Origin

This idea for CityLove is not really new. There are a number of different churches in the city doing some very innovative things to help people outside the church bubble “taste and see” that the message of Jesus is good. When we started Ren Church in 2003 it was in our hearts to create something especially for artists, progressive thinkers and young adults, because we saw ways in which they could often be marginalized in the church world. We did all sorts of things to make the message of Jesus more accessible to them. In other words, we have always tried to take the love we experienced inside the church and spread it throughout the city in tangible ways.

One way we did this in the earlier years was through establishing a small non profit called westsideARTS. We mostly used the Columbus Theatre and eventually rented a small storefront (next to the Grange). We became a venue for local visual and musical artists to display their work and to connect with one another. We got to know hundreds of beautiful artists in the city. We didn’t feel we needed to preach at anyone. It was an effort to just show love through listening and serving.  

We’ve also invested time, money and talent into serving local organizations doing good things like the Rhode Island Film Fest, West Broadway Neighborhood Association, Elmwood Community Center, Davey Lopes Center, International Institute, several public schools, Southside Community Land Trust, Crossroads and many others. Our partnering has sometimes been as simple as volunteering to help one of their events and has at other times taken the form of weekly ongoing involvement. We believe these organizations are doing important things in the city.

One project we've undertaken multiple times is an art installation involving about 100 designers, artists and builders. These take several months to put together and the installation is spread throughout our entire 18,000 sq ft space. Each room conveys a different aspect of who God is, using visual art, sculpture, sound, video, lighting and other arts to communicate in a compelling way. These installations were not designed for people already churched but for those who were unfamiliar with the message of Jesus. It's always exciting to see the hundreds of people stream in, and many experience God for the first time during these events.

We’ve also done compassion-based projects like our Christmas Encounter event. With the help of social agencies, we selected 30 families in great need including several refugee families. Very few had any sort of church background. We created a walkthrough experience with various stations including hair, makeup, professional photos, a coffee bar, a delicious Christmas meal prepared by Johnson and Wales culinary professors, live music, art and games for the kids, a pop up clothing store with thousands of items and a shower of gift cards, cash and presents for the kids. Again, we didn’t feel the need to preach at anyone. We just let them know that there’s a God in Heaven that longs to lavish even greater things upon them. Many of the families wept as they felt the love of God expressed in this tangible way.

The roots of CityLove are in this kind of partnering and in the creative work done over the years to demonstrate God’s love to the people of Providence.

Ren

Throughout the CityLove site there are references to “Ren”: that's a nickname for Renaissance Church.

Ren is located at 184 Broad Street in the city (across from Classical field) and began in 2003 at the Columbus Theatre. What started with about a dozen people has grown to several hundred. The community is rich in diversity and is full of college students, families, all different ethnicities and varying economic levels. It’s a nondenominational church aiming to live out the teachings of Jesus without excessive Christian culture baggage. The mission of the church is to move people into the full expression of who they are created to be.

It’s by no means a perfect church. The people who make up the community are at all different levels spiritually. And many who attend are not yet Christian but just curious to learn.

The church was started as a sort of experiment to create something for artists, progressive thinkers and younger adults because it seemed like these types didn’t fit well into most churches.

Though it’s not without challenges we strive to be a place that transcends cultural barriers that divide. We really don’t like that the most segregated hour of the week is Sunday morning, as someone once said. We are striving to be a community of all nations that really reflects the diversity of the city.

While we are very open-minded, we do hold a firm view that the Bible is God’s Word. We don’t always understand the Bible and most of us have lots of unanswered questions. We are learning to trust God and embrace the mystery. I suppose we could be labeled “evangelical” but most of us cringe at that label because of how the word has become almost synonymous with unkind extreme political zealot types.

We aren’t like that. Or at least we try not to be. We strive to have a posture toward our city of compassion and listening. We don’t believe Jesus is angry and judging everyone. We believe He came into the world not to condemn everyone but to reconcile people to God, to bring us home into the arms of our Creator.

I think for many of us we find it natural to not be against anyone. We can love addicts and guys in prison and the sexually immoral and societal outcasts because deep down we know we aren’t any different. Many of us come from deep pits of sin and are very aware of how ridiculous it would be for us to point the finger of judgement. We are just trying to point people to an endless supply of spiritual bread and water that we’ve discovered. We have been so transformed by Christ that we find it hard not to want to bring people we love with us on the journey.

We are serious about following the teachings of Christ. In other words, most of us feel that if we are going to follow Christ then we have to be genuine. We really seek to know God, which is why the practice of prayer is a driving passion. I guess, in one sense, we aren’t “liberal”. But we also don’t fit the conservative label well. As someone aptly said, “we are too conservative for the liberals and too liberal for the conservatives”. But maybe that means we're like Jesus? Anyhow, we aren’t trying to fit into any label and it’s probably the reason we haven't found a denomination that suits us.

We want more than anything to resemble the heart of Jesus. We thought it was important to give a little portrait of Ren in this space because CityLove is an outflow of her. CityLove is like the arm of the church into the city. You can find much more about Ren on our website. Or come to one of our gatherings. We welcome all. One of our frequent mottos is “come as you are”. It’s a church for the city.

Scott
Lead Pastor