A few weeks ago we decided as a group to discontinue our Sunday gatherings. This was a difficult decision to make, as our Sunday gatherings have been SMC’s primary meeting and identity for the past four years, and there have been a lot of mixed emotions. We will be continuing our other gatherings, which are currently two book study groups (one is How (Not) to Speak of God by Pete Rollins and the other is The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis), Film and Spirituality, and occasional gatherings to discuss our spiritual lives.

In the past two or three months we have had a number of discussions as a group about how to change our Sunday mornings to better reflect our needs as a group, while still remaining sustainable and simple. As a result, we have decided that our Sunday mornings could not fulfill all the needs being expected of it, and there were ways in which it had lost its life for some of us. One way that we felt our church was really succeeding was in the area of community, and we have decided that our midweek gatherings will continue to meet that need. These gatherings have been really successful, challenging, and enjoyable for all of us and we are looking forward to them getting even better with more energy being devoted to them. We have also decided that having Sundays free to attend other churches will allow us to meet needs that our group was missing, including things from greater intellectual challenge to a broader diversity of ages.

We do not yet know if this will be a permanent change or not. We are leaving the door open to continue our Sunday gatherings (or something similar to them) in the future, but for now we have decided to take a break. As always, feel free to drop in at our weekday gatherings and please keep us in your prayers as we take this new direction.