Richard Florida, author of the international best seller Who’s Your City: How the Creative Economy is Making Where you Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life, writes to put it simply, about the importance of place. In his introduction to Who’s Your City he talks about “clustering force.” He says, “Today’s key economic factors – talent, innovation, and creativity – are not distributed evenly across the global economy. They concentrate in specific locations,” (9) This got me thinking about the Pacific Northwest generally and the Seattle-area speciffically with respect to what we might refer to as Christian-Missional-Clustering.
When I moved to this region in 1996 I did so with after a great deal of study and reflection as to where I wanted to spend the rest of my life. I researched the geography, the history, the art/music scene, the technological innovation proximity to my own family and faith life.
Early in my research I found that many people described the region as deeply spiritual but not religious. Some would say that there is regional anti-institutional religion bias to the region. In addition I heard numerous church leaders from various Christian denominations/traditions state that their respective PNW diocese or district was more progressive than in other regions the country.
In my years here, I have seen dozens of missional innovators move to the Pacific Northwest precisely because they they heard similar things. I find myself wondering whether the PNW’s reputation might contribute to a clustering of missional innovators.
I’m thinking of communities like: Church of the Apostles, Church of the Beloved, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Trinity United Methodist,Wit’s End, Quest Church, Zoe: Livable Church,
Leaders like: Karen Ward, Ryan Marsh, Ricci Kilmer, Eliacín Rosario-Cruz, Melissa Skelton, Dustin Cross, Rich Lang, Harvey Drake, Eugene Cho, Samuel McKinney, Tim Soerens, Ed Park, Steve Lewis, Eric Likkel, Paul Sparks, Lisa Domke, Ben Katt, Phil Nellis, Tom & Christine Sine, Jon Sharpe, Neil Tibbot, Ray Bakke, Rose Madrid-Swetman, Nathan Marion, Craig Rennebohm
- Perkin’s Center, at SPU
- Mars Hill Graduate School, Mustard Seed Associates,
Neighborhood/Parish Focused Churches/Community Development
- Parish Collective
- Urban Impact, Harvey Drake
- Zoe, Paul Sparks
- Cascade Neighborhood Church, Tim Soerens
- Shoreline Vineyard, Rose Swetman
- Awake, Ben Katt
Church Planting:
- Urban Mosaic (Church Resource Ministries)
- ConvergeNW (Baptist General Conference)
- Seattle Church Planting
- Acts 29 Network
Maybe it true, that necessity is the mother of invocation.
Peace, dwight