Catalyst Church: Starting Something New
author: Matt Hafer, Church Planter
Catalyst Church in Morgantown, WV
So ladies and gentlemen, we are two weeks in to public services and I wanted to give a little update on where we are at the moment.
Last week we opened, it was a wonderful opening. We had 166 people come out and for me, I felt like it could not have gone better. Our kids stuff was wonderful from check-in to the kids band downstairs, our guest services folks were totally on top of things with greeting people and handing out bulletins to everyone who came, and our band was as good of a band as you will find anywhere, and I am talking a church, a coffee-house, a bar or a reality show competition. They were just stellar. My sermon was just a vision casting sermon that kicked off our 1st ever series, Handbook to a Revolution and it went well enough I suppose.
Week 2 was similar. Lots of new people, lots of new stories. We actually were hit with the challenge of having several of our core group out-of-town and we spent a week restaffing kids stuff, set up and tear down among other things. This caused some very new people to step into some new roles and find out that they really are capable of huge things if given the chance. With new people we actually ended up being done with set-up 25 minutes sooner than we have ever, and it was all due to new people who have never really had a church home but know that this is a place where they are honored, loved and cherished.
We got to meet so many diverse people. Catalyst is a place where we have college students, babies, elementary kids, teens, young professionals, hipsters, hippies, southern rockers, active and former military, gypsies, well-known politicians and even lots of homeless call their home. You come in and a collection of people who you would never ever see hang out in normal life are all standing in a lobby, enjoying fair trade coffee and conversations before they are let into an auditorium where they see amazing visual effects, a stunning newly restored playhouse and more skinny jeans than they know what to do with (not always from stage).
Each week we give people the realization that although this might be the best part of your week, it isn’t the only part of your week. The rest of your week is where the worship happens, the rest of your week is where the real service and devotion happen, this hour is our time to regroup, our time to celebrate, our time to be feed before a week of feeding ourselves. Each week our kids are reminded that their curiosity is God-given and a big staff full of people are there to nurture that and use that. The parents are reminded that it is up to them to disciple their kids, but we are all here to help them in that process and share as much of their lives as we can.
This is Catalyst Church. One of the most special places with some of the most special people you will ever encounter. We may seem over excited but we absolutely know that for someone, every day is opening day and we should treat it that way.
This post was originally written for the blog ‘100 foot Jesus‘ by Matt Hafer.
