hope that they are blessings you can enjoy at home and with others.
In all of this, we rejoice that the Good News that we celebrate on this day is unchanged regardless of our circumstances: Jesus is born, God has come among us, Emmanuel is HERE!
Merry Christmas Mission Family,
Fr. William
You're Invited to Christmas Eve!
You’re Invited to join us for our annual Christmas Eve Service & Celebration, co-hosted with House of Joy on Saturday, December 24th at 3 PM at 3220 Central Parkway!
We’ll enjoy an evening of festive carols in classical, contemporary, and gospel styles, candle-lighting, communion, and a powerful message from Luke chapter 2.
The service will be followed by a holiday cookie party downstairs in the ROCK room.
The service is fully family-friendly, and while we will not be offering our nursery during the service, children of all ages are welcome to join us in worship! We’ll have interactive kids packs for the littles and the side wings will have extra space for kids to get their wiggles out.
Bring your family and friends and come join us for a beautiful evening as we conclude our Advent Journey and celebrate the coming of Christ among us!
"Oh Come!" A Journey Through Longing & Hope | 12/16, 7-9 PM
You’re invited to join us on Friday, December 16th from 7-9 PM at the Music Resource Center (3032 Woodburn Ave. Cincinnati OH 45206) for an evening journey that will feature seasonal readings and diverse artistic performances—including spoken word, dance, song-writing, and more—which will press into themes of longing, hope, and anticipation that mark this Advent season.
This is a community event featuring artists representing many communities and backgrounds. It will be a family-friendly evening as well. All are welcome and invited to join us for this beautiful night!
You can RSVP for the event using the link below. Also, feel free to use this link to invite others you think would enjoy this!
Questions? Contact Charles Dudley at charles@missioncincinnati.org.
Registration for Epiphany-Term Equip Gatherings Now Open!
Greetings Mission Family,
As you know, we at the Mission Cincinnati, care deeply about equipping our people for the works of ministry, and about fostering deeper community. As such, in the New Year, during Epiphany-term (Jan-Feb) and Spring-term (May), we will host a new kind of ministry offering on Monday nights called Equip Gatherings. For 4 weeks we’ll share a nice dinner together and then separate out to take a variety of classes. Each class will be led by experienced and passionate practitioners, and will offer a blend of spiritual formation as well as practical ministry training to better equip you to live out our shared commitments of Belonging, Growing, Serving, and Going. We’ll also deepen our friendships with each other throughout these seasonal gatherings.
In this first Epiphany-term Equip Gathering, we’ll offer up three classes:
1) Good News: How our Creedal Faith is Good News for the World
2) Reimagining Evangelism Workshop: Tools for Having Healthy Conversations with Real People
3) Emotionally Healthy Spirituality
There will be a $30 registration fee for these gatherings that will cover the costs of nice dinners prepared by our favorite local black-owned-business-running Chef Sonia (of Pentecost party fame!), class materials, and childcare for families with small kids. You can also attend individual classes on a $10/class basis.
You can register for Epiphany Term classes TODAY using the link below.
You can also visit our Classes page (also linked below) to find out more details about all our classes and offerings throughout the year. Got questions?
Have questions? You can reach out to me at kristen@missioncininnati.org.
We are super excited to press into opportunities for discipleship in community together as a church in the New Year!
Rev. Kristen Yates
Associate Pastor for Formational Discipleship
Introducing Advent
The New Year is upon us! Well, New Year according to the Church Calendar that is. Each year, we at the Mission Cincinnati journey with other Christians throughout time and space alongside the Ancient people of Israel as they waited for their Messiah; with Jesus through His life, death, and resurrection, and then with the Church throughout history as every generation has waited for Christ to come back and make all things New. This journey of pressing into the hope of Christ’s coming—both Israel’s waiting for Christ to come the first time, and the church’s waiting for Christ to come again—is a season Christians have come to call Advent. This year, Advent, begins on November 27th and lasts up until December 25th, Christmas Day.
While the culture around us often starts celebrating Christmas shortly after Thanksgiving (or even Halloween!), we in the Church wait. The Season of Advent invites us into this waiting. This is good and purposeful, because before we can properly celebrate the good News of Jesus’ birth, we must take time to walk in the shoes of the ancient Israelites living under oppression and in exile, remembering their longing for a savior.
We also need to get in touch with our own longings for deliverance from the many kinds of current-day oppressions we and our world face. Our world is broken, we are broken, and we cannot deliver ourselves from this brokenness and sin. There is One, however, who can: Jesus. Thus, throughout the season of Advent, we are invited to bring all our laments, our sorrows, our longings, our fears, and even our repentance to the Lord. Purple, the liturgical color of penitence, that will adorn our Communion Table throughout the season, will remind us of all this. So will the placement of The Confession at the beginning of our service, a tradition we practice in both Advent and Lent known as the Penitential Order.
This is not to be a mournful season, however, but one of great hope. As we journey through Advent, the Scriptures appointed for this season will remind us that our Lord is our Emmanuel, our “God with us.” We do not need to carry our burdens alone. We journey with One who is with us, who deeply loves us, and who has shown Himself again and again to be One who delivers His people.
The Advent Scriptures will also remind us that just as Jesus came once, He will come again, and when He does come, He will wipe away all tears, remove all our fears, and invite us into a life of abundance, meaning, freedom, and peace. This is because Advent is not just a time of waiting to celebrate Jesus’ birth; it is also a time of anticipating Jesus’ Second Coming, and the Advent wreath we light each week will be a reminder to us of both realities. The progressive lighting of the candles each week will symbolize how a Great Light has dawned in the land of darkness (Isaiah 9), and how one day, that Light will once and for all disperse all darkness.
Therefore, friends, I invite you to enter deeply into this season of waiting and anticipation this year. Let this season be a time of sorrow and joy, and lament and celebration. Let it be a time of hope, peace, wonder, and growing faith as you wait to celebrate Jesus’ birth and wait for His Second Coming. And put your trust in the One who will one day make all things right.
If you are new to the Season of Advent or just unsure of how to engage this season this year, be sure to check out the Advent guide I have created for you. In it, there are descriptions of many Advent traditions both for the Church and individuals. Plus, there are devotionals and activities for both adults and families.
May you truly have a Blessed Advent.
Rev. Kristen Yates
MOVE-IN READY | A November Stewardship Journey
In Exodus 3, God miraculously appears to Moses and casts an awesome vision for the rest of his life. And in Exodus 4, Moses complains, argues with God, and basically spends a whole chapter of the Bible coming up with reasons why God’s vision won’t work and how God should give this vision to someone else.
I so get that.
In the early days of big dreams there is such great distance between what you believe COULD and SHOULD BE, and what IS right now. Crossing that distance can feel impossible. And in the midst of Moses’s very relatable doubt, he asks God, “what if they don’t believe me or listen to me and say, ‘the Lord did not appear to you’?”
And God responds, “What is that in your hand?”
When Moses is tempted to doubt that he has what it takes to fulfill God’s vision for His life, God invites Moses to consider what has already been placed in his hands, and to imagine how God might work through the things Moses ALREADY HAS to part oceans and change the world.
During the month of November, we will focus on STEWARDSHIP as a church, through a journey we are calling “Move-In Ready”. At The Mission, we define stewardship holistically. It’s not about ONE part of our lives, its about ALL of our lives. We believe it’s an important part of our discipleship to—like Moses—spend intentional time considering what God has ALREADY placed into our hands as a church family—our financial resources, our spiritual gifts, our time, and our passions to reach and heal a hurting world—and then to imagine how we might offer these things back to God, so that He might work in and through them to part oceans and change the world in our lives and in our city today.
We want to be clear that this is NOT a building campaign. While our recent building search survey will greatly inform our Vestry’s continued consideration of when, if, and where a location move will serve our church, our focus in November is this year’s version of our church’s annual rhythm of setting aside intentional time to focus on holistic stewardship including pledgeship, vestry nominations, and more for the year to come.
The phrase, “move-in ready” is a metaphorical picture to guide and focus our journey. If you own a piece of land on which you plan to build your dream house, there’s some work that needs to be done to transform that land into a home that’s ready to live in. This image helps us consider our own hearts before the Lord in this season as a church: what steps might God be inviting each and all of us to take, so that we might grow together to become a community of people who are able to step forward into the vision He has for us as a church?
This will be our focus over the next few weeks, and here’s what you can expect:
Sunday, October 30th - our Vestry Treasurer, Nelson Wesley will give a preview announcement about our upcoming annual Pledgeship Process. If you are a member of The Mission or have gone through at least 1 stage of Mission Pathways, you will also receive a mailed letter from Nelson inviting you to prayerfully prepare for and participate in pledging.
Wednesday, November 2nd - the Mission Minute will include links to a Biblical Theology of Generosity, as well as an explanation of “What is A Vestry?” so that you can prepare both for the pledgeship window as well as our annual Vestry Nomination window.
Sunday, November 6th - Vestry Member Sarah Love will give a preview announcement explaining a bit about the Vestry nomination process, and how you can nominate fellow members to serve in this key leadership role.
Wednesday November 9th - our 2-week Vestry Nomination & Pledgeship Window opens, and you can participate by nominating fellow Mission members to serve on our Vestry, and by submitting a pledge indicating your planned giving in support of God’s Kingdom ministry through The Mission Cincinnati in 2023.
Sunday, November 13th - Fr. William will preach a special message on the vision of our church for the coming season, and how our faith-filled stewardship in all of these areas as well as service and evangelism will be essential to us stepping forward as a church into everything God has called us to.
Sunday, November 20th - we will share our quarterly prayer service where we will pray into all of this and into our next season together.
Wednesday November 23rd - the Vestry Nomination & Pledgeship windows will close. We will share the outcomes of these processes with the congregation in December.
We are so excited to share this journey with you all, and we are expectant for all God will do in each of lives personally as well as in our entire community corporately! Please pray for the Holy Spirit to cover the entirety of this journey with the peace and grace of God. May a posture of Christ-centeredness be evident in all of this. And may the fruit of this journey be provision for our church’s mission, clarity for our collective next steps, and increase joy in the goodness and kindness of our God!
If you have any questions about this process, you’re invited to reach out to Fr. William Eavenson at william@missioncincinnati.org.
Maker Feature Episode 4: Price Hill - Insights from Its Neighbors
Every month during our Soundtrack Series, we’ll share a new video that Charles Dudley and a team from the Mission have put together in which they interview a local “maker,”—artists, business leaders, community workers and more—who share how their faith has fueled their vision for their work to make a transformational difference for the good in their wider communities.
This week we released our latest Maker Feature, Episode 4 entitled “Price Hill: Insights from its Neighbors.” In this episode, Charles Dudley sits down with DJ Trischler, Assistant Professor of Communication Design at DAAP at the University of Cincinnati, and Arturo Minera Director of Teen Impact, a ministry of the City Gospel Mission, to discuss their local work coming alongside their home neighborhood of Price Hill to elevate & connect local voices and enrich community for all!
You can view episode 4 HERE—> Maker Feature Episode 4
Check out our 3 Previous Maker Feature Videos Using the Links Below!
EPISODE 1 featuring Crystal & Taren from Cream & Sugar Coffee House:
MAKER FEATURE EPISODE 1: Cream & Sugar
EPISODE 2 featuring Donny from G(O)OD Co. Apparel
MAKER FEATURE EPISODE 2: G(O)OD Co. Apparel
EPISODE 3 featuring Kyle Cadena from The Music Resource Center
MAKER FEATURE EPISODE 3: Music Resource Center
Enjoy these videos, and better yet, check out the work and patron the shops of these fantastic local makers in our city!
Fill Out Our Building Search Survey!
The Mission Cincinnati is beginning a formal search for a building our congregation can call our own!
As we begin this process, we want to first hear from YOU! Our Vestry has designed a short survey that will allow you to share your thoughts on possible building location, aesthetics, and ways you think we could/should use a new facility. The survey will take you about 5 minutes to complete and you can access it using the button below:
We hope to hear from 100% of our current members and regular attenders! Your prompt participation is so appreciated and needed so our Vestry can incorporate the full diversity of views and perspectives from within our church to craft our search process as we move forward.
If you have any questions for our Vestry, you can reach out to our People’s Warden Sarah Love at smzorko@gmail.com.
New? Join us for a Meet & Greet!
It’s been a joy to welcome so many newcomers to The Mission on Sundays these past few weeks. We want to connect with you, and so we are offering a Newcomer Meet & Greets coming up soon! The meet & greet will be a relaxed evening we’ll host in a local coffee shop where you’ll be able to meet other newcomers along with a couple members of our team, share drinks and desserts, hear a bit of The Mission’s story, and ask any questions you have about the church!
The Meet & Greet will take place on:
Thursday, September 8th | 6:30 - 7:30 PM @ Drip Coffee in Camp Washington
We ask that you please do RSVP if you plan to attend by Tuesday 9/6. You can RSVP by clicking the button below:
Want Prayer Heading Into the Fall?
On Sunday, August 14th, our clergy will offer a special space of prayer after worship at 11 AM in the ROCK room to pray for and bless students (of all stages!), parents, faculty, administrators, and anyone who just wants prayer heading into the fall!
This space is open to all and anyone is welcome to come and receive prayer! You do not have to attend the Mission.
We do ask that you PLEASE RSVP if you plan to attend so that we can know how many folks to prepare for and can communicate any important details with you about location etc.
We look forward to offering this space of prayer to all who desire it!
Questions? Contact william@missioncincinnati.org
WE'RE HIRING! | Mission Kids & Family Ministry Director
Since re-launching weekly services in a new location in Fall 2020, The Mission Cincinnati has seen great growth in the number of young families with children who have been joining the church. Children are the future of the church, and we at the Mission have a great desire to invest in holistic ministry to families and children, to equip parents as disciple-makers in their own families, and to offer resources and ministries that introduce children to the love of Jesus and the Big Story of the Bible in developmentally appropriate ways. For all these reasons, we sense that now is a time when God is calling us to invest in continuing to grow and strengthen our ministry to children and families in the season to come.
We are seeking to hire a passionate leader with a heart to lead, develop and grow holistic ministry to children and families within a local church context to serve as our Director of Mission Kids & Family Ministry. This part-time role will involve continuing to manage and strengthen our existing Mission Nursery & Kids’ ministries while leading us in welcoming new families into our community and building out new spaces for post-nursery age children’s ministry.
You can read the full Job Description and view the Application using the Button Link below!
Do you sense this is describing you? Feel like the Lord may be calling you into a ministry role like this? Know someone who might be a good fit for this role?
We’d LOVE to welcome you to apply for this position or to help us spread the word by sharing this Job Description & Application with your networks.
The application deadline is August 17th and we are hoping to fill the position by September 1st or as soon as we can thereafter.
We’d love your prayers for our community as we seek God’s provision of the perfect candidate to lead our Children & Family ministry forward in the season to come! Questions? Contact william@missioncincinnati.org.
Check Out Our Latest Maker Feature Videos!
Every month during our Soundtrack Series, we’ll share a new video that Charles Dudley and a team from the Mission have put together in which they interview a local “maker,”—artists, business leaders, community workers and more—who share how their faith has fueled their vision for their work to make a transformational difference for the good in their wider communities.
So far, we’ve released TWO Maker Feature Videos:
EPISODE 1 featuring Crystal & Taren from Cream & Sugar Coffee House:
MAKER FEATURE EPISODE 1: Cream & Sugar
EPISODE 2 featuring Donny from G(O)OD Co. Apparel
MAKER FEATURE EPISODE 2: G(O)OD Co. Apparel
Enjoy these videos, and better yet, check out the work and patron the shops of these fantastic local makers in our city!
Fall Kickoff Sunday September 11th | Save the Date!
It’s hard to believe it, but we’re just a few short weeks away from the beginning of our Fall Ministry season! This fall, we have a lot of exciting things in store at The Mission including the launch of new Pathways Cohorts, the start of 4 new Regional Small Groups, the opportunity to join new ministry serving teams and more!
We also know that August and September are months when our church gets a lot of newcomers: folks who have recently moved to Cincinnati looking for a worshiping community, and those who have lived here for a long time who are thinking about trying church for the first time, reconnecting with a congregation after a long time away, or simply looking for a new local church home that better fits where they are in their discipleship journey.
We are setting aside Sunday September 11th to celebrate the start of the Fall Ministry Season. We’ll focus on sharing all the many opportunities for next steps of connection in our midst, and we’ll have a catered party to welcome newcomers with fabulous food and beautiful space to hang out and meet folks in our community.
More details coming soon, but for now, save the date for a special Fall Kickoff Sunday of Worship on Sunday September 11th! Worship Service at 9:30 AM as usual at House of Joy, followed by a special party at the Burnet Woods Bandstand at 11 AM!
All are welcome and the more the merrier, so if you have someone you’ve been wanting to invite to The Mission or you’ve been considering checking out our church, we’d love to invite you to join us!
Questions? Contact william@missioncincinnati.org
A New Job Title for Rev. Kristen
Hey friends,
After conversation this summer between Fr. William & I, we have decided to change my job title at The Mission Cincinnati. I am actually not changing job responsibilities, just my title. I wanted to let you know that this is happening and why. Since I have been here at the Mission, my title has been the Associate Pastor of Spiritual Formation and Congregational Care, and going forward, my title will be the Associate Pastor of Formational Discipleship.
You might ask, why am I making this change if my work is not changing? Well, it is for a few reasons. While I believe that the process of spiritual formation is incredibly important, and is in fact the engine of discipleship – as the Holy Spirit forms us and empowers us to be Jesus’ disciples – unfortunately, the phrase “spiritual formation” often suffers from a number of misunderstandings. For some, the phrase is linked with non-Christian spiritualities. For others, it is associated only with a small subset of people who really like to do contemplative practices together. And still for others, its definition is truncated so that it is only about doing spiritual disciplines; it is a privatized endeavor that has nothing to do with mission, justice, peace-making, reconciliation, creation-care, vocation, and loving service.
And yet, the reality of spiritual formation is much greater. Christian spiritual formation is about the Holy Spirit-empowered process of maturing in Christ - growing in intimacy with the Lord and growing in the Fruit of the Spirit so that we can become more and more like Jesus and become Kingdom people. It is a life-long process for all Christians that sustains and empowers our discipleship journeys as we increasingly follow and obey the Lord, as we learn to love God and neighbor with our whole hearts.
For sure, Christian spiritual formation does include the cultivation of spiritual practices and disciplines, but it also includes all of life, including our relationships, our habits, our work, our rest, and our care for others. All aspects of our life are going to either help form us to be more and more like Jesus or they are going to form us to be less like Him. And thus, we can either learn to be intentional with all of our lives, opening ourselves up to the Holy Spirit and moving forward as disciples of Christ or we can let the myriad aspects of our lives shape us so that we remain as believers in Jesus alone, a state of being that Jesus never intended. For Jesus did not tell the apostles, “Go and make believers.” He said, “Go and make disciples.”
And so, I think it is really important that we see spiritual formation in a more holistic manner, and we see how it is linked to and is in fact inseparable from discipleship. It is also important to see discipleship in a more holistic manner – as something that involves more than just learning about God and serving Him (generally through our strength), but involves a way of life that is empowered by the Holy Spirit who forms us. Thankfully, the phrase “Formational Discipleship”, which was coined by my professor Dr. Dave Currie, helps us to lean into both this linkage and this holistic understanding.
All of this is why we are changing my title at the Mission, because I want to better reflect what my heart has always been for you all, and that is by God’s grace I would help each and every one of you grow more and more into the loving, self-giving, creative, non-anxious disciples of Jesus that God has always intended you to be. This for sure will not be a quick, overnight process, but I am excited to continue to journey with you, encourage you, care for you, and resource you as you seek to follow, obey, and become more like Jesus.
Grace and peace in Christ,
Rev. Kristen
The Story Behind the Soundtrack Series
Change is the only constant in life.
It’s a cliché all of us have likely come to recognize as true. Yet the amount of change in the world seems to be growing, and the pace at which things are changing seems to be getting faster and faster. We live in a world of 24/7 news cycles, constantly shifting vocabulary, and emergent crises that all seem to demand our immediate reaction. Followers of Jesus often feel torn in the face of this continuous and strengthening cultural storm. Out of love for Jesus and His people, we are called to compassion. We need to be IN the world, and thus familiar with what’s going on to be prepared to love others and meet emergent needs. At the same time, living with un-boundaried compassion could allow the storm to overwhelm us. Far from living “the abundant life,” we could be reduced to life as a frenetic and endless series of harried reactions. And so, as we look around us and seek to discern where Jesus is, where He’s going, and how we can follow Him it is natural to wonder, “how then do we LIVE as followers of Jesus in our world today?”
There is a source of inspiration we can look to, to find answers to this question: the Bible.
Christians claim to ALWAYS look to the Bible for answers to our spiritual questions. But in this case, I am not advocating consulting the Bible as a strip-mine for theological truths or next step practical guidance for how to confront various issues or situations we face. Rather, I am encouraging us to consider the BIG STORY of God’s people that runs throughout the entirety of the Scriptures to gain not answers necessarily, but fresh imagination for what it might look like to live as God’s people in our world today.
Old Testament scholar Christopher Wright argues that the Bible is the product of God’s mission. As God revealed Himself and moved amongst His people—from the ancient Hebrews, to the nation of Israel, to the disciples of Jesus, to the New Testament church—His people engaged their surrounding culture and the wider world. This missional interaction prompted by the movement of God, provided the occasions from which the Scriptures were written: historical accounts of God’s work amongst His people, laws recording how God’s people would be distinct from the other nations of the world, insights for how to engage with others outside the people of God, so as to win them over and bring them into the fold too.
What’s more, from Genesis to Revelation, at every step of the Scriptural story, God’s people were NOT seated at the reigns of empire, power, and privilege. With the possible exception of the short burst of time when Israel lived as a united kingdom under their own control (which, given their existence next to other much larger and stronger nations could have ONLY been possible due to God’s miraculous sovereign protection), the people of God have ALWAYS been a persecuted people. Always the underdogs. Always the disenfranchised. Always the people hanging onto existence by a thread. Yet always, in many different times and cultures, such a people not only persistently survived, they continued to carry out the practical, everyday work of God’s mission, testifying before the various empires of the world that there was a different way to live than simply accumulating more money, power, and glory for yourself. There was a God at work in the world, a God who would one day be revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, who is bringing a new Kingdom into being. A God who will one day, when He’s done with His work, make ALL THINGS NEW.
UK Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks used the phrase “A Creative Minority” to describe the ways the Jewish community has not only survived, but worked to fulfil the mission of God in the various times and places they have found themselves, contributing to the flourishing of the world through redemptive participation. “To become a creative minority,” Sacks writes, “is not easy, because it involves strong links with the outside world while staying true to your faith, seeking not merely to keep the sacred flame burning, but also to transform the larger society of which you are a part. This is a demanding and risk-laden choice.”
This tension of living as a Creative Minority—one that remains spiritually faithful, while at the same time being culturally fruitful—is the same tension the people of God and the followers of Jesus faced on every page of the Bible, and it’s the same tension we face as followers of Jesus today.
And so, during the season of Ordinary time, starting in June after Pentecost and continuing until Advent in late November—we will journey through the Big Story of the whole Bible, looking at the artwork, poems, and songs God’s people produced in the various moments of their missional engagement with the wider world. These creative expressions were born from God’s people wrestling with God’s presence and call in the face of surroundings that felt disorienting and sometimes threatening. This artwork was a lifeline. It told the story of who they had been and helped them stay focused on who God had called them to BE. By studying these texts, we will likewise not only learn much about who the people of God and followers of Jesus have been throughout history, but we believe prayerfully that God will give us fresh insight through the Holy Spirit to discern who He is calling us to BE and thus how He is calling us to LIVE in our lives and in our world today.
Also, during this series we will release monthly “Maker Features,” videos interviews, Charles Dudley and others from our church have shared with local makers—business owners, creatives, designers and more—sharing their story about how they see their craft redemptively participating in their community. We hope these videos might give you inspiration for how God might be calling you to live as a creative minority in your vocation and relationships (not to mention, we hope they introduce you to some cool people doing some cool stuff in our city!)
So Mission Cincinnati, let’s adventure together over the coming months, listening to the SOUNDTRACK, the poems, artwork, and music of God’s Creative Minority, as they sought to be faithful to Him and fruitful in their culture in many times and places over thousands of years.
Preparing for Holy Week
Holy Week is a special week in the church calendar. It takes place during the final week of Lent and concludes on the first Sunday in Eastertide. During Holy Week, Christians throughout history and across the world today have set aside time as sacred space to remember the events of the last week of Jesus’ life—his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the Last Supper He shared with His disciples and His washing of their feet, His betrayal, arrest, sufferings, crucifixion, and death, and finally His resurrection on Easter morning.
With all of these events in view, Holy Week carries many emotions that are appropriate for followers of Jesus to feel, call to mind, and embrace. The events of Palm Sunday and Jesus hailed a King and Messiah are celebratory and its right to rejoice. The commemoration of Maundy Thursday, the institution of the communion meal, and the command to Christ’s followers to love and serve each other as Christ has served them involves intimate, even awkward expressions of love and service. Good Friday is a somber, even at times scary service that embraces feelings of darkness, lament, and UN-resolution in the shadow of Calvary’s cross. Easter carries notes of sudden and joy-filled surprise, exultation, and rejoicing at the Good News that Christ is not dead, the tomb is empty, and Jesus has been raised!
We’d love to invite you to prepare your heart and mind for Holy Week, to center yourself on Jesus and ready yourself to follow in His footsteps as we journey through these days. To serve you in this spiritual work of preparation, you can read below the prefaces for each of the special days of Holy Week below. These are taken from the ACNA Book of Common Prayer 2019:
PALM SUNDAY - Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week. the procession with palms which was already observed in Jerusalem in the fourth century calls to mind the triumphal entry of JEsus, our Lord and King, into Jerusalem. The procession is fundamentally an act of worship, witness, and devotion to our Lord. The purposes of Jesus’s journey to Jerusalem was to fulfill his Father’s will. The emphasis of the liturgy turns to the days that lie ahead in Holy Week. We who hail Jesus as King one moment, may in the next deny him, even joining with the crowd in shouting, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”
MAUNDY THURSDAY - The Paschal mystery—the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is at the heart of the Christian Gospel. The evening of Maundy Thursday begins the Triduum (the sacred 3 days). This service, together with Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter form a single liturgy. Maundy Thursday receives its name from the mandatum (commandment) given by our Lord: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34). At the Last Supper, Jesus washed his disciples’ feet and commanded them to love and serve one another as He had done. This day commemorates the Lord’s example of servant ministry, the institution of the Eucharist, the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the betrayal leading to the crucifixion.
GOOD FRIDAY - The Good Friday liturgy is the second part of the Triduum. This most somber of all days is appropriately marked by fasting, abstinence, and penitence, leading us to focus on Jesus and the meaning of His Cross. Some churches do not use musical instruments or bells on this day. The church is often darkened. The bare, stark appearance of the church serves as a reminder of the solemnity and the sorrow of the day. The Lord of Life was rejected, mocked, scourged and then put to death on the Cross. The faithful are reminded of the role which their own sin played in this suffering and agony, as Christ took all sin upon himself, in obedience to His Father’s will. By the Cross, we are redeemed, set free from bondage to sin and death. The Cross is a sign of God’s never-ending love for us. It is a sign of life, in the midst of death.
EASTER SUNDAY - On this day, we join with the women at the tomb and the disciples of Christ in the locked room in Jerusalem, experiencing sudden surprise and joy that the tomb of Jesus is empty, and God has raised Christ, our Savior and Lord from the dead as a first-fruits of a New Creation. Everything is different now! The liturgical color changes from Lenten purple to Easter white. The saying of Alleluia returns to our liturgy in joyful shouts. We sing songs of exultant celebration, and we begin the SEASON of Easter which lasts for 50 days—longer than the penitential period of Lent.
Reviewing Our Vestry Nomination Process | November 2021 - January 2022
Last week, our current Mission Vestry members finished our side of the Vestry Nomination Process. Today, we shared with our congregation our 2022 Vestry slate including 3 excellent candidates our current Vestry is putting forward to our congregation’s members to approve or disapprove as a whole slate by vote at our upcoming Annual Congregational Meeting on Sunday, February 27th from 11 AM - noon at House of Joy.
As we prepare for this vote, we want to share with you the step by step details of the process so that you know how leadership decisions were made which allowed the process to unfold. We believe sharing these details is important both for the sake of transparency in our operations as a church, and also to show you how important the continued participation of as many of our members as possible truly is in the annual vestry nomination process. So let’s start back in November 2021 with step 1:
1) November 10 - 24, 2021 - We opened a 2 week window in which we asked the members of the Mission Cincinnati congregation to nominate fellow members to serve on the Vestry. We announced that we were ideally looking for 2 new members (ideally both female) to join our 2022 Vestry class. 9 nominations were submitted. Some candidates were nominated multiple times, and in total we had 6 nominees.
2) Tuesday November 30th - Our current Vestry met and reviewed the nominations to ensure nominees meet the qualifications to serve on our Vestry. The current vestry determined that all 6 candidates not only qualified but that all 6 would be excellent candidates to serve on our Vestry.
3) December 1 - 19 - Our current Vestry reached out to the 6 nominees, shared with them what their nominators had said about them, and invited them to continue in the Vestry nomination process. After prayerful consideration, 3 nominees declined the invitation to move forward in the process (though they expressed tremendous honor and gratitude for being considered). The other 3 nominees accepted the invitation to move forward in the process.
4) December 20 - Jan 11 - The 3 nominees completed a short questionnaire about their faith journey, interest in serving on the Vestry, and practical skills. On Tuesday, January 11th, all 3 shared individual interviews with our current Vestry members and Rector. After the interviews, our Vestry and Rector agreed that while we had initially only sought to find TWO candidates for this year’s Vestry slate, that ALL THREE candidates in fact would be an excellent fit to serve this year.
5) Tuesday, January 18th - At our first Vestry meeting of 2022, our current Vestry voted unanimously to invite all 3 candidates to join the 2022 Vestry slate.
6) January 18th - 21st - After a final round of prayerful reflection, all 3 of these candidates accepted the invitation to move forward in the process and officially join the 2022 Vestry class slate. If approved by the congregational vote at the Annual Meeting, all 3 will begin 3-year terms of service to our church on the Mission Cincinnati Vestry.
We want to sincerely thank everyone who took part in this process: those who made nominations, those who were nominated and discerned whether or not the time was right for them to serve, and those who after navigating the process have said yes to being on this year’s Vestry slate. We celebrate the health of our congregation: that we have been blessed with so many faithful, mature, and gifted people who would make such excellent candidates to serve on our Vestry, and that so many people in our church enthusiastically participated in nominating others to do so. There is an African proverb that says, “it takes a village to raise a child.” In our case it takes the faithful participation of a whole church to prayerfully bring forth a great Vestry class. God has been so faithful to us in moving our whole congregation to take part in this process and we have great nominees as a result! Praise God!
If you have any questions about the Vestry nomination process, please feel free to reach out to william@missioncincinnati.org.
Our 6-Month 1st Corinthians Journey | Why We're Doing It & Why It Matters For You!
Perhaps like you, I have been troubled by the state of Christianity in America for some time. Having walked with hundreds of college students and 20-somethings in my previous ministry context who were healing, soul-searching, and understandably processing massive questions in the aftermath of damaging fundamentalism, charismania, and strange unorthodox theologies that shaped their previous faith communities, I found myself shocked by how little what other people were telling me characterized their church experiences resembled what I understood, had personally experienced, and believed Christianity to be.
In 2016, the American-Evangelicalism-backed ascendancy of President Trump—most especially the apparent willingness, even eagerness on the part of many committed Christians to give the 45th president a complete pass on issues of egregious and public immorality—began to highlight the ways in which many Americans’ faith was more partisan than it was Christian (Please note this is not meant to be a criticism of the Republican political platform. It is specifically a critique of how many Christian leaders excused the specific and flagrant immorality of Trump personally). The years of the Trump presidency further highlighted what people of color in our country have long seen and understood: that all too-often white Christians and our churches ignore or are unaware of the extent of personal and systemic racism and its impact in our country, preferring a more generalized allegiance to “the Gospel” in a way that has little traction in public places other than personal self-improvement, increasing religious knowledge, or training in pious performance.
Then in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic revealed an American church that seemed to have little to offer of practical help to the hurting around us. We often struggled to adapt to a suddenly-changed context and tore ourselves apart fighting over masks and social distancing protocols with unfortunate regularity.
I say all of this as a Christian and a pastor who loves the church and desires that all people might come to a saving knowledge of faith in Jesus and desire to be counted among the church’s membership. I, like Mike Cosper and the staff of Christianity Today responding to critiques of the Rise and Fall of Mars Hill podcast, believe its essential for us as Christians to share stories of our brokenness, to publicly confess our sins and failings, and then to make a faith-filled Christ-dependent plan to repent and change the ways we’ve lived. Such a posture allows us to fight our own hypocrisy. It also signals our understanding to a watching world that people have often been hurt when we have been unfaithful, even when the damage we caused was unintentional. All of this, helps remind us and show that world that we as Christians understand that we and our churches are not perfect places, only accessible to sanctified saints, but that we are truly, as St. Augustine once told the Donatists, “a mixed bag of saints and sinners” amidst whom God is somehow and surprisingly still at work.
And this is not just true of the church today, this has always been the story of the people of God.
As N.T. Wright reflects, “People sometimes talk as if first-generation Christianity enjoyed a pure, untroubled, honeymoon period, after which things became more difficult; but there’s no evidence for this in the New Testament. Right from the start, Paul found himself not only announcing the gospel of Jesus, but struggling to hold together in a single family those who had obeyed its summons.”
Talk of the kind Wright critiques can shame churches today. If Christianity USED to be perfect than what’s wrong with US for being so messed up? Joining this false-church-golden-age mentality to American consumerism can create a church shopper mentality that seeks a “perfect” church because the one I currently go to is so messed up. It can also hold out to the watching world and to those believers we are called to disciple, a false expectation that church is SUPPOSED to be a perfect place, and thus the imperfections and abuses of the church are not only a mark of CHRISTIAN failings, they are ALSO a mark of GOD’S ABSENSE.
All of this is why we will take 6 months to patiently journey through Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians in 2022 at The Mission Cincinnati.
In this letter we see the Apostle writing to a VERY messed up church, calling followers of Jesus back to a very faithful and loving God who STILL desires to use them—immense brokenness and all—to be agents of healing in the world. A God who remains present with them and wants to involve them in the unfolding story He is writing. A story that leads from our broken present to His globally restored future when Jesus will come back and make all things new.
1 Corinthians is a letter that acknowledges the church is NOT a perfect place. It makes space for imperfect believers in the Story of God. It also brings the counsel of God and the application of the Gospel to bear on a wide variety of issues that are very relevant to all of us today. As Kenneth Bailey writes, for these reasons, 1st Corinthians is widely regarded as “Paul’s most contemporary letter.” He actually addresses it, not just to the Corinthians, but to the whole church: which includes Christians across the world in Ancient Rome 2,000 years ago, and us today.
Over the months of this journey, studying this letter will help us be both more honest about our own failings, will prompt deeper self-examination and reflection, and will also spark within us greater hope: that no matter how far gone we feel, God can still use us! No matter how broken the world seems, God is STILL at work to redeem, heal, and repair—in ALL spaces: both sacred & secular, in households and on the street, and in every societal vocation! And as we gain confidence in this belief in God’s continued presence and activity, we can more prayerfully repent and turn our lives more and more to obedience to Jesus—likely never reaching perfection this side of heaven—but more and more conforming our lives to the likeness of Christ so that when people see His followers in the world, they will see US.
We’d love to invite you to join us on this journey as we engage the letter of 1st Corinthians on Sundays from now until Pentecost. Bring your scars, brokenness, and all. Expect to encounter a Jesus who loves you in all of us, and who wants to work in and through your life to heal, renew, and repair all things!
See you Sundays at 9:30 AM at 3220 Central Parkway, Cincinnati OH!
Spring Discipleship Community Preview
Greetings Mission Cincinnati,
It is hard to believe, but 2022 is just around the corner, and we are so excited for what’s ahead! God has been at work within our community over the last year, helping us establish some great opportunities and rhythms for discipleship and community, and in the New Year, we’ll continue to build upon that great foundation. Some of what we will offer will be the same as this Fall, and some of it will be new. We’ll share more about all this in the future, but here is a preview:
Epiphany-tide Classes – New!*
For five weeks in January and early February, we’ll have an opportunity to engage some important topics and do some training. Here is the current line-up of classes.
Rhythms for 2022 - Creating a Rule of Life: Sundays after church in the Rock from 11AM-12PM every other week for three sessions (1/9, 1/23, 2/6), Taught by Rev. Kristen
Neighborhood Playbook: Thursdays from 6-7:30 PM in the Rock for 4 sessions (1/13, 1/20, 1/27, and 2/3), Taught by Fr. William and Charles Dudley
Faith and Vocation: Tuesdays from 6-7:30 PM in the Rock for two sessions (1/18, 1/25), Taught by Mike Jorgenson
Prayers of the People and Lector Training: One Sunday after church in the Rock from 11AM-12 PM (1/16), Taught by Rev. Kristen
You can let us know your interest on the online interest form HERE—> https://www.missioncincinnati.org/epiphanyterm
Regional Small Groups – New!*
Starting in mid-February, we are going to launch our first ever Regional Small Groups! These intergenerational groups will be meeting all around Cincinnati and NKY and will provide an opportunity for fellowship/food, prayer, and engagement with the previous week’s sermon or another Scriptural topic of interest. These groups are open to everyone inside and outside the church and are great spaces to continue to deepen one’s relationship with the Lord and one another. If you have already gone through the Pathways cohorts, these are a great next step for you. Our Winter/Spring 2022 Regional Small Groups will be meeting through the middle of May in Pleasant Ridge, Mt. Auburn, and Union KY, and we expect to expand these offerings in the Fall of 2022.
Pathways Cohorts
Also re-starting in mid-February (the week of the 13th) will be our Mission Pathway Cohorts. If you are relatively new to the church, these cohorts are for you. They are a great place to meet new people and help you understand what we believe as a church. Heartbeat/Anglican 101, which meets on Sundays directly after church for 9 weeks, will help you understand the vision and values of our church, and Anglican 101 will help you understand the distinctives of our Tradition. Storied, which meets in homes for 12 weeks will provide you with an opportunity to wrestle with and discuss the grand sweep of the Scriptures and the historic beliefs of the church. There will be two Storied cohorts this Winter/Spring; one will meet in Edgewood, KY and the other will meet in Mount Washington. Both cohorts will share meals with each other before diving into discussion.
You can begin signing up for Pathways today on our website HERE—> http://www.missioncincinnati.org/pathways-form
Gatherings for Women, Men, and Moms
Also re-starting in mid-February will be our monthly gatherings for women, men, and mom’s. These are great spaces to have fun with each other and to get to know each other more deeply. All our gatherings for the Winter/Spring will be announced by late January.
Spring-term classes – New!*
For five weeks in May/June, we’ll have another opportunity for classes. These classes will be announced in early Spring.
We hope you will join us!
Blessings,
Rev. Kristen