The Franconia-Springfield Mission has its first pre-launch Eucharist Service

by Morgan Reed

When Jesus builds the church, it is never closed, and His kingdom will never be stopped. This theme was preached last Sunday and was put on display in the turnout of people who came to worship at the very first pre-launch Eucharist service at the Franconia-Springfield Mission. I'm pretty sure they were smiling because of their eyes, but everyone was wearing masks when they arrived!

The day began when I parked near the top of the hill overlooking Lake Accotink and began to unload my traveling sacristy while joggers, walkers, and bicyclists stopped to use the restroom near the picnic shelter. They looked on in confusion as this guy in a clerical collar was carrying a table, tubs, linens, candle sticks, and more, to the large picnic area. The service began with one of our young acolytes processing in and continued with many of the beautiful ceremonies that compose Anglican worship (albeit if in seminal form): a credence table made from a metal picnic table, incense wafting through the air from a standing censer, a Missal made from a stylized binder and printout of the new ACNA altar book, sanctus bells repurposed from a common handbell, and pews consisting of lawn chairs and picnic benches. Despite the gloves I could never quite figure out how to put on reverently, the young children making their presence known, celebrating ad orientem without sound equipment and functionally yelling the Eucharistic prayers into a stylish mask, Lake Accotink that day felt like what the Celts would call a thin space, where the space between the heavenly realm and earthly realm is very thin.

Early in the service I noticed that two bicycles were parked, abandoned by a tree, just outside the shelter. The two bicyclists, to which these bikes belonged, were standing nearby, walking around and listening. Even though they never came up for the Eucharist and I never was able to meet them, I noticed that they stayed all the way through the homily. I am excited to continue to meet at this shelter where bikers, joggers, and walkers will all stop to use the restroom and look on at this thin space with curiosity and perhaps even longing. Seeing the joy in the saints who were present and the curiosity of those who looked up the hill at what was happening reminded me of why we plant churches.

People long for what is not of this world, for restoration, renewal, and community. This might be the encounter with the Kingdom of God that someone needed to put their faith in Jesus Christ. I am excited to see how God will continue to shape the DNA of this launch team and grow His Kingdom through our monthly Eucharist services together. We could not do this work without the prayers and generous gifts of God’s people: both from individuals and from our generous partner churches. Thank you for supporting God’s kingdom work in this new church plant. If you want to hear more about what we are doing, check out https://tfsmission.org and send me an email at morgan@tfsmission.org.

The Rev. Morgan Reed has been called to plant a church that will have real gospel impact in Franconia, Springfield, and Kingstowne, Virginia.

Same Prayers, Different Day

A recent blog post from the Franconia/Springfield Church Plant, helps to answer a common question:

“Are we being faithful and authentic by praying written prayers?”

In addition to answering this question, The Rev. Morgan Reed reminds us that during a pandemic, believers are connected in a unique way when daily praying from the same Book of Common Prayer:

In this pandemic, I believe this Book of Common Prayer forms the rule of prayer that our hearts need to order what feels unruly and ever changing. It teaches us how to come to God in grief and lamentation, in repentance, and in authentic joy for His great acts of salvation. This season is forming us into one of our core values, which is to live the kind of life outlined in the Book of Common Prayer. Growing as a disciple of Jesus does not stop during a pandemic and although we cannot be in physical proximity together, we can share a prayer life.

Read more here.

Starting a New Church During a Pandemic

The Welcome Brunch was our very first meeting together as The Franconia-Springfield Mission, so when the pandemic became bad enough that all public gatherings were required to have less than ten people at 6 feet apart, we were not thrilled with the prospect of canceling it. What ultimately kept us from canceling was recognizing the need that people have for human interaction — even if virtual is the best we can do. One of our core values at TFS Mission is hospitality and in this world of virtual conversation we wanted to create a virtual table for everyone to gather around. One difficulty with Zoom is that it does not facilitate good large group communication patterns. What started as a 'get-to-know-one-another' event became a 'get-to-know-the-plan-for-this-new-church' event, which changed a gathering that would have been primarily a conversation into primarily a presentation. Going through a presentation about this new church was a helpful start, but using Zoom that morning forced me to think about how to virtually facilitate the kinds of conversation we want to have in larger groups.

Different types of services need different types of virtual media, or at least different settings within one medium (i.e., livestream, conference call, etc). If I want to turn a presentation back into conversation then I need to think about how to manufacture it. We are going to have a Bible Study together once per month where we discuss the occasions where Jesus describes what it means to be his disciples. There will be food, discussion, and prayer; and yet, it will all be virtual. We will take this larger group and break it down into small discussion groups by using Zoom breakout rooms and see how that works. 

We have begun doing Compline together on Wednesday nights through Zoom and the presentation format works well in this instance (I also pray the responses, but invite others to join me). This need arose from conversations about how unstructured a day feels for people. The service is simple, quiet, contemplative, and where there would normally be a reflection I lead us through an examen. Several have told me they appreciate the discipline of building in silence and reflection into their day. (See all events on the Facebook page or website.)

The database we use is Planning Center Online and one of the many reasons I have appreciated this database is its ability to create forms. Security is a concern when we do things virtually, but one solution I am trying is asking people to RSVP for a virtual event. The Database form will filter out any bots and if I see a name I do not recognize, this provides me an opportunity to follow up with that person. The automatic response to someone's RSVP has the Zoom information.

The Rev. Morgan Reed has been called to plant a church that will have real gospel impact in Franconia, Springfield, and Kingstowne, Virginia.

Creative Ministry in an Unexpected Time

Creative Ministry in an Unexpected Time

 
By David Comeau & Tee Feyrer 
 
When university presidents at both VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University) and U of R (University of Richmond) announced the transition to remote learning we were shocked. This virus was moving so quickly. Something that not long ago had barely been on our radars was now drastically affecting our lives and the lives of people we love. Each of us felt like we were beginning to see momentum in these new ministries. Our living rooms were beginning to fill up. Relationships were being built. The gospel was being shared. Some students were learning of the love of Jesus for the first time, others were joyfully discovering the richness of the scriptures they had read in church or with their families since childhood. Students were trusting us with their pain, opening themselves up to prayer. We were looking forward to returning from spring break fresh and ready to finish our semester strong. Now what?  

As we write this - one week after schools announced closure - we recognize the tragedy and the gravity of this situation (which of course goes far beyond college ministry). Yet we are also very hopeful. We know this is not the first time the church has faced a challenge like this, and we remind ourselves as the psalmist does (Psalm 42) that we serve a Lord who “commands his steadfast love by day” and whose “song is with us [and those we love] by night.” We believe we serve a good and loving God who longs for his children - in our case, these particular college students - to know him and trust him as Father. We also believe that, though we will not be together physically, our ministries will continue to reach students and even grow in this season.  

This week, with the wise counsel of our church staff, we are making a hard pivot and looking ahead to a spring and summer of what we will in this article call “creative ministry in an unexpected time.” Our discipleship meetings will continue virtually by phone or video-call, weekly large groups with teaching, prayer, and fellowship will be held at our normal times on Zoom, and we will see the very few who have remained in town in safe socially distant ways (i.e going on a run or walk six feet apart). We are hearing exciting reports from other ministries moving to this platform who are reaching more and more students and believe this is a time ripe for the gospel to be shared. Recognizing however, the massive shift in which most of our lives are going online, mediated by a screen, we are sending our students handwritten letters through the mail, a guide for silent retreat, personally bound books with devotional resources steeped in our rich tradition yet contextualized for today, good stories (think Wendell Berry, CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien),  and discipleship resources (think A Common Rule, Liturgy of the Ordinary, Drama of Scripture). Tee is even curating Spotify playlists for his students to accompany them while they work.  

We believe this is a unique time in which the Lord may use us to enter into the soft places of students' hearts with the hope of the gospel. Their security is compromised. Their plans, for the most part, have gone by the wayside. Many of them have a growing amount of material need. Many of them are afraid.

Would you join us in prayer for our ministries and our students? 

The Rev. David Comeau & Tee Feyrer are college ministers with Redeemer Anglican Church in Richmond, VA.  David is a college minister at VCU and Tee is a college minister at U of R.