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thorough
discussion of origins would be incomplete without a description of the
debate between those who believe in some form of divinely-inspired
creative process and those who attribute our existence to an
evolutionary sequence of events driven by principles such as natural
selection.so, it’s incomplete. give me a frickin’ break, people…
there was a time in the late 90’s when people like me attended a church
called Corona Presbyterian Church in Denver. am i Presbyterian? no. do i
drink Corona? sometimes. is that irrelevant? yes. the point is that i
went to Corona for two reasons: tuesday night Bible study and Pastor
Mike Sares on Tuesday nights we would meet at Corona (sometimes 4 of us,
sometimes 20 of us) and have informal discussions about important topics
such as God, life, cereal, movies, and which way the toilet paper roll
is supposed to go. Mike did not lead the group and often wasn’t even
there. but he knew us, cared about us, and envisioned a future for
us.Mike would frequently bring up the idea of starting some sort of
nighttime “church” for people who, for one reason or another, didn’t
connect with Sunday morning services. a casual place where young people
would feel at home – regardless of appearance. a place where people
could learn about Christ. a place where everyone is welcomed and
accepted as they are. a church for the left out.
when talking about what happened next, we usually say that Pastor Mike
left Corona Presbyterian to start something new. however, a small but
important detail is often omitted. for numerous reasons, Corona was
downsizing its staff and Pastor Mike was asked to step down. publicly,
it was announced that Mike was moving onward, but those who knew him
well, understood that Mike was not actively choosing this path. he was
canned. fired. perhaps calling it such is a bit much. but sitting
through his ironic “farewell party”, knowing that its organizers had
also organized his departure… that too was a bit much. we called it “the
funeral”. little did we know what was destined to come. little did we
know that Mike’s vision for reaching the rejected would be inspired by
his own rejection. there’s some quote about rising from ashes – i don’t
know exactly how it goes – but that is how Scum was born.
so we started meeting in Mike’s house, discussing how a church like this
should be. eventually, we realized that we just needed to have faith,
start meeting, and find out. instead of meeting to talk about the
church, we just started having church. instead of a weeknight at Mike’s
house, we met on a Sunday night at the Prodigal house. this was a
renovated home, owned by a local non-profit, that let us meet in their
first floor “coffee shop” which was little more than a living room and
dining room combined. the first night included few more than those who
were at Mike’s house. maybe fifteen of us. no hype. no advertising. just
a few people trying to make a church happen and trusting that God could
be as much a part of that as he was any other church.this was in
february of the year 2000.
a lot has happened since then. Scum has not only grown in size, but
changed. for better? for worse? mostly, for different. now in our third
and largest building, we actually have chairs now. chairs in rows. crazy
compared to cramming 120 people into a small house, breaking every fire
code in the books. now there are even some empty chairs. when we
started, people would show up and never even go inside. it was too
crowded inside. though we’ve worked hard to change that, it demonstrates
an important philosophy that we have at Scum. church is about
relationships. it is about connecting with each other and with God and
growing together. this doesn’t have to involve music or public speaking
or formal prayers. these are important and often part of the process.
but relationship is central. this can happen on the sidewalk in front of
a church just as easily as it can inside its walls. just as easily as it
can happen anywhere.
what does our future hold? will we stay in such a large building? how do
we remain true to our initial calling yet allow for growth, change,
progress? we trust that our Maker will continue to guide that which has
always been out of our hands. and may none of us ever take any credit
for this. not Pastor Mike. not the current staff. not those who were
around “way back when”. not the new person with the refreshing new
ideas. not me. not you. as our name implies, we are no better than
anyone else. it is God, not us, who has made this happen.we are Scum of
the Earth.
written by chris baker
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