I’ve been with COTA for 24 hours and slowly getting to see how things work. Initial personal thoughtsare that this is a community that is passionate about life and like to enjoy celebrating. Karen mentioned something like COTA having a reputation in the diocese of being a church that likes to party. I think that is a fantastic reputation to have.

After a tour around Fremont yesterday I met up with Jordan who is the Community Architect. Jordan’s role ensure that everything runs smoothly and that people are kept informed and things happen when they should happen. This obviously releases Karen to continue being the visionary within the community. Jordan’s role is obviously key and he seems to love what he does. I like the language of architect too as it seems to sum up the skill needed in this role.

After our chat over some fantastic coffee (how many times will I say that while I am here?!) I attended the COTA Bishops Committee. This is the decision making body of COTA that refers directly to the bishop, rather than having a PCC which a parish church would have. This is a meeting that allows COTA to consider it’s relationship to the rest of the church and the area. It’s got me thinking about out gathering in Gillingham, and wondering what we do to explore our relationship with the wider church. I don’t think it is too early to start to consider that question.

I ended the day in the pub!  (some of you will say ‘no change there then!!) Earlier in the day Jordan welcomed me via facebook and carried a link to the blog for COTA people to know a little about me. Within a very short pace of time April messaged me to invite me to a gathering they were having in a The Park Pub that evening to celebrate her getting a job. That’s pretty good welcoming … it was a great evening and a pub of wonderful beers – the porter I was drinking was an amazing dark ale! People in Seattle definitely take both their coffee and beer very seriously!

It was great to be able to simply chat with people from COTA in a good relaxed atmosphere over a beer. I’m here for just under 3 weeks now … and I hope I get the chance to sup coffee or beer with lots of other COTA people.

For those interested I’m uploading my seattle pics on Flickr here as and when I get a chance