Worship is being redefined in new ways, in new places.
“It will percolate up in places that are unexpected,” she predicted.
Worship with a whiteboard The group moves to the small liv- ing room where Kyllo has set up a whiteboard. Giordi pours the wine and readies the bread. Son Jack hands out bulletins. Kyllo asks for leaders. They pray and recite together. It feels like church.
Gathering around the dinner table at Giordi and Nate Yunge’s home are worshipers at one of the Catacomb Churches in Washington state. Around the table are (from left, clockwise) Kyllo (mission-developer), Nyah Somers, Beau Somers (standing), Jesús Linares, Juan Gaona, Giordi Young (holding Naomi Somers), Henry Yunge, Nate Yunge, Bethany Somers and Omar Cuevas.
worship. Then once a month they gather altogether at St. Philip’s Epis- copal Church of Marysville, Wash., where Kyllo is pastor.
The Catacomb Churches is a syn- odically authorized worshiping com- munity of the Northwest Washington Synod and a bishop-authorized mis- sion station of the Episcopal Church’s Diocese of Olympia. The ELCA gave $10,000 in startup funds in 2012, and a similar amount this year. The synod, diocese and Trinity Lutheran Church in nearby Lynnwood, Wash., each gave $5,000 last year.
Bethany Somers bluntly explains it this way: The love for Jesus con- tinues to shine, but the church model that worked 50 years ago is dying.
Kyllo makes some remarks, which he calls a seminar, not a sermon. They read 1 Corinthians 12, which he posted earlier on the Catacombs web- site. Kyllo jots thoughts on the board. Communion follows. As the service ends, Kyllo reminds group members that they’ll one day hold their gatherings without him, except for the combined worship. They’ll need to have a plan and training. Are they ready? Yes, soon, they say. It’s not surprising that the Cata- comb Churches sprouted in the Pacific Northwest, one of the most unchurched regions of the nation. Sixty-nine percent have no church affiliation, yet many remain deep believers, Kyllo said. In this mav- erick region where independence is paramount, many are reticent to join churches they may view as irrelevant. Kyllo calls the Catacomb Churches “a holy experiment,” and a tiny part of a second Reformation characterized by the reinvention of worship.
As pastor of St. Philip’s, Kyllo is hardly against traditional worship. “The future is going to look like lots of different things. This is adding to the diversity of the way we are churched,” he said.
On this evening, the post-worship conversation among the Yunges, Somers and Gaona is about discern- ing their mission. Earlier they thought
it might be helping the many migrant workers in the Skagit Valley. But last Christmas they took their families to a nursing home in nearby Mount Vernon, making and delivering a candy cane craft to residents isolated in their rooms. The intergenerational experience seemed to resonate, but time will tell. It’s 8 p.m. and the children must go to bed. The friends-turned- worshipers leave for home. In the next few years, Kyllo hopes to have as many as 20 groups. While supported largely by grants now, tith- ing among worshipers is to eventu- ally make the Catacomb Churches self-sustaining. Half is to go toward the individual groups, and half toward supporting the larger Cata- comb Churches for shared expenses like staff and computers.
Kyllo, 48, and father of college- aged twin girls, knew it was risky to start something new now. But after conferring with his wife, Bishop Chris Boerger and Episcopal Bishop Greg Rickel, he concluded he could do nothing less. Last year, he resigned from Celebration Lutheran Church of Anacortes, Wash., where he had served 12 years.
Pastoral colleagues have reacted differently to the Catacomb Churches. Some say Kyllo is under- mining the authority of clergy that has already taken hits over the years. Others say his ancient house-church model is a smart and natural reaction to the traditional church. “This isn’t trying to build a bet- ter mousetrap,” Kyllo said. “We’re trying to create a church environ- ment in which there is good order, there is over- sight and there is great free- dom to follow your baptismal calling.”
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May 2013 29
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