Commissioning of Leaders for Church Plant and Licensing

Sunday, October 28, 2012
2pm
Pittsburgh Mennonite Church, Pittsburgh, PA

RSVP on Facebook.

Many will gather from a multitude of communities to celebrate and commission a church planting endeavor in Oakland (Pittsburgh) (learn more about the vision for this new community at http://goo.gl/ormsR). You are people who have already influenced what this community is becoming. We would like to invite you to join us in person or in spirit for this commissioning and licensing.

In addition, we invite you to consider offering a gift with which to bless this new community, an Ebeneezer if you will, that reflects God’s faithfulness to you or your community. This could be a passage of Scripture, song, artwork, icon, poem, essay, practice, book, vestment, prayer, recipe or anything else that has shaped you and your community.

We will have a space for you to share your contribution during the commissioning, if you are so inclined. If it is something that you need setup for, i.e. a song, please let us know ahead of time. In the event that we run out of time for everyone to share aloud during the service, please bring something in material form by which we can remember your contribution (i.e. a lyric sheet, the verses written out, etc.) and write a bit of why it has been so instrumental to you and your community.

We will gather for a potluck around 12:30, followed by the commissioning and licensing of the church plant, and a prayer walk in Oakland. Please plan to attend any and all that you can.

Pentecost Sermon

I got to speak with Pittsburgh Mennonite for Pentecost.  I spoke on Genesis 11:1-9 and Acts 2.  Here’s the audio:

Pentecost Sermon 2012 with Pittsburgh Mennonite (MP3)

Collective Wisdom

At one point a few years ago, I had three beds and didn’t sleep in any of them—the bed I slept in was borrowed. I have tons of kitchen and bathroom supplies, along with myriad books, furniture, and DVDs, some of which I purchased, but many the remaining vestiges of former communities.

When communities end, I’m often the one who receives any items that might be helpful for a future community. I’m also the one people call when they need something and don’t know where to get it—a shop vac for instance.

In addition to being a keeper of community goods, I’ve recently realized that I am also the keeper of a bunch of community wisdom.

Similarly to the various items in my trust, much of the wisdom I share with people does not come from my own experiences or faithfulness, but most often from people like you and the cadre of others I love and share life with.

Bees fly from flower to flower, sharing the pollen and the potency of one flower to the next.

Likewise, I’ve discovered one of my roles is to receive the wisdom of those I meet with while sharing the wisdom others have given me. It’s a huge blessing and responsibility not to be limited by my own experience but to be able to share yours as well. Thank you for trusting me with this collective wisdom and enabling me to share it with the wider Church. I watch it bear fruit every day.

It’s a spiritual potluck. We each bring a dish.

Check out my guest post on Jan Edmiston‘s blog A Church for Starving Artists about church as spiritual potluck instead of banquet.

2011 Year in Review

My 2011 Year in Review is now available for download as a PDF.  Check it out at mattpritchard.com/newsletter

House of St Michael the Archangel Devotional Conference this January

As many of you know, I’m a part of the House of St Michael the Archangel, a community of people dedicated to total conversion to the life of Jesus Christ. The work of the community in prayer, reading of scripture, and reading of early church writings has been one of the most transforming experiences of my life. It’s because of this that I’m inviting you to our annual devotional conference. It’s likely to be very different from anything you’ve experienced and will definitely be challenging, but I’m confident you will find the experience deeply worthwhile.

I hope you will consider coming!

If you are coming from outside of Pittsburgh, you will definitely have a place to stay. ;) Just let me know.

Here’s some more information about the conference:

Too many Christians aren’t impressed with Jesus, at least not enough. The annual House of St Michael the Archangel Devotional Conference is committed to entering into greater awe and reverence for the Lord Jesus Christ. The focus of this year’s conference will be on devotion to the name of Jesus. And through worship and the witness of the ancient Church, the Devotional Conference will call people to desire Jesus Christ with ever greater conviction.

Dates: Friday-Saturday, January 13-14, 2012

Times: Friday, 6pm-10pm; Saturday, 8:30am-4:30pm

Cost: $30 (covers food)

Order tickets via Eventbrite:
http://devotionalconference-efbevent.eventbrite.com/

Where: Oakmont Presbyterian Church, 415 Pennsylvania Ave, Oakmont, PA

There will also be optional vigil from 10pm on Friday through 8am on Saturday. The vigil will involve the reading of the Acts of the Apostles and the singing of the Jesus Prayer. People are welcome to participate in the vigil as much as they’re able – which could be for one hour, two hours, four hours, the whole thing, or not at all. People who participate in the vigil will also be welcome to sleep in the church when they’re not holding vigil.

“Community Living for the Long Haul” in this quarter’s Conspire

The spring 2011 issue of Conspire magazine is themed “Grit and Grace: Love for the Long Haul” and, in additional to a lot of great art and essays, features an article by yours truly titled “Community Living for the Long Haul.”  The article explores common mistakes communities make.

Check out the promo video:

Be Ruthless in the Living of Call (House of St Michael the Archangel)

I’ll be blogging regularly at the House of St Michael the Archangel.  My first post is now available.  Here’s a preview:

I have many friends who work in areas where life and death are truly in the balance.  There’s always a sense that if I work a little more, one more street child will be safe, one less person will die of aids or starvation, or one more slave will be set free.  Even in my pastoral work, there’s a sense that if I just spend a little more time with people it will make a difference.  These thoughts are evil!  They are a proclamation that you are the one holding the world together, that you love them more than God does.  Only when we are confident in our call and the character of our God, can we say no with the peace that God doesn’t need us to save the world, he needs us to do and be exactly that which he has built and called us to do and be, nothing more and nothing less.  The Kingdom of God comes when we each, with reckless abandon, fall into submission to God, not when we each pursue that which we think will maximize the work of our hands.

Read the rest…

A Not-So-Simple Life.

The Washington Post Magazine today features a wonderful article about A Simple House, A Not-So-Simple Life.  It’s a really great article that helps explain a lot of the things we’ve been working through living in community. It also features a couple of quotes from my housemate Dawnielle Miller and mentions our community, Casa Chirilagua.  Let me know what you think!

Activist D.C. Church Embraces Transition in Name of Its Mission

The Washington Post’s Michelle Boorstein recently wrote an article about Church of the Savior, Activist D.C. Church Embraces Transition in Name of Its Mission. To quote one of my friends in the city, “No other group of people has done more to bring social justice to the city.” They were emerging decades before anyone had any concept of what that meant. I have many friends in their community and I admire their work more than I can articulate.