We have the keys to test drive Georgia Avenue!
Well friends, I have some exciting news to share with you: starting August 1st we have the keys to test drive meeting in the sanctuary of Georgia Avenue in Grant Park (address is: 645 Grant St SE, ATL, GA). Above is a picture of the sanctuary taken from Troy Bronsink's ordination service. Here are my thoughts on this new opportunity:
- Can we afford it? First, Georgia Avenue is owned by the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta. On Monday I met with the head of the presbytery and with representative of the Georgia Avenue Food Bank (who use the old Sunday School building). The agreement we reached is for TLR to begin meeting at GA Avenue for one year, sort of like a trial period. We will be sharing the sanctuary with Southwest Christian Fellowship, a traditional historic African-American congregation. We will be sharing the rest of the building with the food co-op and a day care. Together we will pulling funds together to pay for utilities and upkeep. Our share is $100/week, which is $50 less per week than we are paying at Tilt Coffee Shop. And now we will have 24/7 access to a facility and not just 2 hours a week.
- Is this a permanent move? One word: no. Friends, I have to be totally honest with you that I'm not sure if this is the right thing for us to do. How will moving into a church building affect the ethos and culture of our community? We meet now in a cool hip "secular" coffee shop - how will meeting in a building with stain glass affect us? Also, now that we have 24/7 access to a building we will become just another overworked Christian community with meetings, meetings, meetings? My hope is that this opportunity will be a blessing and not a curse for our community. But I want us to go into this with our eyes open.
- Are we going to sit in pews? Yes and no. I want us to reorganize the worship space in the sanctuary at Georgia Avenue. In the picture above they organized it into a U-shape. This is part of my hope. I am also interested in having people donate or buy some couches from Goodwill and add them to the space. Maybe we could dedicate some couches instead of pews! I want us to have fun and play with our new worship space - the last thing I want is for us is to feel we have to sit all prim and proper in pews :)
Please post your comments/concerns/ideas about this opportunity for our community.
posted by Tom at
2:01 PM
8 Comments:
I personally love stained glass. Nothing about pretty colors makes me want to have an endless string of meetings, I assure you. ;) I am excited to meet in this space!
So- we will be using the sanctuary, correct? Will we have any access to a kitchen? I love eating out, but it gets expensive and it would be awesome to be able to prepare meals to share with each other at some point, too.
Good question about the kitchen. Yes, we will have access to the kitchen. Here's a picture of the kitchen from The Georgia Avenue Food Co-Op site: http://www.gacm.org/Site/Wednesdays_at_Ga._Ave..html
I can't wait to see it and take it "for a spin"! I think it has some interesting possibilities (think
Solomon's Porch).
I dig the new digs and think the issues you raise are important ones to keep in mind. The mood of a group certainly reflects (and influences) the surroundings and there is just something alternative, rogue, non-traditional and "other" about meeting in a place like Tilt. Not that tradition and stained glass is bad (I like pictures :), but the dynamic will change. We just need to be intentional about helping to shape it.
Serious question: can we consider bean-bags along with the couches? Please!
Ditto on the kitchen - it would be nice to have a meal every now and then.
Good points Erik about the need of being intentional about how we shape the sanctuary space. And yes, bean bags sound great! The uglier, smellier and more mix matched the better :)
the sanctuary looks lovely Tom...the U shape with the pews is making it difficult for the congregation to look at the minister as can be seen from the pic...does the place have a meditation room / quiet room ?
I am personally not in favor of changing the place into a coffeehouse types ambience...maybe the coffehouse could be kept in some other part of the campus..I wud rather use the place for prayer and meditation and the 'worship' - I think people who come in for worship will want to have exactly that...of course TLR for its vision of being in the marketplace really should have its meetings in a coffeehouse
Good points flow free (aka Herbert)! The U-Shape set up in the pic of the sanctuary is actually a reconfiguration of the pews. It would not have to be set up this way...
I personally like the idea of living into and feeling out our new space. The idea is not to go in and totally change everything overnight. Rather, it is to say "hmmm... what if we did this __" and then try it out and see how it works. Then say "hmmm... what if..." again and again until something emerges. This is how things have worked thus far at TLR and I pray it continues as we move forward.
I remember praying with TLR folks outside the GA Ave. facility a couple of months back, sensing both potential and warning. Since the early church had to struggle with keeping "enterprise" concerns from overtaking "mission" priorities, I don't see why TLR should be any different. It's the same struggle as daily discipleship, keeping Jesus' agenda first.
Personally, I think Jesus would also have liked beanbags, and would enjoy having some really good coffee at the ready.
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