Who We Are

Guest Post: St. Paul’s Base Camp Ministry

By the Rev. Canon J. Fletcher Lowe Jr., Priest in Residence

Cross-posted from the Diocese of Virginia Newsroom

The following article by St. Paul's Priest in Residence Fletcher Lowe was originally published in the Diocese of Virginia Newsroom on February 2.

Within walking distances of St. Paul's, Richmond are the State Capitol and the General Assembly, City Hall, the Medical College of Virginia, the Fourth Circuit Court, the Virginia Supreme Court, the John Marshall City Court, Center Stage entertainment center, the Library of Virginia , the banking, legal and brokerage centers, the Federal Reserve, several non-profits and new residential communities.

So what is St. Paul's Christian mission at this epi-center? What about those 85,000 folks who come downtown every Monday through Friday to work, and what about the increasing number who are moving in? Those are questions that are challenging St. Paul's these days.

An operating metaphor for St. Paul's is the base camp. Base camps for mountain climbers exist for the hikers, not vice versa. They need to provide support, equipment, supplies, guidance, healing and encouragement for the hikers. The congregation as a base camp resonates with that metaphor. "Equip the saints for ministry," St. Paul reminds us. A base camp must take seriously the "mountains" the hikers face in their daily lives.

Translate that to St. Paul's as downtown Richmond's epi-center. What about the "mountains" of those 85,000 Monday through Friday hikers, the "mountains" of the new residents? St. Paul's base camp resources have included, the Eyes on Richmond forums, Lenten preaching and lunches, Jazz Lunches and daily Eucharist.

Recently, this effort to make church a base camp for downtown Richmond has become more intentional in the congregation's life. A series of six focus groups composed of non-members have explored ways and means of enhancing the base camp ministry: providing a "safe place" away from the office; expanding the noon time - and perhaps after work - offerings; or even clergy making their presence known by walking the streets or meeting for lunch.

Another outcome of the focus groups has developed with Medical College of Virginia. Working with the head chaplain, the Rev. Mark Cooper, several of the seminary students engaged in the summer Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program not only visit in the hospital but also visit St. Paul's members in their workplaces. Having just completed its second year, the results are significant. Patients in the hospital are not in their familiar environment, not wearing their own clothes, without their own phones, dependent on others for food and medicine and mobility. To visit folks at work provides a totally different ethos, for the parishioners are on their turf, in their comfort zone and relatively independent. The students need to shift gears, modeling a different approach to pastoral ministry. Clergy visits to parishioners in their workplaces, their "mountains," to discuss the connection between faith and work are rare.

In visiting over 100 members of St. Paul's where they work, I have found that for the vast majority, the faith-work question is the first time it has ever been raised. Yet it is at work that Christians spend most of their God-given time and talent. It is where they live out their Baptismal Covenant. It is their "mountain," and congregations need to take that as seriously as liturgy and formation and outreach. This CPE program, called unique among the nation's programs by Chaplain Cooper, raises that issue.

Another issue being explored focuses on "first responding." When 9/11 occurred, St. Paul's responded in several ways, including a standing-room-only midday service the following Friday. With the 2008 financial crisis there was a less visible response. The concern is there: What is our short and long term base camp calling should an emergency situation occur downtown? How quickly can we mobilize counseling, services, networking and safe spaces?

So the journey and the challenge continue as St. Paul's explores its role as a base camp for those working and living in downtown Richmond. We are trying to stay tuned to the Spirit's leading.

Tags: base camp, downtown, fletcher lowe