Where we’ve been:
ALC has been through many phases in it’s “lifetime”. It started as a small group and grew to a congregation of 70 to 100 attendees each Sunday with charismatic ministers. As ministers moved on many in the congregation did also. To center ourselves in the spiritual experience and community we changed our leadership format to “congregationally led” with a “Guiding Minister”, “Sprirtual Leadership Team (SLT)” and “Board of Directors”. Our numbers lessened, but did not fluctuate with changes in ministers. In 2017 the SLT took over the responsibilities of spiritual programming as we released all employees. We began meeting twice a month on Sundays and became fully congregationally led by volunteers in the community. Throughout that time we’ve met in homes or a hotel conference room.
Where we are:
Since the Coronovirus-19 pandemic began, we have been meeting on ZOOM and have lost some attendees. Due to the small size of our community, the ability to talk to one another on that platform and the discussion oriented nature of our services, it has worked very well. We continue to meet on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month and have added a Social Time in person on the 3rd Sunday each month.
Now and the Future:
The Values, developed by the community several years ago, well describe what we aspire to and where we are going.
We show up and act with:
- gentle honesty and authenticity
- vulnerability, caring and trust
- open and welcoming hearts
- attentive listening to and respect for one another
- an intention to connect with the Divine
- a dedication to community
- a commitment to grow through spiritual practice and service