It is easily the smallest of the fellowship's I've been going to, with an attendance of perhaps forty students on a good night. This is primarily because it is so new. Prior to the start of this year, the group met on Sunday mornings as a sort of church service for college students at University Covenant Church, which is the church I've been going to consistently for about five months.
This year, it was decided by the leadership that the group would transition from its previous form into a more separate entity with its own community rather than remaining as a tacked-on service for college students at UCC. So the meeting time was moved from Sunday mornings to Monday nights, and the group was renamed Catalyst.
The reason for making this change is a big part of what defines the leadership's vision, and is incidentally a big part of why I have felt called to serve at Catalyst. When the service met on Sunday mornings, they would get a relatively large turnout, perhaps eighty people, but the number of people who were actually a part of the community was much lower, maybe ten people. The leadership began to feel that the group lacked depth in relationships, and also spiritual depth. People would come, but the experience was not something that would leave a person changed.
So when it was decided to move to a regular fellowship format, it was done with careful attention to the idea of depth. Every week starts with a dinner cooked by someone from the church so that there is time for people to converse and get to know each other better. During the sermon, there's always a time for people to break up into smaller groups and discuss the topic at hand, so that people have to engage in the experience and throw ideas around with others. During the second worship set, one side of the room is partitioned off as an area for prayer with candles and several stations where people can pray through writing, art, or with another person. All these things are an attempt to allow deeper relationships to be formed, and to allow deeper communion with God, so that the group might serve as a catalyst to change people, and in turn the community.
That said, depth is still very much something we're moving toward rather than something we've already attained. Simply because the group is so new, it lacks the sense of deep friendship that other fellowships have. There's not much of a culture to organize social interaction, and the core community is still very limited in its ability to add new members to the community because the proportion of new people is just so huge.
Still, we are moving in the right direction. Each week it feels like a little less work trying to talk to people and create interaction. And this is really why I have felt called to Catalyst. I think the group has a lot of potential, and it seems that the opportunity to be a part of what shapes the group is one that is too rich to pass up.
And there is certainly shaping to be done. As it stands, a heavy proportion of the group is spiritually stagnant. Some seem to be coming just because going to church is what you do. There is little sense of divine purpose in many of their lives. They come to be served.
I am not really disheartened by this, however. Rather, I am excited that we are attracting these people who don't quite seem to get it yet. It seems to me that a church really isn't doing its job if everyone inside is healthy. And really, I'm not alone in my desire to see growth. There are a handful of really solid leaders who I think will help the group grow as it matures.
In particular, the college pastor, Matt Robbins, who I've mentioned before on this blog, is a really great guy with an awesome skill set and a vision to match. He is another integral part of why I've landed at Catalyst. I believe that the wisdom and expertise he has to offer will be a great boon not only the group as a whole, but to me personally as I try to expand and perfect my own talents.
While I'm digging my trench at Catalyst, it certainly won't cut off my relationships in the other fellowships I've invested in. In particular, the guys in my small group for College Life (another fellowship) are friends I know I will have for the duration of my college experience and beyond. And I certainly have felt strains of disappointment as I look at the opportunities I will have to give up elsewhere as I get more involved at Catalyst, but I've come to believe that it's for the best that I invest the bulk of my energy there.
So that's where I stand now. My place in the Christian network in Davis is a pretty huge part of my life right now, so it's definitely been on the forefront of my mind. This post will probably hold less interest for current readers than it will for me as I look back on it in years ahead, but I figure that was as good a reason as any to write it down.