Harambee = Renton?
Harambee (the building) is located in Renton, but Harambee (the people) is located throughout the South Puget Sound area (Rainier Valley, Maple Valley, Kent, Auburn, Federal Way, SeaTac, Burien, Tukwila, White Center, etc.), and our mission extends beyond that.Our mission is to know, worship, enjoy and join God on His mission to take His whole story, to the whole person, in the whole world, equipping those that respond to do God’s will and enjoy Him forever (all in that order, of course). It is the desire and goal of the Elders, to equip and lead the body in this, that we would be worshipping, joyous missionaries in our contexts, where we are the church vs. simply going to church. So, we gather corporately each week as Jesus’ body to celebrate Him and His work, and to be equipped, then scatter as His missionaries throughout the week.
Yet we know that there’s still a tension with people feeling like the real ministry/mission happens at Harambee (the building) through our missional endeavors we have during the week (i.e. The Hall afterschool program, The Refuge homeless ministry, Harambee Venue, etc). As a result, the farther people live from downtown Renton, the more they tend to feel disconnected, both geographically (i.e. commuting to/from Renton) and contextually/culturally (as much of our work in Downtown Renton is more of an inner city context that may be quite different from the suburban contexts that many of is live in or are familiar with).
This is the beauty of missional communities (MC’s), in which we gather during the week to love Jesus, each other, and our neighbor: they take into account the significance of proximity. Through them, we hope to release people to engage the contexts they are a part of (live, work, play, etc). vs. leaving them to drive to Renton to be part of a program here. So, just as we have a vision for Harambee (the building) to be a “3rd Place” center for community development, so we hope to see our MC’s develop a vision for how they can engage the communities/contexts they live in. And, as we continue to join with Soma in our vision for MC’s, our prayer is that we see them spread and multiply throughout the region so that it becomes saturated with communities formed around the gospel.
As for the missional endeavors that take place throughout the week at Harambee, our prayer is that missional communities will form around these endeavors by people who feel called to the mission field of downtown Renton. This means that for some of us, we may need to pray about relocating to be a part of the mission He has called us to. As Pastor Aaron hit on this past Sunday in His farewell sermon, obedience to the call isn’t just for church planters, it’s for all of us. Why? Because we love Jesus, who gave himself up for us so that we might die to ourselves and live for Him.
What do you think? Tell us what you are doing to create Missional Communities!
Pastor Bryan