The Chalice Abbey: A Unique Ministry in Amarillo, Texas
The largest city in the Texas Panhandle is Amarillo, which has a population somewhere between 200,000 and 250,000 people. Amarillo had its beginning as a result of being a midpoint on a railroad line that connected Fort Worth with Denver. With that connection established, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad and the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad also were routed through Amarillo, transforming it into a viable trading market and rail center for that somewhat remote part of the nation. When the highway systems began to be built in the 20th century, they too found it convenient to go through Amarillo. Today highways 66, 60, 87 and 287 all pass through this city, making it the city with more hotel and motel rooms per capita than any other city in America. One street is literally “motel alley.” In time the cattle business, the oil and gas business and even a helium business located here. Amarillo got its name from the Spanish word for yellow, but it is pronounced in an anglicized, not a Spanish way. There is some debate as to how that name for this city came about. One possibility points to the yellow wildflowers that blanket the countryside in the summer, but another is that the soil in this area tends to be yellowish and there is both a lake and a creek that were quite independent of the city that were originally called Yellow Lake and Yellow Creek or Amarillo Lake and Amarillo Creek.
It is fair to say that the prominent religious life of this city is Evangelical Protestantism. Yes, the mainline churches are all there: Roman Catholic, Methodist, Episcopal and Baptist etc. In addition, and this is not unusual in the South and West, there are also a host of Bible-based independent churches, with such charming names as “Believers’ Way Church,” “Kingdom Keys Church” and the “Arena of Life Cowboy Church.” This part of Texas has also been a center for a denomination that calls itself “The Disciples of Christ” Church. It was this branch of Christianity that invited me to give a series of lectures in Amarillo earlier this summer.
This invitation was not typical. First, the inviting community called itself “The Chalice Abbey.” The word “Chalice” reminded me of communion and the word “Abby” of a monastery. Second they wanted me there on Friday evening and Saturday morning, but not on Sunday. Normally, the Sunday morning worship service is the event around which my speaking weekends are organized. The great thing about my itinerant vocation is that we never know what surprises lurk behind each invitation. This was certainly true of the faith community associated with the Disciples of Christ Church that calls itself “The Chalice Abbey.”
The Chalice Abbey turned out to be a church that does not gather on Sunday. Indeed, it is has no members. It is the experimental brainchild of two remarkable pastors. One of them is Paul Carruth, who went to Amarillo to be the spiritual leader of this Disciples congregation in 2011. The other is Chuck Fisher who is the denominational executive who coordinates the work of the Disciples of Christ congregations in the area of Texas known as “The High Plains.” Both of these men are strong leaders, willing to risk everything in order to pursue new possibilities. Meeting them was a privilege; learning of their plans and dreams was inspiring.
Their vision was rooted in a reality, which was that the Amarillo Disciples of Christ Church was not a success story. This congregation had dwindled down to less than twenty regular worshipers who seemed divided on many issues. The congregation, however, owned a piece of property that was worth some $900,000. So the question was how could they use this asset to enhance the life of the people of Amarillo? Paul Carruth began to engage this congregation’s few members around the question: What would effective ministry look like given our resources and this setting? It was hard in this city of churches to spell out a viable vocation for this weak and declining congregation. Did Amarillo really need another church? No one had confidence that this weak congregation would grow. It had fallen below the critical mass necessary for a church to live. Digging into their denominational background and history they discovered some things that began to shape a new conversation.
The Disciples of Christ tradition was not born to be one more denomination. That was why they chose to call themselves either “Disciples” or “Christians.” The quest for unity, expressed through the act of communion was in their originating DNA. An inclusive communion table was so important to them that they made a chalice their denominational logo. This church was born in Kentucky and West Virginia, the product of an 18th century revival movement now known as “the Great Awakening.” It then spread into being a Midwestern movement. It was a church leery of any hierarchy and it sought to avoid denominational labels. They rather put a premium on cooperation and partnering with other congregations whenever possible. They placed their ideals into a slogan that was widely used in the 18th century: “In essentials unity, in nonessentials liberty, in all things charity.”
So this small Disciples congregation in Amarillo, urged on by its pastor and area executive, began to raise existential questions and to examine their purpose and their future. Will we simply reduplicate the ministries of hundreds of other churches in Amarillo? Or is there something different and unique that we can do or be that might even impact the big issues of our world? If they ceased to be a church, how might the valuable asset of their property be used positively? Once that door was opened, all kinds of ideas began to flow.
The church property ultimately was sold and the congregation was dissolved by the vote of the members. With these now liquid assets space in a shopping center surrounded by ample parking was bought, remodeled and a “Ten Thousand Villages” certified fair trade store was opened in Amarillo. A certified fair trade store markets products from around the world for which a fair price for labor is paid to the artisans or farmers. Its inventory includes earrings made from bullet casings in an Ethiopian workshop that provides work to people with AIDS, candle holders made in Haiti of cut metal from 55 gallon drums, mirrors and photograph frames made from old magazines in Java as well as locally woven scarves, indigenous paintings, pottery, wood carvings and even organic products like coffee. A story accompanies each item, so that the purchaser will know its history and the nation from which it has come. In time they also hope to be an outlet for local Amarillo artists and artisans. This “Ten Thousand Villages” store is able to bring to Amarillo things that only tourists in foreign lands might ever see and to sell them at a price fair to the purchaser and to the original creator. The economic well being of both is well served. The shop in Amarillo is beautifully arranged and its treasures are artfully displayed. The citizens of Amarillo are just beginning to discover this new civic asset. Christine and I did much of our family Christmas shopping while we were there.
This store, important as it is, was not, however, all that was in this congregation’s future. They also built into this commercial structure, a kitchen, offices, toilet facilities and an assembly room that could accommodate a dinner for 50 or a lecture for 70. They would offer this space to the city on a fee basis for celebrations, for privately catered parties and for other community needs. They would also offer to all of the churches in the community a series of classes each year that might be religiously oriented or simply serve the enrichment needs of Amarillo’s common humanity. They had the freedom in this non-ecclesiastical setting to engage controversial issues which local congregations might not be willing or able to entertain. Their appeal was quite deliberately to a minority segment of the population, those who would understand global concerns and not be shocked by things that one normally does not expect to be dealt with in a somewhat isolated Midwestern community. They would speak to those who were able to move beyond their fears, their tribal agendas and even their somewhat imperialistic religious traditions, the few, who wanted to relate to a larger swath of life. They would not seek to remove them from their congregation, but to enable them to enrich their own congregations. Amarillo, they believed, was big enough to contain a core of people willing to support such an approach.
Finally, in their plans was the idea of sponsoring an annual lecture series for the community that would bring to Amarillo new and critical religious thinking on issues that local congregations might not have the will to bring. Again they projected an audience made up of a hungry minority that would be eager to explore new ways of looking at religion in general and at Christianity in particular. These lectures would be on a fee basis and would have to be self-supporting since there was no congregation seeking to attract new members by sponsoring such an event. Once again, they did not expect huge crowds. Their space actually had a limited capacity, which meant that reservations were required. Their expectation was that what they offered would appeal to enough people to make it worthwhile. They saw themselves as giving something to the whole community that no other church could offer and, if successful, it would enrich every church’s life by nurturing that minority that is present in each congregation, but who are not nurtured intellectually or spiritually by what their churches are normally able to offer. In small towns, the local church is often an essential institution in which social and community needs are met, but not the intellectual and spiritual needs of a questing minority. I was invited to Amarillo to be their first lecturer in this new series. The lectures were sold out.
I have never seen this kind of thinking in a church’s life. Will it work? Time will tell! It is a high risk enterprise, but pioneers Paul Carruth and Chuck Fisher have accepted that risk.
I salute them and I shall watch this experiment with interest and hope. If you would like to know more go online to Chalice Abbey, Amarillo, Texas. It is an exciting story.
~John Shelby Spong
Read the essay online
here.
