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FIFTH EDITION
October 1996
Produced by the Staff of The Seekers Church
Deborah Sokolove, Editor
2025 Massachusetts Avenue
Washington, DC 20036
Seekers Church is one of the small, intentional Christian communities that were born out of the Church of the Saviour in Washington, DC. We began worshipping as a separate faith community within the Church of the Saviour in 1976, when the original Church of the Saviour congregation divided into separate, small sister communities. In 1995, Seekers Church became an independent 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 completely independent.
This guide is our effort to explain how the Seekers Church is living out its call, and how the core members support that life. As one of the churches born out of the Church of the Saviour, the life of Seekers Church is based on an amazing belief: Each one of us is called by God to a particular area of service. Young or old; regardless of experience, skills or education; despite our past successes or failures - God issues each of us an individual call. Broadly defined, it is a call to a life of love and service. Concretely, it is a highly individual desire to be about a particular work in the world and in the church. It is a desire placed by God in the heart of each person.
Gordon Cosby, the founder of the Church of the Saviour, has called it being "seized by the power of a great affection." To live out our call is to find that we are doing what we love. 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 do what we love and, in doing it, to find rest for our souls (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, doing what we love will be a flowing river of God's grace into our lives.
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 the Seekers Church, commitment to community is the beginning of an intentional Christian life, lived in an intentional community. The deeper level of commitment - to core membership - is a further step on a lifelong journey of faith. It is a commitment to deeper belonging; 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 core membership responds to a call to nurture the Seekers community, to add a third community strand to the commitment to the inner and outer journeys. 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.
In describing Seekers and the role of core members, I 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 I thank them all. The mistakes are all mine, and I thank you in advance for pointing them out to me.
Peter Bankson: October 1996
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