On Making Room

Dear All Souls,

Over the years All Souls has been blessed with significant, steady, healthy growth in the number of people who call it their church home.

This is a blessing - God is clearly at work in and through the life of this community, and many of you have more than one story you could tell about your own place here and how God has met you in it.

What's also true is that we're pretty much out of room in the nave on a Sunday morning. For the last 9 months, our average attendance has been at about 90% of the capacity of our worship space, and it's beginning to get difficult for new folks (or anyone who arrives late which, as most of you know, is no big deal around here) to find a place to sit!

From the beginning of our life together at backyard cookouts around the Southside of Richmond, we've said that we want to be a church that goes out, "to the highways and hedges" as Luke says, to compel strangers to come in and receive the welcome of Christ among us; we've said we want to be "curved out" rather than "curved in upon ourselves"; we've said that hospitality is both a principle joy of our life together and the vocation of the church in our time. We make room for others because God made room for us!

Because of those dreams and values (and after a lot of deliberation and prayer), we've decided that the best way to attend to what God is doing among us is to add a second service on Sundays.

Here's what that will look like:

Beginning October 11

9 am - First Service

10:15 am-11 am - Coffee Hour

11 am - Second Service

Practically, I want to invite you all to prioritize arriving early (for the 11 am service) or staying late (for the 9 am service) to see and stay connected with friends and loved ones who attend a different service.

We're also expanding our programming to provide more non-Sunday opportunities to make and build relationships via Youth, Men's, and Women's Fellowship gatherings through this Fall and Spring (keep your eyes peeled for announcements!).

Theologically, I think God is inviting us as a community to renew the commitment we've always had to make preferential choices for the stranger: inviting those who aren't a part of our community to join it, and making room for them when they take the vulnerable step to show up! All for the sake of being embraced by Christ and his Church.

This will be a big change for us, and one that should be an occasion for both joy (God is building and blessing our church!) and grief (things will feel different in some ways). It's important that we are able to feel both as needed, and I'll be right there with you. But it is clear that this is where God is leading our parish, and that it is a good thing!

As with everything we do, we'll evaluate this together over time.

As ever, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out.

With deep gratitude,

Fr. Danny