We’re in a season of making final preparations for our Institute One Year Diploma students coming to St. Stephen’s University in a few weeks.
One of the spaces we’re putting the finishing touches on is our primary classroom, which is essentially an informal Cafe hosted and supported by our community of the St. Croix Vineyard.
The space has been designed to cover multiple uses, from live music and cafe nights for our youth in town, art seminars connected with our middle and high schools, small gallery showings, a media-viewing room and a creative space for our more liturgical and “ancient-future” expressions of worship.
True to sharp eyeMatt Frise and his excellent article on How To Humanize A Worship Space, I’ve “delegated the space crafting” to great friend and interior designer, Robyn English. She’s art directing the space with me keeping in mind color, multi-generational usage, classroom usage and youth usage – which is no small task.
It’s turning out beautifully, despite the challenges of making a space “work,” no matter what the space starts out to be. Craftsman Jeff Way , Mike McGaw and others have made a simple space a place of conversation, soul-sharing and growth. Our leadership team continues to put resource and encouragement behind the development of a space that I believe will become a hub (a small one, but a hub nonetheless) of creative, social and character formation for many.
It’s my prayer that a simple space brings great honor and glory to Jesus Christ, lifting souls to God in a way that transforms individuals, families and communities to come through those who are impacted here.
To work with what we have is a beginning; to expand it with what we have within, that is progress.
