Our Why

As our storytelling group began their work this past month they wrestled with why the parish exists.  They came up with this powerful statement:

When we started the Sellwood Faith Community in summer 2013 we dreamed of a place where people could be themselves and encounter God through shared experiences. That sensibility led us to focus on who we wanted to be rather than who we didn’t want to be, meaning that instead of complaining about other church experiences we simply talked about the kind of community we were creating with one another.

One of the things we wrestled with early on was our value of welcoming all people. After a few difficult instances where folks attending our Spiritually Thirsty events tried to bully us with their theology we amended our stance to be that all are welcome who come with respect for others. It’s a paradox that we can’t welcome all people when some of those we welcome make it unsafe for all to be welcomed.  Our value became expressed as we welcome everyone who wants to be in relationship and grow in their faith and perspective, which includes all of us already here!

When SFC and Trinity UMC entered into our creative collaboration in 2017 it worked in part because of Trinity’s deep understanding of love and hospitality.  The Trinity building has long been home to many outside groups and the welcome and inclusion extended to visitors to church gatherings is remarkable.  These qualities aligned perfectly with how SFC was living out being a community of faith.

So now, 3 years into the Parish, as we tell the story of who we are, this statement captures us so well. Safety is part of that early established value of SFC. No one here will tell anyone that they are not worthy of God’s love. And our focus is not on changing people. We love folks as we meet them and rejoice together as we grow and change in love, in often unpredictable and holy, unexpected ways.

We as a people express a variety of theological positions, gender identities, sexual orientations, political opinions, and ideas about the business of being church (What color to paint the pillars? etc) but we are united in a deep understanding of love and welcome, which is at the heart of what we understand to be the gospel call of Christ: Love God, Love Others.

-Eilidh