Matt Boswell on Redemption Church, One Year Later

tonygill — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 08:00:56 +0000

One year ago, we interviewed Pastor Matt Boswell of Redemption Church who was part of a small team that created a church in one week’s time. We return to the scene of our initial interview — Match Coffee and Wine Bar in Duvall, WA — to see what has changed over the course of the year. This is a fascinating interview that provides insights into how churches grow and change. The podcast starts with Pastor Matt getting on Tony for not having attended church in a couple months. Hear your faithful host’s pathetic explanation as he tries to weasel out of responsibility for his spiritual growth. Nonetheless, this exchange opens the door to talk about church attendance and how it may ebb and flow over the course of a year. After a gangbuster opening week back in early October 2011, with standing room only, attendance at Redemption Church (RC) has settled into a typical rhythm. Matt talks about how the Pacific Northwest has a church attendance pattern that is different than other places in the United States with the typical member coming to Sunday services twice a month. We hypothesize about reasons why this might be. The other large issue that comes up early in the podcast deals with the logistics of a church that doesn’t have a “traditional church building.” Whereas RC does have administrative offices located above the local hardware store, the congregation meets in the town’s public high school, a space that is only available to them for a couple hours every weekend. The importance of “space” and “mission” is discussed at length. Whereas many people do like to have, and are comforted by, a stable location that they know they can go to (which is the role of the administrative offices), one of the initial goals of RC was to become a “church without walls,” wherein the pastoral staff has to go out into different parts of the town to work. Matt talks about how he often works on his Sunday sermons in a local bar, often attracting the attention of the patrons who find it odd that a member of the clergy would be hanging out with beer drinkers. This then moves to a discussion of how RC has structured its outreach and the different means with which they seek to attract people to the Word of God. Tony also brings up the issue of weddings and funerals and how these things are managed. After all, not many people like to get married in a high school auditorium, or make their last stop on earth be the same place where the senior class performed “Grease” the night before. Matt gives his take on where the wedding scene is at and how RC manages weddings and (potentially) funeral. (RC has not had the occasion of a funeral in its first year of existence.) He also shares the most unusual place he married a couple. The issue of “space” also brings up one of Tony’s most vexing questions: Has anyone in the “packed tight” high school auditorium ever spilled the sacramental grape juice when it is passed around? And what about those popcorn buckets? After answering this deeply philosophical question, the conversation then skips to a “church tour” that the RC pastoral staff took to Spokane, WA to learn about how other churches operate. This is a fascinating comparative study of different denominations at different points in their life span. Matt discusses how he learned about the importance of a church having a “vision.” This discussion would be of great interest to any clergy member or those interested in what makes for a successful congregation. We finish up with Matt’s reflections on what he learned over the past year, including both the triumphs and the mistakes, and a “lightning round” of questions that I asked to other guests including preaching politics, pacifism, and fighting in the US War of Independence. Recorded with ambient sounds of Match Coffee and Wine Bar: September 19, 2012.

Matt Boswell on Starting a New Church (Really Fast!)

tonygill — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 08:00:49 +0000

What would you do if you thought you had about 80 people willing to attend church services but you had no meeting place, no money, no legal status, and no name? Do you think you could pull everything together in a week’s time? That is what Matt Boswell and a small team of individuals did with Redemption Church (the eventual name) in Duvall, WA. In fact, they went from 0 (money and members) to 562 attendees in just six days. No name, no money, no organization…no worries! We talk with Matt about all the organizational details that went in to this endeavor, highlighting what challenges face any start-up religious organization, but putting it into a super-charged dash to get things up and running before any momentum was lost. Matt goes into detail about the first hour of planning on a Monday morning, showing how this small group meeting in Lisa Bailey’s living room had to figure out: 1) structure; 2) mission; and 3) marketing. The structural logistics included getting a tax identification code and insurance so that they could secure a meeting space for the coming Sunday. We talk about the importance of a building, and with only a few vague ideas about where to meet Matt goes through the process of securing the local high school auditorium and additional rooms for the kid’s ministry. Obtaining insurance became critical because without insurance they could not easily rent a space. Determing on a name that reflected the mission of the church is also discussed, and Matt covers how important a name is to the identity of the church. We talk about why “Redemption” was chosen and why a more “churchy” name (as compared to more secular alternatives) might have an impact on how the congregants view themselves and who would attend services. The idea of missional identity is also discussed as Matt shares why he sees it as important that the church be in the community and not separate from it, a somewhat easy task during the first week since they didn’t have office space and resorted to coffee houses and pubs to conduct meetings. And meeting spaces are not the only thing that is important, but it became imperative to get lots of other “stuff” — e.g., Communion plates, audio equipment, toys and crayons for the kids’ ministry, and coffee pots. It is revealed that several individuals, businesses, and other churches rally to the assistance of this wayward congregation prompting some insights into the nature of religious competion — meaning not just a zero-sum game for parishioners, but a positive-sum game of people helping and learning from others. We then cover the issue of how to get the word about that there is a new church in town and where it would be meeting. We discuss whether “marketing” is an appropriate term to be used with religious organizations and determine that it is. Matt shares how they leveraged social media like Facebook as well as “being in the community” to inform people about the endeavor. And we find out that it does work as 562 people showed up for the first Sunday of the church’s existence, far exceeding expectations. Other great stories are told about popcorn buckets, electrical outlets, and what happens when you are a half-hour before services start and somebody realizes there is no grape juice for the Communion. We speculate a bit about the future and promise to check in at a later date to see if the success continues. Few sociologists get to see the very beginning of a new church, and this podcast allows you to peek in on the frenetic process. A rare treat, indeed! Recorded: October 4, 2011 (only 8 days after the first organizational meeting and two days after the first service, so the memories are still fresh).

Disclaimer: This is the congregation that the host of Research on Religion currently attends (though he had no influence on any of the decisions discussed in the podcast).

Special thanks to Match Coffee & Wine in Duvall, WA for hosting the interview.

Research On Religion » popcorn buckets

Matt Boswell on Redemption Church, One Year Later

Matt Boswell on Starting a New Church (Really Fast!)