We the Body Series Pt. II: The How

Planting a church with a new foundation

Hi! Past but also future Nicole here, just reflecting on this piece about to be shared while I am currently at a conference unpacking the many nuances within the structure you are about to read of and I just felt compelled to add: this work is messy and nonlinear and so much of it is still finding it’s way into fruition. May that be evident as you dive into a very polished version of the goals, future, and hopes we have for this sweetest of church communities.

This is not what we have accomplished, this is what we are trying, and what worthy work trying has already proven to be.

Okay, now that we got that cleared up, go ahead…read on!

If you have followed along with my Substack posts thus far, you are more than well aware of the grandiose and non-traditional views I have come to accumulate regarding the local church.

And, if you are like any one of the many kind-hearted folks I have had throughout my life who consider themselves to be level-headed, realistic, or sane, you too may have found yourself thinking along the way, “sounds great, but how?”

How do you start from ground zero?

How do you structure church differently?

How do you do so in a way that doesn’t submit to the same idols of power, pride, and patriarchy embedded into what we know of as “church” today?

While answering some of these questions is going to be a several years worth work in progress and while many of the answers acquired thus far are still being held with an open hand, I would love to share with you some of the answers we have found up to this point that are serving as the foundation for our church here in Houston, Tx.

These answers, while still in process, have already stirred imagination, creativity, excitement, and best of all hope amidst a declining Sunday service culture and an increasingly depleted and discouraged church body nation wide. And for this reason alone, I find these answers worthy enough to be shared.

While there are many elements of our current expression of church that will make up “the how”, I figure a great place to start is with the structure of the church itself, so let’s dig in!