Attendees at St. Timothy's first pop-up church, held at McCoy Farm & Gardens, gather to pray before sharing a meal.In an age when chatting with someone across the world via the internet is often more common than walking over to the front porch of one's next-door neighbor, St. Timothy's Episcopal Church wants to connect people in the Signal Mountain community through "pop-up church" events.
Consisting of a meal and short worship service held in different neighborhoods around the mountain, the next is set for Saturday, Nov. 3 from 5-7 p.m., on the lawn in front of Alexian Brothers Alexian Inn on James Boulevard.
"So many of us participate in church communities but yet we do not know the people in our neighborhoods," said the Rev. Derrick Hill, rector at St. Timothy's. "We live in a society that seems more fragmented than ever, and we would like to be a catalyst in connecting people."
The pop-up church at Alexian in Old Town is the second event of its kind hosted by St. Timothy's, which held its first pop-up church Oct. 6 at McCoy Farm & Gardens in Walden.
An experiment of St. Timothy's Living Local: Joining God guiding team, the first three pop-up church events are being held on the first Saturday of the month through the end of the year, and may continue in 2019. The third will be held in the Carriage Hill neighborhood, though Hill said the exact location has yet to be determined.
Living Local: Joining God is an initiative of the Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee, and the goal of the pop-up church experiment is to see if sharing a meal will help connect participants with God and their neighbors, said Hill. He said he hopes to see a good mix of people at the next event, including St. Timothy's members as well as nonmembers living in the Old Town neighborhood.
"We're not trying to recruit people to go to St. Timothy's," said Hill. "We're just trying to get out in our neighborhoods and connect people."
Those who attend the pop-up church at Alexian are asked to bring a side dish to share. Alexian will provide chicken and St. Timothy's will provide drinks. The evening begins with a short prayer followed by the meal.
Alexian Inn is at 100 James Blvd. For more information, contact the office at St. Timothy's Episcopal Church at 991-5776 or sttims@sttimsignal.com.
Email Emily Crisman at ecrisman@timesfreepress.com