Today in the Mission Yearbook - Gathering new communities of faith from the online to the wild

Festival attracts leaders from TikTok’s ‘Progressive Clergy Squad’ and hybrid houses of worship

September 23, 2024

Pastor Patty (left) and Jon Mathieu discuss the differences 

between online church and TikTok ministry at the Wild Goose 

Festival. (Contributed photo)

1001 New Worshiping Communities hosted a conversation for online and hybrid church leaders at the Wild Goose Festival in mid-July. Started in 2011, the four-day spirit, justice, music and arts festival took place at VanHoy Farms Family Campground in Union Grove, North Carolina.

Professional musical acts and bestselling authors anchored the mainstage programming, while other acts, artists and speakers presented a diverse range of topics in 20 smaller tents. These co-creators accepted free admission in exchange for their knowledge and facilitation on topics that spanned the universe of religion, theology and spirituality.

Wild Goose co-creator Jon Mathieu of Harbor Online, a fully online church community supported by the PC(USA), hosted an hourlong session on digital new worshiping communities in an event venue called the Tent of Make Believe. The tent, inspired by the inclusive and imaginative ministry of the late PC(USA) minister and children’s public television producer and host “Mister” Fred Rogers, was sponsored by 1001 New Worshiping Communities and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.

Mathieu opened his session by inviting people to voice their contexts and questions about online or hybrid churches before sharing pastoral wisdom and best practices that Mathieu and his co-pastors have gained during the six years of growing Harbor Online into a full community of faith, with weekly interactive worship and several monthly small groups on Zoom as well as community-building forums through a platform called Circle.

Central to building community online at Harbor is creating safe spaces to be seen and heard. This is reflected in the gathering greetings and the facilitated breakout groups during weekly worship as well as a separate discussion group that gets together weekly using a resource called “Going Deeper” by the Christian Century, where Mathieu serves as community engagement editor.

Festival attendees who report not wishing to attend a “traditional 

church” due to past church trauma or because they are religiously

 unaffiliated are attracted to programming in the PC(USA)’s 1001 

New Worshiping Communities tent. (Contributed photo)

As people shared their contexts, the many approaches, platforms and resources available for online and hybrid churches surfaced. The Rev. Mike Holohan, co-pastor of a new worshiping community in The Pittsburgh Presbytery called the Commonwealth of Oakland, shared the way this “progressive, Jesus-centered community of faith” approaches what is considered worship, balancing between the communal and the contemplative, the online and the outside. The community rotates forms of worship — observing Sabbath once a month, then dividing the other three Sundays among hosting a community dinner, engaging with reflection stations and Scripture, and creating a “contemplative nature experience” in city parks. Commonwealth’s nature experience is a form of worship inspired by the book “Forest Church” and echoed other worship communities present at the Wild Goose Festival, particularly those within the Wild Church Network.

Beloved Everybody is a new worshiping community based in Los Angeles, dedicated to making spaces “where people with and without intellectual disabilities can be celebrated and form mutual, authentic friendships.”

The Rev. Andrew C. Patty, known on TikTok as Pastor Patty, talked about their dual calling to ministry in the social media space and within a “brick-and-mortar” congregational setting. Patty also serves as the pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church in the West Village of New York City. They remarked on how the mutual ambivalence of each context toward the other makes it hard to build bridges between those who seek spiritual content online and those who congregate in churches.

Patty participates in the “Progressive Clergy Squad,” which started at the height of the Covid lockdown with 13 progressive Christian TikTokers, including PC(USA) ministers the Rev. Bethany Peerbolte and the Rev. Kari A. Olson, who organize content together and promote each other. The Progressive Clergy Squad, which meets regularly on Zoom and has even hosted an in-person gathering in San Francisco, has grown to include 200 squad members and multiple faiths with imams, rabbis and leaders in various Pagan traditions. Patty joined other squad members on the development board of a fully online church and suggested that some of the new platforms created to build the multifaceted communities that online churches need are open to customization.

“Wild Goose has been a great place of collaboration and connection for 1001 NWC,” said the Rev. Jeff Eddings, an associate for the PC(USA)’s 1001 New Worshiping Communities, which has hosted a speaker tent at Wild Goose for three years.

Beth Waltemath, Communications Strategist, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Today’s Focus: Wild Goose Festival attracts TikTok’s ‘Progressive Clergy Squad’

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Jonathan and Emily Seitz, Mission Co-workers serving in Taiwan, World Mission, Presbyterian Mission Agency 
Robyn Davis Sekula, VP, Marketing Communications, Presbyterian Foundation 

Let us pray

Holy Lord, thank you for the renewing, sustaining power of your Spirit. Bless your church with vision and courage that we might serve you faithfully even when the odds seem to be against us. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Presbyterians and their friends gather under the Tent of Make Believe

1001 New Worshiping Communities welcomes spiritual pilgrims at Wild Goose Festival

October 19, 2023

Video Link: https://vimeo.com/852812693

Record high temperatures in July didn’t deter thousands of spiritual pilgrims from gathering in the western North Carolina mountains for four days of inspiring worship, book talks, panels, music and dancing — lots of dancing.

In its 12th year, the Wild Goose Festival has become a nexus for people reimaging and reigniting Christianity alongside repairing the world. There’s so much imagination present that its website won’t put the festival in any one box: “It’s hard to sum up in a few words. We try, when we say things like: It’s a four-day spirit, justice, music and arts festival. But it’s so much more than that.”

“Progressive Christians are in the minority within U.S. Christianity, and it is vital to network, share wisdom and encourage each other,” the Rev. Mike Holohan said as he reflected on his third year at the Wild Goose Festival in Union Grove, North Carolina. As the pastor of a new worshiping community named Commonwealth of Oakland, with members across four time zones, Holohan considers the event a chance to reunite with church members who travel from Costa Rica; Washington, D.C.; Ohio; Colorado; and other places.

This was the third year that the 1001 New Worshiping Communities movement of the Presbyterian Mission Agency has been present at the annual event that draws nearly 5,000 people to large white tents, campsites and accommodations that span across VanHoy Farms and Campground near Harmony, North Carolina. Under the guidance of the Rev. Jeff Eddings, associate for Spiritual Formation and Coaching, the 1001 movement co-hosts speakers and gatherings for worship, music and other creative expressions under a large white tent inspired by Mister Rogers’ welcoming vision of compassionate community. The space, co-sponsored with Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, Rogers’ alma mater, was dubbed “The Tent of Make Believe.”

First-timer Adam Barnes of the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights and Social Justice noticed among the crowd “a lot of trauma from evangelical and white Christian nationalism.” Barnes spent a quarter of his time under the Tent of Make Believe, where he presented a more just and compassionate faith with others in his community, Freedom Church of the Poor. “It’s important for the world of progressive and recovering evangelicals to know that mainline denominations are supporting,” said Barnes.

Another third-time participant, the Rev. Katy Steinberg, founder of the Missing Peace community and pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Daytona Beach, Florida, spent lots of time under the tent. “It was the place to be,” said Steinberg, who noted the impact of the very real offerings of water, free peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a lounge area under the Tent of Make Believe. Steinberg described Eddings and his team as creating “connectional invitation without being pushy.”

“Tom Cox, leader of Esfera Faith, gave an excellent presentation on the climate crisis that did not mince words about our dire situation but also offered hopeful stories and action steps to keep us motivated,” Holohan said, describing some of the powerful talks happening under the tent, where people sought refuge from the heat. Holohan also caught a talk by fellow new worshiping community leader the Rev. Sue Yoder.

Yoder, facilitator of the Blank Slate community in Kempton, Pennsylvania, who has “long wanted to attend Wild Goose,” presented on her book, “Hear Us Out,” based on a multi-year research project she’d conducted on individuals much like those attracted to Wild Goose. Yoder, like many of the 1001 leaders, took advantage of the half-price entry fees offered by 1001 New Worshiping Communities and even stayed at the Wild Goose House with other 1001 leaders. She noticed the generous crowds who gathered for her book talk and also for one by the Rev. Dr. Ben Boswell on white privilege called “Bearing False Whiteness.”

“If you are looking for a place to connect with progressive thinkers, theologians, people,” Yoder said, “Wild Goose is your venue!”

The next Wild Goose Festival will take place July 11–14, 2024, in Union Grove, North Carolina. One can only imagine what kind of welcome 1001 New Worshiping Communities will create then.

Beth Waltemath, Communications Strategist, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Today’s Focus: Wild Goose Festival

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Clara Nunéz, Associate, Program Administration, Self-Development of People, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Patricia Nunez, PT Admin Asst. Stony Point Center, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray

Gracious God, we thank you for congregational initiatives that transform hope into reality. Amen.