Project 2011: the Idea

For 2011, I will commit to visiting 11 churches (mostly in the STL area -- at least for the foreseeable future) and to blogging about my experiences as a guest of those faith communities, using Bishop Robert Schnase's book Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations as a lay-person's guide in this church-visiting adventure.

I have several motivations for initiating what I believe will be my most personally challenging and ambitious project up to this point in my life (challenging partially b/c I'm not sure I have the discipline to carry this through to the end -- but please help!):

1. The start of a new year is a good reason -- the best time to begin a new project is at the beginning of a calendar year, starting fresh.  
2. A solid, thought-provoking book is also positive inspiration for starting this project, and Bishop Schnase's book provides enough food for thought, and perhaps some of you are already familiar with this reading (perhaps at some point your congregation also read this resource?).
3. For far too long, and in too many different contexts, I have suffered under the strain of un-radical hospitality. In fact, since my recent move to Saint Louis, I've been reminded more and more often of the embarrassment, discomfort, and frustration of being a new visitor in an unfamiliar and seemingly unwelcoming congregation. I've found myself more often than not sitting quietly in church pews, remembering my graduate school days when I, being a car-less Methodist, walked to a quaint little Episcopal church on Sunday mornings, where for three whole years I was continuously asked if I were a first-time visitor (yes, all true, and I'm fairly certain I was the only Vietnamese American in the place). 

A recent experience of worshiping at a local congregation has -- motivated, provoked, inspired -- me to embark on this journey. After the worship service, putting aside my initial feelings -- strong as they were -- was difficult (nigh impossible), but perhaps better to channel my energy into doing something useful and fruitful and self-educating. I hope this will be an enriching experience for me -- and for you two or three readers who are still following nothing but hat's.

Why am I doing this? It's not simply because I have strong feelings and need a forum to gab about how much it sucks to be a stranger walking into a house of worship -- to be gawked at, prayed over, awkwardly greeted and then ignored in pietous silence. Ultimately, I want to explore and discover what it means to be a perpetual newcomer, to be a recognized as a welcomed visitor, to be challenged as as fellow disciple in our houses of worship, in our faith communities.

Let the journey begin...