In September of 2013 I launched the book INSPIRED: Churches of Seattle, a coffee table book showcasing the architecture and ministry of 52 churches in the greater Seattle area. The book was greeted with enthusiasm, except by a few honest friends who pulled me aside and asked: why in the wide world of sports write a book about churches in unchurched Seattle?
When my wife Hattie and I moved to the Emerald City from Los Angeles in 2011, we naturally started comparing the cities on prices, friendliness, weather etc. We also started driving by and visiting some amazing churches and wondered why there is so little written about them. Take for instance the 1990’s book Seattle: World-Class City: A Contemporary Portrait, a 300-page coffee table book that documents in detail every possible cultural and civic institution of note. Except Seattle churches, where nary a word was spoken.
Hello? We soon discovered churches in Seattle are a dynamic part of the current and historical culture of Seattle, affecting and contributing to all elements of the society. If you wanted to find out who is doing good in this city–helping with housing, hunger, domestic violence, human trafficking, addiction/recovery, mental health, gang, prison and refugee work–look for church folk to be in the mix. And Seattle sure has a boatload of churching for an unchurched city; I soon estimated there were over 100,000 people attending services every Sunday in the area.
So my main motivation was telling what seemed to be an untold story. I have to admit to some anger along with the desire to educate: the media is dissing the brethren and I need to do something about it! A few other Christians I knew shared this “them’s fighting words” (or in this case the lack of words) mentality, engendering in both of us a bit of an us vs. them vibe.
Unfortunately as I found out, the vibe in town could also be us vs. us. Like many larger cities, Seattle’s churches polarize over various issues: gay marriage, women in ministry, the list goes on and on. When it came right down to it there didn’t seem to be a great deal of contact in Seattle between the Mainline Protestants, Roman Catholics, Orthodox, Pentecostals, Evangelicals and dozens of other denominations.
Which invites the question I always ask when I visit the churches to market the book: with all the polarizing between the churches, is there anything that pulls us together? Many answers center around what should be the relationship between the churches, emphasizing Christ’s call to unity among us. Other answers look at similarities with social justice outreach, emphasizing that although we may have a few differences in faith and hope we can (and have) come together in love.
So although my original motivations for writing Inspired were to tell a neglected story and address a diss, I’m now inspired to take a look at church unity in the area. No easy answers here, but worth taking a closer look.
When my wife Hattie and I moved to the Emerald City from Los Angeles in 2011, we naturally started comparing the cities on prices, friendliness, weather etc. We also started driving by and visiting some amazing churches and wondered why there is so little written about them. Take for instance the 1990’s book Seattle: World-Class City: A Contemporary Portrait, a 300-page coffee table book that documents in detail every possible cultural and civic institution of note. Except Seattle churches, where nary a word was spoken.
Hello? We soon discovered churches in Seattle are a dynamic part of the current and historical culture of Seattle, affecting and contributing to all elements of the society. If you wanted to find out who is doing good in this city–helping with housing, hunger, domestic violence, human trafficking, addiction/recovery, mental health, gang, prison and refugee work–look for church folk to be in the mix. And Seattle sure has a boatload of churching for an unchurched city; I soon estimated there were over 100,000 people attending services every Sunday in the area.
So my main motivation was telling what seemed to be an untold story. I have to admit to some anger along with the desire to educate: the media is dissing the brethren and I need to do something about it! A few other Christians I knew shared this “them’s fighting words” (or in this case the lack of words) mentality, engendering in both of us a bit of an us vs. them vibe.
Unfortunately as I found out, the vibe in town could also be us vs. us. Like many larger cities, Seattle’s churches polarize over various issues: gay marriage, women in ministry, the list goes on and on. When it came right down to it there didn’t seem to be a great deal of contact in Seattle between the Mainline Protestants, Roman Catholics, Orthodox, Pentecostals, Evangelicals and dozens of other denominations.
Which invites the question I always ask when I visit the churches to market the book: with all the polarizing between the churches, is there anything that pulls us together? Many answers center around what should be the relationship between the churches, emphasizing Christ’s call to unity among us. Other answers look at similarities with social justice outreach, emphasizing that although we may have a few differences in faith and hope we can (and have) come together in love.
So although my original motivations for writing Inspired were to tell a neglected story and address a diss, I’m now inspired to take a look at church unity in the area. No easy answers here, but worth taking a closer look.
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