Kehilat Sar Shalom

[Emmanuel Mennonite Church]

Hi everyone,

Okay, now I'm getting the hang of using this group site. I think. So you can teach an old horse to come to the water and do tricks, but he only has nine lives to do so.

 

Anyway, Jim Poplett and I got a tour of Kehilat Sar Shalom (Prince of Peace) today, and came away more positively impressed than not.

In its favor:

• Its available every Sunday morning
• It has all the space we could need, including fellowship space, a big kitchen, Sunday School space, storage and office space.
• The worship space is just like, or a bit bigger, than what we currently worship in, but is not cavernous or overwhelming in size.
• Its centrally located, about equally as far south of I-94 as Luther Sem is north of I-94, and still on or by Cleveland
• These could be very lively and interesting partners in more than just a building. To know more about Kehilat Sar Shalom, a messianic Jewish congregation, check them out at http://www.rabbiyeshua.com/. They are not a Jews for Jesus chapter, though they have much in common. They're a fellow Christian congregation, in terms of our shared beliefs, but they, like St. Paul, St. Peter and much of the first Century Christian movement, are unapologetically Jewish in membership (much, not all), worship style, culture, etc. But they are very open-hearted toward Gentile Christians and their ways. In fact, more than half of the membership is Gentile in origin, and finds the Jewish angle on worship and Jesus inviting and enriching.
• The rabbi knows about and respects Mennonites

 

Drawbacks, in order of seriousness, are:

• We would need to learn and respect their boundaries and rules, e.g., keeping the kitchen kosher. No mu-shu pork, no shrimp, clam chowder or catfish on the menu whenever we cook.
• street parking only, no parking lot. But the side streets are barely used for parking, since all the homes around there have alleys and garages. The rabbi reports that no worshipper has trouble finding a reasonably close parking space.
• poor handicap accessibility and lots of stairs. Putting in ramps or elevators is part of their plan (they bought the building a year and a half ago from an aging, shrinking Methodist congregation and have been steadily updating and improving it), but money is the issue. Maybe having renters would help speed things up.

Despite these drawbacks (especially the lack of easy handicap accessibility), Jim and I recommend that the whole facilities search committee look at this building together. The rabbi (Stan Farr) will notify the congregation's elders about our interest, but they will respond with a yea or nay or a rental price once we all see it and indicate a serious interest in renting. He couldn't give us a rental figure now, pending some time to talk with the elders.

 

Next Monday, the 28th, at 10 AM, I will be looking at Stepping Stone Theater. Anyone available to come then?

 

Mathew

 

"Christ's love compels us, for we are convinced that One died for all..." 2 Corinthians 5:14
For more, check out our website: http://emc.mennolink.org/
and our weblog: http://emmanuelmennonite.typepad.com/emmanuel_mennonite_church/

"Christ's love compels us, for we are convinced that One died for all..." 2 Corinthians 5:14
For more, check out our website: http://emc.mennolink.org/
and our weblog: http://emmanuelmennonite.typepad.com/emmanuel_mennonite_church/

[kelly.k...@gmail.com]

Excellent! From living in that area, I had a feeling that one would be
just about right (at least from the outside). Let's try and tour it
really soon.

On Apr 24, 2:30 pm, "Emmanuel Mennonite Church" <emman...@visi.com>
wrote:

> Hi everyone,
> Okay, now I'm getting the hang of using this group site. I think. So you can teach an old horse to come to the water and do tricks, but he only has nine lives to do so.
>
> Anyway, Jim Poplett and I got a tour of Kehilat Sar Shalom (Prince of Peace) today, and came away more positively impressed than not.
> In its favor:

>   a.. Its available every Sunday morning
>   b.. It has all the space we could need, including fellowship space, a big kitchen, Sunday School space, storage and office space.
>   c.. The worship space is just like, or a bit bigger, than what we currently worship in, but is not cavernous or overwhelming in size.
>   d.. Its centrally located, about equally as far south of I-94 as Luther Sem is north of I-94, and still on or by Cleveland
>   e.. These could be very lively and interesting partners in more than just a building. To know more about Kehilat Sar Shalom, a messianic Jewish congregation, check them out athttp://www.rabbiyeshua.com/. They are not a Jews for Jesus chapter, though they have much in common. They're a fellow Christian congregation, in terms of our shared beliefs, but they, like St. Paul, St. Peter and much of the first Century Christian movement, are unapologetically Jewish in membership (much, not all), worship style, culture, etc. But they are very open-hearted toward Gentile Christians and their ways. In fact, more than half of the membership is Gentile in origin, and finds the Jewish angle on worship and Jesus inviting and enriching.
>   f.. The rabbi knows about and respects Mennonites

>
> Drawbacks, in order of seriousness, are:

>   a.. We would need to learn and respect their boundaries and rules, e.g., keeping the kitchen kosher. No mu-shu pork, no shrimp, clam chowder or catfish on the menu whenever we cook.
>   b.. street parking only, no parking lot. But the side streets are barely used for parking, since all the homes around there have alleys and garages. The rabbi reports that no worshipper has trouble finding a reasonably close parking space.
>   c.. poor handicap accessibility and lots of stairs. Putting in ramps or elevators is part of their plan (they bought the building a year and a half ago from an aging, shrinking Methodist congregation and have been steadily updating and improving it), but money is the issue. Maybe having renters would help speed things up.