The Party Church - Kingsfield Clinton

In the early days of Kingsfield Clinton, we had dreams of a home filled with people who were searching for something different. During our first year, we were thrilled to have new faces join our group, but did not experience the "filled to capacity" crowd we had hoped for. We soon realized that we needed to go to people, rather than waiting for them to come to us. Relationships became our goal, with parties as the vehicle.

An especially memorable party was held at our home in September. Our neighbourhood consists of 40 families who know one another by first name, but do not socialize together. There was a flurry of excitement as we planned the barbeque and delivered the invitations. We were pleasantly surprised when half of the neighbourhood said they would come. Others called to give their regrets, and to offer their thanks for planning a communuity event.

As the party date grew close, we were alarmed by the predicted arrival of an uninvited guest named "Hurricane Ike." With faith and joy in the face of adversity, we decided the party would go ahead, rain or shine. Sunday morning, we woke to cold, windy, wet conditions. Neighbours started calling, and the guest list grew shorter by the hour. It was discouraging. In spite of this, we prayed that God would be glorified through the party.

Five families came and eveyone had a great time. It was a chance to get to know each other and have meaningful conversations. One that stands out when like this:

Mrs. K: Who are all those other people; they're not from here are they?

Kim: Oh, those are our friends from church. They came to help with the organizing and cleaning up so that Jeff and I could socialize with the neighbours.

Mrs. K: Really? You have some great friends!

Kim: I sure do.

Being a missional community whether it is sunny or stormy, regularly connecting with people, cultivating the Jesus-life among us - that is what being a growing congregation means to us.