Houston Report #10: Ecclesia Community & Chris Seay

Welcome to one of the premiere emergent church projects, the Ecclesia Community. It is in the hip, bohemian area of Houston and part of its purpose is to be a gathering place all week long. Many of the church buildings we visited had coffee shops in their foyers, this building can better be described as a coffee shop/art gallery that houses worship services on Sunday.

Many of the people who hang out here during the week only later discover that it home to a community of believers.

We had enough time at Ecclesia to kick back, enjoy the warmish weather, and relax (a true luxury).Ahhhh . . . sweet respite on a busy Sunday.The coffee shop has a book store in it and the selection of books would make a fine reading list.The coffee was good (Fair Trade Coffee, of course).

We were given a tour of the facilities. Because they stress the use of the creative arts in our response to God's goodness, they have a recording studio (as seen in this picture).They also house an art gallery......with some interesting art that blended the old and the new.

The show on display while we were there was a collection of drawings from a New York artist who did his work while riding the subways.
The worship service made use of your basic rock instruments, but in a fairly unplugged fashion. They also made use of higher liturgical elements and seemed to be following the Christian calendar to some extent.Worship was packed and the crowd was youngish and cool.
Afterward we had the opportunity to eat supper with Chris Seay (pronounced: See) who shared with us the focus and the hopes of Ecclesia. He also shared his work with the "Voice" project. This is an effort he is spearheading to bring the storyteller's voice to the translation of scripture. It won't surprise you that I am looking forward to watching it unfold. Here is one of the volumes: click here.

There is so much to process about our visit to Houston and Ecclesia is a prime example. This worship service put a higher value on authenticity than showmanship. They also appear to have progressed as a movement to the point where institutional issues threaten to make life more complicated (they needed people to volunteer to teach and nurture the children of the church).

Seay is a leader in the post-modern interpretation of faith and the church. It was a treat for us to get to spend some time with him. He has an excellent mind.
And the Vietnamese Restaurant hit the spot for me . . . probably for most of the Beeson wives too.