[The following is part of a series summarizing our Open Systems Meetings that took place last month. The goal of these meetings was to let the Vox community provide feedback and shape the direction of our community. You can also read Part I and Part II of the summary.]

Membership

All good things come in threes. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Robocop, and last but not least, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In the last of our Open Systems trilogy, we had a record turnout lured by the smoked pulled pork of Franklin’s BBQ.  “Don’t wait in line to have their food run out! Come after Vox liturgy for some Franklin’s BBQ with a side of community discussion to go with your meal!”  And they all gladly stayed.

Our first half of our discussion was a continuation of that morning’s liturgy sermon, from Matthew 25. How does God’s ownership of our lives and finances connect with the sustainability of Vox and Space12? Lively discussion followed from topics of financial communication, transient attendees, to telling the stories of how Vox giving has changed lives. On the Space12 side of things great ideas on publicity, hosting weddings and counseling services were bounced around.

The latter portion of our time together, commitment to Vox was the focus. Would we want to do membership? What would that look like? What would people commit to? What would be their expectations. How could Vox serve these members? We looked at three varying models of memberships. First was a local food coop in East Austin called the Happy Hobo, who provides fresh food and services to the local community. The second option was The Yellow Bike Collective up the street. They bring people together to work on bicycles. The last example we studied was Abbey Way Covenant Church, a monastic community in Minneapolis. These all had varying degrees of expectations and responsibilities. We hope to continue the conversation of commitment/ membership in the near future.

And like all good things that come in threes, all trilogies (except the Trinity) must come to an end. For three consecutive weeks, we battled food coma with courage and now have a pages full of ideas to bring to life. Stay tuned for the coming Pre-quel in a theatre near you.

[Photo by Bright Tal @ Flickr]