Seattle Metro Church

Tonight our discussion of 3rd John at one point evolved into a conversation about travelling teachers. It seems that SMC may be in a unique situation to benefit from and be a benefit to the kind of travelling teachers that were more common during the early years of the church. As a church, we have an extremely low overhead (no property, no staff) and that would allow us to generously compensate those individuals who would be willing to spend time teaching with us. Additionally, since we have no full-time preachers (other than ourselves), the presentation of a message of God by those outside of our fellowship could be both encouraging and challenging. Finally, we could form connections with these wandering teacher who have connections with so many others. These networks could prove invaluable, allowing connections between churches that wouldn’t otherwise exist. This would enable us to help one another in times of need and, as Tami pointed out from 3rd John, allow the good reputations of the churches to spread and be an encouragement to others.

Unfortunately, there aren’t many ecclesiastical vagabonds who wander the United States, except for those holy-celebs on tour. I’m thinking that personal connections would be the only way to be the way to move forward with this idea, at least in our Seattle context. Just some thoughts.

Our calendar is now available at http://www.seattlemetrochurch.com/calendar. On this page you will find links to RSS and iCal feeds for subscribing to our event calendar, and you can easily add any event to Outlook and iCal.

Sometimes people value things more when they’re not free. But these films deserves to be watched, by individuals as well as churches.

Darfur Destroyed is a 6-minute film (streaming RealVideo file here) that can be shown in churches and other gatherings to encourage a corporate and individual response to the situation. It’s composed of first-hand accounts from displaced Darfur residents, who describe the bombings, robbery, and eviction they have suffered at the hands of the Janjaweed militia and government forces. It is subtitled in English, and has some information onscreen as well.

Physicians for Human Rights also has a narrated slideshow on the Darfur situation (or, if you prefer, an illustrated audio report) with still photos, which is narrated in English.