Today’s Chicago Tribune has a lengthy story on a new type of church springing up in cities, this one called the Urban Village Church, an initiative ol the United Methodist Church, but a far cry from the building-based congregational model of most Catholic and mainline parishes in the U.S.
Urban Village’s three Chicago meeting spaces draw between 200 and 300 folks on a Sunday–not a bad number for small congregations of this type–and offer other meetings for prayer and study during the week.
Inclusivness and hospitality–which in the practical realm means welcoming people of all ages and especially sexual orientations, as well as a blend of liturgical styles–are the keynotes of this approach to church. The co-pastors don’t vest for services–a nod to the suspicion many younger folks have toward hierarchical church institutions–and seem decidedly open to the “spiritual but not religious” set.
I see Urban Village’s success as a sign of some real spiritual hunger, but I wonder if Catholic dioceses and parishes would willing to take the chance on funding some alternative models of “church,” especially given the that the under-40 demographic is basically open to gay and lesbian people and they hate–and every study shows this–church involvement in politics. With the U.S. bishops doubling down on both the gay issue and their robust intervention in the political debate in this election year, I’m not sure a “Catholic” attempt at something like Urban Village would get much traction.
