Scattered and Gathered in Maine: How Imago Dei Church Embraced a New Rhythm with Mission Potential
On Sunday, August 30, Rev. Steve Hoskins, rector of Imago Dei Anglican Church in Bangor, Maine lifted his hands and blessed the dozens gathered for worship and Eucharist at the city waterfront park. This moment had special significance for him: it was the first time in three months he could see most of his parish together in one place since becoming rector in early June 2020
When Rev. Steve and his family arrived in Maine from the Diocese of the Rocky Mountains, Maine’s governor had just released guidelines to allow churches to gather in groups of 50 indoors as long as social distancing was possible.* However, for Imago Dei, continuing to gather at their regular location just wasn’t an option.
“Spirit-responsiveness is what Imago has always embraced and continues to embrace.”
“With the congregation size we have, the number of children alone, our wide geographic distribution, and the reality that we share a church building with a much older, more vulnerable congregation meant that we had to find another solution,” explained Scott DeLong, Imago’s Pastor of Ministry Systems.*
Locations of Imago Dei Chapels.
Instead, Imago found a way to leverage the situation. Rev. Steve reflected, “We kept thinking of the Church in Acts and how even during widespread outbreaks of persecution there was a Spirit-responsiveness in the Church that asked, ‘Lord what are you saying and what are we going to do as a result?’ That Spirit-responsiveness is what Imago has always embraced and continues to embrace.”
Scattered: Positioned for Mission
Since mid-June, Imago Dei has met in five separate regional chapels of up to 35 people, gathered in spaces like backyards, an orchard, an agricultural greenhouse, a brewery, and in a shared church building. Each Sunday, Rev. Steve visits a different chapel to preach and to celebrate the Eucharist. Other chapels follow the same liturgy, preach the same sermon that Rev. Steve prepares, and administer reserved sacrament.
This model was based on Rev. Steve’s experience of visiting thriving rural Anglican chapels in Rwanda that meet weekly for worship, prayer, and Scripture exposition and then periodically gather miles away at a central parish for celebration and sacrament. It’s also inspired by the “cell and celebration” structure that has characterized church growth in Singapore.
It’s a model that has worked in other places… and seems to be working so far at Imago. Visitors have slowly become regular attendees and some even serve within the chapel services. In fact, since the beginning, some chapels have started gaining traction in reaching their communities. One chapel gathers for evening prayer at their community’s bonfires at the lake. When teachers in one town met to form plans for school reopening, a chapel reached out to provide coffee, fruit and snacks to the teachers, along with cards letting them know their chapel values and prays for them. A chapel operating out of a soon-to-open brewery is providing a place to gather for those in their rural community who may need extra support, connection, or prayer. Several chapels are planning events this fall in backyards where neighbors and friends can come together with chapel attendees. Another chapel is planning ways to minister to those in assisted living facilities and nursing homes - an important mission field, as Maine’s population is the oldest in the nation.
“ What Covid did for us was force us out to the edges - to think about being the Church in our communities, for our communities.”
DeLong added, “this was actually a grace-filled Kairos moment for us as a church. We knew inviting our neighbors in our scattered communities to drive up to 45 minutes for an 8:30am service on the weekend was a hard sell, but because we were so focused on Sunday morning, it was challenging to really invest missionally in our communities in spite of us wanting to for years now. What Covid did for us was force us out to the edges - to think about being the Church in our communities, for our communities. In time, if these chapels can continue to look outward, some new parishes may be born. We’re seeing the leaders, gifts, and seeds of vision potentially beginning to emerge. That’s really exciting when you consider Bangor has the closest Anglican church for 7 counties - a region the size of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut put together.”
Gathered: A Covenant Renewal for Imago
Gathering in regional chapels was only half the picture, though. Once chapels were established, Imago needed to bring them together monthly for worship and celebration. So on Sunday, August 30, it did. The City of Bangor, while not issuing permits, allowed Imago Dei to gather at the waterfront park on the Penobscot River, and even provided access to indoor restrooms.
Worship leaders Matthew Fleming and Kathryn Miller, along with singers and musicians led the people in hymns and songs of praise. For Kathryn, one song held special significance:
Click to hear a clip of Kathryn singing “Land of the Dawn"
“In 2019, I wrote the song, “The Land of the Dawn” about resurrection and revival in New England. The Lord has taken us on a journey with that song over the last year. The Penobscot River was home to native peoples who called themselves “The People of the Dawn,” and so it seemed a fitting place for Imago to come together and sing once again, “All the things set in stone now are shaking, releasing the ones you are waking, from the dark of the tomb you are breaking, see the Son now arise in the land of the dawn.”
“Our monthly gatherings of worship as one congregation can be occasions when we re-commit ourselves to our covenant with the Lord and each other.”
Kathryn said though the songs were familiar, there was an important addition: “Sarah Hoskins joined us on cello and as I heard the sound of that new voice, it felt right. Not just musically but spiritually. Whatever this journey looks like of rebuilding and revival, I felt very sure that day that Sarah and Rev. Steve have been ‘released and awakened’ to what God is doing here among us. There has been so much shaking of the things set in stone. But there is so much life rising up, and I felt like I could see a glimpse of it as we gathered together to worship.”
Rev. Steve preached from Nehemiah 8, a passage in which the people of God gathered together to hear the word, to repent, to celebrate, and to recommit themselves to the Lord. Rev. Chuck Bradshaw, assisting priest, had the sense this gathering was a similar kind of covenant renewal. He shared, “we've been ‘scattered’ for the last 5 months, but Sunday we appeared as one congregation before the Lord. Our monthly gatherings of worship as one congregation can be occasions when we re-commit ourselves to our covenant with the Lord and each other.”
Following this, several parishioners shared testimonies of God’s goodness in recent weeks. Before the Eucharist, Senior Warden Chrissy Kenerson represented Bishop Andrew as Rev. Steve signed the Oath of Canonical Obedience and was officially presented with a license to minister in the Anglican Diocese in New England.
Abolaji Akinyemi, a graduate student in physics at the University of Maine, was one of several attendees to give testimony.
Chrissy Kenerson, Sr. Warden preparing to present the Oath Canonical Obedience and to license Rev. Steve Hoskins on behalf of Bishop Andrew and the ADNE.
Rev. Steve Hoskins (center) celebrates the Eucharist with Rev. Chuck Bradshaw (right), and Rev. Tom Gilbert (left) assisting. Individually bagged bread was distributed from the large basket.
Rev. Steve, who succeeds Rev. Canon Justin Howard as the second rector of Imago Dei , admitted, “coming into a new pastoral role and only being able to meet a parish in tiny pockets has been rather disorienting even though it has had its benefits. To see the local expressions and adaptations of Imago’s shared DNA is exciting, but the beauty of coming together to be rooted in who Imago has been - to finally be able to experience Imago Dei in its fullness - was a joy-filled delight.
Imago Dei is currently making preparations for colder weather to ensure each chapel can continue to gather in these scattered locations. They will gather for the next “All-Chapel Celebration” on October 4, and then again when Bishop Andrew visits on November 8 for confirmations and the official installation of Rev. Steve Hoskins as rector of Imago Dei Anglican Church.
* To date, Penobscot, Hancock, and Somerset counties (pop. 260,000) where Imago chapels are located have documented 370 cases of Covid-19. Photo credit: Scott DeLong, Demelza Ramirez, Chrissy Kenerson, and Sam Kenerson.
– written by Scott DeLong, ADNE Communications