BENTONVILLE -- The four women gathered at a weekly "theology pub" in Bentonville represent different church backgrounds and beliefs.
One is trying to find her way back to the church after years as an agnostic. Another is a dedicated Episcopalian who's been driving to Fayetteville to attend services. A third has been searching for an open-minded church home. The fourth is excited to find she can ask questions, a practice frowned on by the conservative church in which she grew up.
"It seemed like the more questions you asked, the less answers you got," Kay Massey said. "Here, we may not come up with an answer, but at least we get some information to work with."
The women are part of a study group that meets at the Celtic Grill restaurant each Monday. Organized by the Rev. Roger Joslin, the pub is one of a half dozen groups in the fledgling All Saints' Episcopal Church. All Saints' is the first Episcopal church in Bentonville.
Joslin has been "planting" the church since June. Church planting is a term used for starting a new faith community. About 100 people have gotten involved, meeting in small groups like the theology pub. They'll meet for worship for the first time next month, when they begin Sunday services at a local school.
The Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas has been planning to start a church in Bentonville for several years, said the Rev. Dennis Campbell, canon for congregational development for the state. The city population is growing, creating more of a need. Episcopalians must drive to another town to attend church. The chief goal, however, is to reach people who attend no church at all.
"By some estimates, 40 percent of people in this part of the South are unchurched," Campbell said. "There are lots of people out there who need a faith community."
The Episcopal church won't appeal to all of them, but it will offer an alternative to those seeking a Christian church with a strong worship tradition and progressive theology, he said. Episcopalians view the Bible as a collection of documents which must be understood in context rather than taken as black or white truth. That interpretation yields a much richer text than a purely literal reading, Joslin said.
He used the metaphor of a three-legged stool to explain Episcopal thought. Tradition, the Bible and personal experience are given equal weight. This is in contrast to many evangelical churches, with their emphasis on the Bible, and to Catholic churches, with their emphasis on tradition.
"We try to achieve some balance (between the three facets)," Joslin said. "Our own experience is valid as a guide, as well. We have something to contribute ourselves."
The church has long been active in social issue advocacy. It is the first Christian church to ordain an openly gay bishop, for example. This has set off a reaction among Episcopal churches nationwide, with some parishes voting to secede from the church.
"We're not afraid of thinking or dangerous questions," Campbell said. "We're willing to struggle with hot-button issues."
The women at the Celtic Grill illustrate the cross-section of Benton County residents Joslin hopes to attract. Only 25 percent of the new parishioners grew up in the Episcopal church. The rest come from a potpourri of Christian backgrounds, or no church background at all.
"We want to have a church that welcomes everyone," Joslin said. All Saints' embraces theological differences as well as differences in race, sexual orientation and class.
"It's very freeing to be able to say anything, throw anything out there to explore," said Jeanne Curtis, a member of the theology pub. "That's what makes us unique (as individuals) ... We don't all agree across the board on every issue, but we have enough solidarity that we can have a great, great church."
Curtis attended a Methodist church in Rogers while her children were young, but has been driving to St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Fayetteville for services for several years.
"The drive was worth it to me for a more progressive theology. I'm really excited (about the new church). It's exactly what I was looking for --just closer to home."
Church Planting
Joslin has taken an entrepreneurial approach to starting the new church, those who know him agreed. The congenial 55-year-old can be found in a myriad of local settings.
"I go to everything. Everything from the Mule Jump in Pea Ridge to city council meetings to Pickin' On the Square." His clerical collar acts as a calling card, starting conversations and opening doors.
People of all denominations and faiths have been friendly, gracious and accepting, he said.
"Here, people are already interested (in religion)." The newly ordained priest moved to Northwest Arkansas from Austin, Texas, via an 18-month stay in Los Angeles.
He meets individually with people interested in learning more about the new church. Coffee shops and restaurants are favorite venues. He's also met with people at parties, parks and on the running trail. The avid runner wrote a book in his first year at seminary titled "Running the Spiritual Path."
The small groups he coordinates include several book studies, the theology pub, a contemplative prayer group, a walking group and "Godly Play" for children and parents. A film watching group and a class for those interested in learning more about the Episcopal church will start this month.
Small group participants will meet as a whole for the first time at a worship service Feb. 18. That's earlier than planners had imagined, said the Rev. Lowell Grisham, rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. Joslin is assigned to St. Paul's as a curate, although All Saints' stands on its own as a parish.
There are no immediate plans for a physical church building, Campbell said. That will likely take 10 years or more. Rather than serving as a drawback, the lack of a permanent structure will encourage continued growth, he believes.
"The healthiest churches are ones who are fluid and growing and organic. ... Sometimes stability becomes an idol and stagnation sets in. ... We're about building the church (made up) of people."
Joslin is the right priest for the work of church planting, Campbell and others agreed.
"He's the perfect person for this," Grisham said. "It's a very daunting and difficult thing to start a church from scratch. Roger is undaunted and completely enthusiastic and confident. He has a pioneering, entrepreneurial spirit, is a self-starter and can meet anyone under any circumstances. He has such a natural spirit of hospitality and outgoing friendliness."
Parishioner Curtis agreed.
"He's a huge part of this. He's very bright, very knowledgable, very charismatic. He's honest and genuine. Our theology is right in line with each other. It's very refreshing."
The Call To Priesthood
Joslin entered the priesthood after 20 years as an architectural wood worker in Austin, Texas. He holds a master's degree in government from the University of Texas and a master's of divinity from the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest.
He grew up in a Baptist church in a small town near Dallas. He felt called to ordained ministry as a child, but discrepancies between the literal approach to the Bible he heard in church and scientific theories confused him.
"I had trouble accepting that the world was created in seven days, and that all the parables were true. I didn't know any other alternative." When his church refused to accept his stand as a conscientious objector against the Vietnam War, he fell away from religion. He didn't return for nearly two decades.
A painful divorce after 16 years of marriage caused him to look to religion for answers. A quote by Thomas Merton turned his life around. When Joslin read "Prayer is the desire to pray," he realized he was already doing it. Contemplative prayer, meditation and religious study became the centerpoint of his life. He joined a study group at an Episcopal church, drawn by the beauty of the worship service and the open-minded searching for God.
"It's OK to ask questions," he realized. "We're called on to be curious and thoughtful and inquire into the nature of God. ... We don't have to check our brains at the door."
It was at a retreat at a Benedictine monastery in New Mexico that Joslin received internal confirmation of his calling to the priesthood. The rigorous discernment process through the church took another several years. He completed his seminary training in May 2005, the same year his son graduated from college and his daughter from high school. Joslin had continued his wood-working career throughout.
The churches Joslin was assigned to in his seminary years made a deep impact on the developing priest. One was St. James Episcopal Church in Austin, a historically black church whose great music program draws people from all ethnicities. It is now about 40 percent black, Joslin said.
"You look out over the congregation and see black and white and brown and Asian and gay and straight. It looks like the kingdom of God."
The other church was the Church of the Epiphany in east Los Angeles, where Joslin lived near the end of his studies. That church was entirely Latino, with a worship tradition steeped in Latin American culture. The Virgin of Guadalupe played a pivotal role, for example. Joslin learned to respect the differences, which opened up an entirely new way of experiencing the divine.
He hopes to build a faith community that reaches out to people of all ethnic groups, social classes and sexual orientation, he said.
"It's easy to love people who are like us. I believe as Christians we are called to love people who are different than us. That's far more difficult to do.
"This is an important part of our mission here in Northwest Arkansas -- (to offer) a kind of radical hospitality."
Parishioner James DiSalvo said Joslin has a fresh, new way of presenting traditional beliefs.
"It doesn't have a 'thick' religious feel to it," DiSalvo said. "He's got a really modern way -- a really human way -- of finding religion in everyday life. It's a way to live your life every day -- a good way, an honest way."
Joslin is excited about the prospect of impacting lives in Bentonville.
"Starting a church in a town that is the home office of the largest corporation in the world is rather an amazing experience. The opportunity to effect change here is tremendous." Global impact is possible, he believes, through reaching people who set economic standards, environmental policies and employment practices.
"People were ready for a progressive alternative. We're offering that. People have been much more receptive than I ever imagined. It's very exciting."