ATLANTA-As of Sunday, September 3, Gentle Spirit Christian Church, 1561 McLendon Ave. NE, Atlanta, and Founding Pastor Rev. Paul M. Turner, will repeat the history of many cutting edge churches by going outside an established church building to worship in the open air.
Turner cites the example of John Wesley, founder of the Methodist movement. Wesley’s father, The Rev. Samuel Wesley, served for decades as rector of the parish church in Epworth, England. As an ordained Anglican priest, the younger Wesley preached in that church many times. But, as both his theology and his practices became less popular with his fellow priests, he found himself barred from its pulpit by his father’s successor.
With a crowd waiting to hear him preach, Wesley simply stepped into the church’s graveyard and atop his father’s tomb, which was family property, and held church from there. Soon he was preaching in open fields to crowds of thousands, many of whom were not welcome in formal churches, such as Welsh miners with coal dust on their faces that would not come clean.
When criticized for preaching outside an authorized parish with a consecrated building, Wesley replied, "The world is my parish."
For Turner, the world is also his parish. He finds ways to help the homeless find shelter. He finds ways to get food for the hungry. While driving through the city, he just might stop to haul some heavy object and its owner to their destination. And he doesn’t always expect to see these people in church.
The congregation formed eight years ago with a primary ministry to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered communities, but over time has become totally diverse, with many heterosexual persons attending. Turner wants "no walls" of discrimination to keep anyone from being served.
The church has met for several years at 7 p.m. at Epworth United Methodist Church in Candler Park. For a long time, they prayed for and searched for a church in which they could worship at the "traditional Southern church time" of 10:30 or 11 a.m. But the churches that might accept them at another hour had their own services at that time. And others would never be available to an openly gay pastor who also reached out to the homeless, the poor and transgendered persons.
"Then one day," Turner says, "a semi-retired minister who attends the church walks into my office and says, ‘I knew a preacher who started a church in a park once. At first only two or three people came. He kept at it until there were more than a hundred.’ Then he added, ‘There’s a mighty pretty park across the street,’ and then walked out of my office."
From that conversation the idea of Church in the Park, or Church Without Walls, was born.
On September 3, Church in the Park will begin with a 10:30 Homecoming service in Candler Park, across McLendon from the church’s usual space. A potluck picnic will follow.
Turner stresses that everyone is welcome. "There will be no walls of discrimination or judgment, any more than there will be physical walls," he said. "And we will continue, rain or shine, for people in the community to be served. Many people have told us they would like to attend our church, but they have been hurt so badly by traditional churches they cannot go into a church building. Now they won’t have to."
"Of course," Turner points out, "the history of outdoor preaching goes far beyond Wesley. After all, most of Jesus’ sermons were in places like a hillside or from a boat off the seashore. As Gentle Spirit goes to the park, we hope to give people a chance to experience what those red letters in their Bibles really mean."
ABOUT GENTLE SPIRIT CHRISTIAN CHURCH: Gentle Spirit Christian Church envisions an inclusive church community committed to worshipping God freely in an atmosphere of grace, forgiveness, unconditional love and individual growth.
For eight years Gentle Spirit Christian Church has served a diverse congregation and a wider connected constituency in Atlanta, Georgia. Worship is currently held at 7 p.m. Sunday at 1561 McLendon Ave. NE in the Candler Park neighborhood.
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