More of This

By Laura Tarro, pastor of Bethany Covenant

I am left-handed. I taught myself how to crochet left-handed. Most of the time that works out just fine because crochet patterns are usually done in rows or rounds, handedness doesn’t impact the pattern.

But several years ago, I decided to crochet a pair of mittens. I followed the pattern. When I finished the pattern for the right hand, I discovered I had, in fact, made a left hand mitten. The thumb was in the wrong place. What in the world!?!

I went back and studied the pattern. I had followed all of the steps. But you see, crocheting with the left hand tends to make things the opposite direction of what a right-handed person would make. When it came to the mitten project, I just kept on doing what I was doing. I followed the pattern for the left hand and made a right-handed mitten.

I was thinking about this while working on my latest project. When the pattern followed rows, I was fine. When it came time to divide the sides and sleeves I kept getting frustrated. Why is everything turning out backwards? And then I remembered: I’m left-handed. I’m a bit of a unicorn, and that’s okay.

Are you at times a unicorn, too? How so?

Patterns are written for right-handed people, but I’ve been able (through trial and error, tearing back and starting over) to figure it out. I have to mentally flip over and reverse the pattern in order to complete the project.

There’s an analogy here. In the church-planting world, I’m a bit of a unicorn.

I’m a female founding pastor.

Even writing that feels a bit transgressive.

The patterns of the church-planting world were not written for me. When I go to conferences or classes on church planting, I have to mentally flip over and reverse the pattern to try to begin to think about how it might function for me. More often than not, I have to abandon the pattern completely and create my own. Sometimes I have to deconstruct and rebuild, tear back and reconsider, try, err, and redo—I’ve had to find different models.

This may not be a negative thing. There are other unicorns out there like me. We share our process with each other pretty freely. We love Jesus and we love the church, so we keep doing the work.

We celebrate that Jesus was a bit of a unicorn too. He challenged existing models. He flipped tables, scripts, and patterns. He knew the patterns and systems that people wanted weren’t the ones they needed. He came to set prisoners free, to heal those who knew they were sick, and to bind up the broken hearted. More of this.