Endings and New Beginnings: A Season of Transition at Embrace
Embrace Richmond started out of a homeless woman’s desire to give back. We did not have a strategic plan, we had no funding, no staff, no space and no idea what God would do. Over the past seven years, I have learned to live by faith and not by sight. I have made a lot of mistakes, turned the wrong way and at times led us down a dead end path, yet none of it was wasted. Every miss-step we have made led us to a deeper understanding of our unique call and place in the world. Every ending, led us to a re-birth.
We are approaching a season of endings, but what God has for us on the other side is more exciting than I ever imagined. As I have shared many times, I often struggled with where Embrace Richmond fits. While we exist for charitable purposes, we are more than a non-profit doing good deeds. While we are gathering people and growing a sense of community and belonging in under-resourced communities, we are more than just community developers. Our rich spiritual foundation and reflective practices combined with our corporate commitment to going on mission in the world with God, fuels us and guides us but we are not a church in the traditional sense of the word. So where do we fit?
I shared several months ago that our leadership team wrestled with this question years ago and came up with the statement “Embrace Richmond is a faith-based organization founded on Christian principals.” During that debate, Janie Walker, a pastor with more than 30 years community ministry experience said, “Let the church be the church and Embrace be Embrace.” That statement hit home with me. Janie recognized that Embrace could do what the church could not do – reach those outside the walls and far from God by creating space for people of all backgrounds to simply love one another as they work together to love their neighbor.
Janie has been serving with Embrace Richmond in Hillside Court for almost 2 years. In that time, she has helped to build a thriving community of people on mission with God. She prays before all our gatherings and helps people tap into their own call. She fuels the spirit that for some is a simple spark and for others a raging flame. However, she has skillfully kept Embrace a safe place for people of all faiths and all levels of maturity.
The Hillside Embrace community is moving into a place of maturity. The DNA that Janie planted is solid and self-perpetuating. We have told the community from the beginning that our dream was for the residents to eventually assume the primary leadership roles in the neighborhood, and both Janie and I have discerned that it is time to start making that shift.
As Janie has prayed about the future of the Hillside community, she heard God calling her to now be the church. She is now being prayerful about how to get the word out without having our residents respond with the baggage they hold around “church.” But, she clearly feels God is leading her to start a gathering of residents who either want to celebrate their Christian faith, grow in their Christian faith, or come to know God through the Christian faith. Her new venture will be called, “Resurrection Life Fellowship.” A name God gave her more than 20 years ago.
Janie’s vision is not of a church that meets on Sunday morning in a building with pews and a choir. No, she is using her years of doing community listening to respond to what the community has named as the primary need: a God honoring alternative to the destructive activities that happen in the community on Friday and Saturday evenings. The time frame is not the only thing that will be unique. Janie spent 8 years living and working at Richmond Hill (an ecumenical Christian community). So, Pastor Walker will undoubtedly carry the same commitment to ecumenism and contemplative practices that she has shared at Embrace into her new venture.
However, Janie’s greatest strength is pastoral care. While I was traveling recently, one of our residents who had served faithfully with us, passed away. Janie was there at his bedside, she was there with the family all week planning the funeral and after officiating the service, she was there to comfort them. During her time at Embrace, she helped the residents build a “Care Team” which basically welcomes new residents and mobilizes the residents to “neighbor” one another, especially the sick and the elderly. She has the heart of a pastor and I am so thankful that God has called her to pastor our community.
Effective January 1st, Janie’s role with Embrace Richmond will change from that of a staff member to that of a congregational partner. She will continue to be involved with Embrace and our residents but she will be doing so as the Senior Pastor of Resurrection Life Fellowship.
Janie’s transition to her new role will mark the beginning of Embrace Richmond’s transition to a new role in the community. We are moving from catalyst to coach, from providing jobs for residents to developing social/spiritual entrepreneurs, from managing a team to unleashing an army.
We have known of Janie’s new call for several months and Qasarah Bey has been training with Janie and preparing for this next season. We can’t yet see the fullness of the season to come, but we do see Qasarah being very intentional in helping our resident leaders mature to the level of ownership.
This transition will allow Embrace to move into new communities. As I reflect on what I have learned during our four years in Hillside, I recognize as Janie did, that for Embrace to be Embrace, we need to partner with a church that feels called to a particular community. Janie’s time at Embrace allowed her to connect with residents in a way that she would never have been able to connect if she were simply seen as the pastor of a local church. However, the reverse is also true. Had we been partnering with a pastor from a local church, we could have connected people more quickly into communities that could grow them spiritually when they were ready.
As we prepare to expand into new communities, the most important element will be a strong partnering congregation that is seeking to do ministry alongside the community for the purpose of strengthening the community not simply growing the church. In the coming months, we will be sharing more about our plans for expanding our work into the north side of Richmond.
[...] is in an interesting season. Our co-laborer, Reverend Janie Walker, is going to start a new expression of church in the Hillside Court area. It will not look anything like the traditional images of church. It will be a [...]
[...] 4.) After nearly two years serving as Embrace Richmond’s Program Director, Janie Walker will be leaving Embrace Richmond to a fellowship in the Hillside Court area. Learn more here. [...]
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