Early Seattle had a significant problem. Their toilets would not flush. I think that we will agree that this could go beyond a minor inconvenience—but the solution came at quite a price.
The original settlement of Seattle was built on tidelands that often flooded. Among other issues, this meant that as indoor plumbing caught on, sewers backed up at high tide. The city stakeholders were wrestling with how to deal with this issue when tragedy struck. On June 6, 1889, an apprentice cabinet maker was at work heating up some glue—which unintentionally lit a terrible fire that burned down over 90 percent of the town.[1]
Tragic Restart
The tragedy offered the opportunity for a restart. The decision was made to raise the streets up one or more stories to be well above the impact of hightide. This great idea was going to take a while to implement—raising roads with existing technology was not going to be an overnight enterprise. Meanwhile, businesses and developers were anxious to rebuild right away. They simply could not wait until all the road raising was completed.
A compromise emerged. Businesses were built with a traditional entrance at ground level, but one or more stories up, another entrance was constructed in the building to be ready for a new sidewalk at the elevated street level. Eventually, what had been the ground level entrances became underground as the streets and sidewalks were built above.[2]
The remnant of this underground city can now be visited as a historical feature of Pioneer Square in downtown Seattle. What was once a functional need during reconstruction faded into disuse, and we now fully experience Seattle at the raised level.
In 1889, the city had a flooding problem. The fire created a devastating opportunity. The rebuilding necessitated a two-level solution. The same is true for us today.[3]
Seventh Day Baptists and Two Levels of Revitalization in 2022
When the SDB General Council met at the Seattle Area SDB Church building for meetings September 30 to October 2, 2022, we discussed the analogy of rebuilding Seattle. In 2022, many churches are finding themselves in a devastating opportunity, which means so is the Seventh Day Baptist General Conference of Churches as a whole.
As we continue to live with the ongoing social, emotional, and physical impacts of COVID, we face a number of challenges. Many churches have fewer people attending weekly worship in-person. Many church leaders are fatigued and drained at this point in the journey. Similar to early Seattle, there is a need to rebuild at two levels, requiring some patience from those who are anxious to restart at full speed and graciousness from those who are apprehensive about the necessary change away from ground level entrances.
On the one hand, we need to take immediate steps, to keep going with existing work and methods. Concurrently though, we need to be looking at constructing the figurative second story entrance. We need to be looking at longer term mission that God is calling us into and living into that opportunity—together.
For the Seventh Day Baptist General Conference, we are intentionally building at both levels during this season of devastating opportunity. We are faithfully carrying on needed work in the present. At the same time, we are prayerfully looking at the future and preparing for what God is inviting us into next.
As a General Conference, we are specifically focusing on leadership development during this ministry year. We are seeking ways to equip and empower pastors and lay leaders in the present. We are also designing and building approaches that will facilitate leadership development that prepares us as a Kingdom Family for church planting, church revitalization, and gospel witness well into the future.
Want to learn more about this building at two levels? Please register for our upcoming Winter Virtual Delegates Forum on January 8, 2023 at 2:00 PM in Eastern Time. The virtual forum for delegates from SDB churches will gather us together for the purpose of receiving information and updates from the SDB General Council and Directors and giving feedback to the Council and Directors.
Please register for the Winter Virtual Delegates Forum by going to: www.seventhdaybaptist.org/wvdf/.
[1] https://www.timescolonist.com/life/travel/fascinating-tales-below-touring-the-tunnels-under-seattles-pioneer-square-4674021
[2] https://www.timescolonist.com/life/travel/fascinating-tales-below-touring-the-tunnels-under-seattles-pioneer-square-4674021
[3] Thank you to Dr. Chris Aho, Director of the Thriving Churches Initiative for introducing me to this two-level concept. https://cbf.net/cbf-staff