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[1996 edition]
SIXTH EDITION
September 2001
Produced by the Stewards of The Seekers Church
Produced by the Stewards of Seekers Church
2025 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20036
After Pentecost 2002
278 Carroll Street NW
Washington, DC 20012
202/829-9882
www.seekerschurch.org
Seekers Church, along with a number of other Christian communities, was born out of the Church of the Saviour in Washington, DC. We began worshiping as a faith community within the Church of the Saviour in 1976, when the original Church of the Saviour congregation divided into smaller sister communities. In 1995, Seekers Church separately incorporated in the District of Columbia, as part of the major restructuring of the Church of the Saviour in which each of the original sister communities became independent.
The life of Seekers Church is based on an amazing belief: each one of us is called by God to a particular work in the world that helps bring about God's vision for all of creation. Young or old; regardless of experience, skills or education; despite our past successes or failures -- God issues each of us an individual call to be about a particular work in the world and in the church. The spiritual journey in Seekers Church grows out of a commitment to answer "Yes" to this call from God, to live out this call with integrity; and to accountability to one another for this commitment.
Gordon Cosby, the founder of the Church of the Saviour, has called this "yes" being "seized by the power of a great affection." We are not people who understand God's call as a mandate to some burdensome, tiresome obligation. We live in the mystery of Christ's teaching that while he carried the cross, his yoke was easy and his burden was light. To walk with Christ in an obedient life of service is to find rest for our souls and joy in our hearts by responding to God's call on our lives ( Matthew 11:28-30). However, like Moses, we have found that God's call might not always sound like good news at first, and may never be "easy" in the common sense of that word. God has said: "Set my people free." We may not feel up to the job, and sometimes we're not sure God is either. But also like Moses, we know that we can struggle with God in prayer, and through the struggle deepen our understanding. If it is truly God's call on our lives, the river of grace flowing from God through us will bring us to peace and joy at our deepest level.
It is in following our call that we experience the mystery of God's presence in our community and an ever-deepening friendship with God in our inner lives. We grow in our faith, find rich fellowship within Christian community, and experience new life and healing, all by following our call.
In Seekers Church, commitment to community is understood as an important part of committed Christian life lived in the context of this time in history. A more explicit level of commitment -- to membership as a Steward -- is a commitment to supporting and maintaining the church as the vessel that carries us together on our journeys of growth and service. The commitment to membership as a Steward responds to a call to nurture Seekers Church, a particular instance of Christian community, as a part of one's inner and outer journey. It is a commitment to maintaining a place where all who come can be welcomed, nourished, and empowered to live and celebrate God's call on their lives.
This guide is our effort to explain how the Seekers Church is living out its call. In describing ourselves we have tried to say who we are and what we do rather than who we ought to be. Material for this guide has come from many Seekers, and we thank them all. Since Seekers Church is a small part of the living Body of Christ, by the time you read this guide, we may be doing church differently, but this is how we see ourselves at this moment in time.
For the Stewards of Seekers Church
Deborah Sokolove & Peter Bankson
Editors
September 2001
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