Apology and Big Changes at Fourth Church

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while -- I'm applying for various seminaries, schools of social work, and a divinity school right now. This means that I feel guilty spending time writing anything that isn't an admissions essay, so the blog posts will be thin for a while. So far I've only submitted one application and have plenty more due within a month, which means that I will continue to update sporadically.

Rest assured, however, that my life in Chicago has not become any less (or more) interesting than before. Things are Fourth Church are getting a little hectic right now, but for the best of reasons.

Fourth Church is beginning a huge construction project they've dubbed Project Second Century. The church is tearing down one of their buildings and replacing it with a new structure that will have more modern worship space and plenty of huge rooms for youth gatherings. Since we've been cramming 20 youth into a tiny basement room for Sunday School, the new building will be an absolute blessing when it's finished.

However, right now the construction is more of a hilarious series of confusing changes than anything else. The space where I used to eat lunch is going to become a day school, the church's main entrance has been barricaded, and walls are being constructed so often that I have to stop myself from walking into new ones on a regular basis. The construction lends a somewhat surreal feeling to my time at church during the week, since I can never tell what changes will be made on a particular day. It's a very exciting time to be in the church, because the construction is forcing people to be more open to change and experimenting with new things. The congregation believes very strongly in the new building, to the point where the old Presbyterian complaint of "but we've never done it this way before!" is practically unheard. Since we are in a space which is being adapted to fit the church's long-term needs, changes in programming seem more possible than before.

The youth programs at Fourth are by necessity changing quite a bit, since we've been moved from our usual classroom space. Most of the old Sunday School rooms are being demolished, so all Sunday youth activities have been moved to temporary office space a few blocks away. This means that our new classroom space is on the 19th floor of an office building on the corner of Michigan and Chicago. It's huge, and the view is beautiful, and it feels absolutely nothing like Fourth Church's Gothic interior. Quite frankly, it feels nothing like a church, since there are cubicles right next to our classrooms and the paint is so fresh that the place seems sterile. I was worried about how the youth would react to learning about Christ in such a different environment. However, our first lesson in the new space came and went with plenty of enthusiasm from the youth. We talked about how churches were gatherings of believers, not buildings. The youth were happy to be together, and were excited about making a new space their own.