Matt Boswell on Building Redemption Church, Part II

tonygill — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:00:36 +0000

What does it take to create a church? In fall of 2011, we visited with Pastor Matt Boswell of Redemption Church in Duvall, WA. Matt and a number of other folks were charged with setting up a church within one week’s time and we had the opportunity to talk with him just a few days after they accomplished this seemingly impossible mission. In this interview, we return to Pastor Matt and first ask him to reflect upon that first chaotic week to see if he would have done anything differently. It turns out that with a few months of 20/20 hindsight that they would not have done anything differently and Matt talks about how God’s hand played a huge role in accomplishing the organizational tasks needed gather 500+ people for a Sunday service. We turn our attention then to the next month. After getting a chance to breathe a bit and catch up on some sleep, the leaders of Redemption Church were faced with the challenge of establishing by-laws, determining the requirements for church membership, and taking care of finding space to conduct their youth ministry and other small groups (cleverly called “re:groups” by Redemption Church). We start out by talking about the importance of having a permanent meeting place and how the church moved from meeting temporarily in whatever place they could find (including the homes and barns of members) to a more permanent location. Tony presses Matt about whether or not the church will have to move out of the high school auditorium eventually and the merits about having a permanent structure that is both the Sunday meeting place and weekday offices. Matt, who recognizes the high school is not a permanent solution, provides some interesting ruminations about what the future physical location of Redemption Church will look like, including the importance of making the building “uncomfortable” for the pastoral staff so that they don’t become too isolated behind church walls. Along the way, Matt tells some stories about how he had been “accidently” ministering in a local tavern and what this taught him about being a “church without walls.” Our discussion then veers towards the discussion of by-laws including how the church chooses its elders, trains them, establishes requirements for membership. Tony and Matt then share the story of how the congregation dealt with having Christmas services at a public high school and what happened when the power went out about a half hour before Christmas Day services. The interview ends with a brief discussion on the merits of denominationalism and whether or not Redemption Church has plans to join an established denomination. This is a great podcast for pastors or individuals who are interested in the background organization of churches. Recorded: January 9, 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 » public school

Matt Boswell on Building Redemption Church, Part II

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