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Many Rooms Church Community: Simple church fills many rooms
Simple church fills
afford in Winnipeg’s core area and many rooms by Josiah Neufeld “fill it up with people.”
‘Needed to mess up’
MANY ROOMS CHURCH gathering than a church service, it’s “We really needed to mess up our COMMUNITY, Winnipeg, because the assortment of individulives with people,” Travis explains, Manitoba als and young families—all of whom sitting in the house’s brightly live in the Spence Neighbourhood— painted living room. His shaved
Many Rooms likes to keep are much more concerned about head and bushy beard might be church simple. You won’t find being good neighbours than with intimidating if he didn’t laugh so this church listed in the Winnipeg attendance numbers, music styles, often. white pages because it doesn’t have or pastoral politics. “We needed to live with them, to a phone, a building, an organist, or “We wanted to know they were huneven a pastor. live life, be good Travis Unger: “We gry, to know when Sunday nights the congregation gathers in groups of 10 or fewer in Christians, love our neighbours,” says wanted to live life, be they had needs. We just wanted to be each other’s homes to share potluck Travis Unger, who good Christians, love good neighbours— suppers and collaborative church isn’t the pastor. “Our our neighbours,” that was an aspect of services that may or may not include goal was never to Christian faith, and Scripture reading, prayer, singing have a building, a we needed to live it around an old piano and stories worship band, or a paid pastor. We out in community.” from each other’s colourful lives in just wanted to be salt and light.” In 1999 the Ungers bought a the West End of Winnipeg, Man. Ten years ago Travis and his wife 4,400-square-foot rooming house
If this sounds more like a family Stephanie decided they wanted to on Spence Street, swept out the dead buy the largest house they could cockroaches, and renovated it. They
Beaver Creek 40 th anniversary
You are invited to the 40 th anniversary celebration of Beaver Creek Bible Camp, June 26-27, 2010, at the BCBC grounds.
Come Saturday evening at 6:30 p.m. for games, food, a live band, camp friends, and (of course) fireworks!
Join us Sunday morning for a church service outside at 10:30 a.m. Stay for a potluck lunch (please bring a dessert or a salad). Burgers and drinks will be provided.
RSVP by June 10, 2010: bcbcregistrar@lakenet.ca or call 204-378-5238.
Some MRCC members gathered for a house party; Dallas Kornelsen is third from the bottom right.
moved in and rented out half of the bedrooms to international students at the University of Winnipeg and the other half to men who needed a place to stay.
Two other households of young Christians trying to make a difference in Winnipeg’s inner city started meeting with the Spence Street home for weekly prayer meetings. Eventually some moved in with Travis and Stephanie.
They invited people in, held after-school baking clubs, organized neighbourhood cleanups, and barricaded the street for Christmas block parties that included igloo building, broomball, and wiener roasts.
Forming a church
After a few years the group began to consider forming a church. They began a process that took several years.
“Our leadership model isn’t top down, so for everything we have to come to a consensus or almost consensus, and that always takes time,” says Fiona Thiessen, a member of the church’s leadership team.
In 2007 MRCC became the most unconventional church to join the Evangelical Mennonite Conference.
The church settled on a leadership team of seven leaders and one leader-in-training. None of them are ordained.
“My mom taught me that everyone’s a missionary,” Travis explains. “It’s easier for people in the neighbourhood to understand that not everyone gets paid to be a leader.”
In 2007 Many Rooms Church Community became the most
Stephanie and Travis Unger are part of MRCC’s leadership team.
unconventional church to join the Evangelical Mennonite Conference.
As the group became too large to meet comfortably and share openly in one house, they choose to divide into three smaller house groups that gather once a month for a joint service.
The challenges of community
A few people who once lived in the Spence house now own their own houses in the neighbourhood. Dallas Kornelsen was a long-time resident at the Spence house until he got married in January 2009.
Living in community with a variety of people isn’t always easy, he discovered after lending his room out to a man who needed a place to stay. One day he got a call from his bank to inform him that man had written out one of Kornelsen’s blank cheques to a prostitute “for services rendered.”
“Anytime you put a whole bunch of people in a house together you have the challenge of your own desires competing,” says Thiessen. “That’s the biggest clash in humanity—the way I live versus other people.”
Josiah Neufeld, who has many EMC and other connections, is associate editor of ChristianWeek, where this article was originally printed (June 11, 2009). It is reprinted with permission.
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