• Missional Listening Workshop Slides (PDF)
• Missional Listening Exercise Questions (PDF) to be answered based on a demographic segment from this handbook.

Bob Jackson

Church of England consultant, Ven. Bob Jackson, proposes an answer to his own question in a recent paper.

“Once upon a time we thought we knew what church was and how to measure it. Church happened when we gathered in a consecrated building for a public act of worship with a priest on a Sunday. So we measured the size of the church by the number of people who attended the public act of worship. Until the year 2000 we counted ‘Usual Sunday Attendance’, and since then we’ve also used ‘Average weekly attendance in October’, including weekdays.

But attendance & electoral roll measures have never done full justice to what we think church really is. So today I want to pose the deeper questions: ‘What is church?’ & ‘How do we measure it?’”

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Vital Church Planting East Conference 2012

The Missional Roadmap

Where do we go now?

February 2-4, 2012

St. Paul’s Bloor Street, Toronto, Ontario

Everything seems set for another high quality VCP conference in early February.  The speaker (Dave Male from Cambridge UK) has booked his ticket, focussed and practical workshops are falling into place, and registration is up and running on the website.  There is even an early bird rate of 10% off the full price if you register by the end of this month. Full details are on the VCP website here.

Instead of the usual Tuesday through Thursday time slot, the conference this year runs from Thursday through Saturday (February 2-4), to make it more possible for lay people to attend. Workshops on the Saturday will concentrate strongly on equipping teams for mission. There is also a special rate of $65 for those who can only attend on the Saturday.

“But,” you say, “I’m not thinking of planting a new church. Why would I come?” One reason is that the principles of church planting in a post-Christendom age—thinking missionally, learning to discern where God is at work, creating vision, team building—are applicable to any church that wants to be revitalized and move ahead in mission.

But the theme is also a reminder that there are segments of our society which will never be reached by existing churches, however warm and welcoming. The hope is that some fresh expressions of church will do more than reach out to new people and draw them back into existing  churches, valuable though that is, but that they will over time grow into self-sustaining new churches.

It’s the “mixed economy.” As Archbishop Johnson said recently, “Missional focus, that is what we are about. . . . moving towards a mixed-economy church, a healthy inherited church alongside new church plants and fresh expressions, new ways of doing things.

So the conference is really for anyone interested in the church health and growth—and that will be worked out in many ways, one expression of which will be new churches.

You will find all the details on the VCP website here. Hope to see you there!

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What expectations should we have about permanency for these “fresh expressions of church”?

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Length: 11.19

This is the last of our weekly series of questions, but you can see them all here

What do mission-shaped churches look like where you live?

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Length: 06.20

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Length: 1h:16m

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What kind of leadership is required?

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Length: 04.38

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Vision Day in New Brunswick…

All are welcome to the Vision Day at the St. John the Evangelist Parish Centre, 75 Main St., Fredericton, NB on Saturday November 26, 2011 from 9:15am to 3:00pm

Presenters:  The Rev. Nick Brotherwood and Archdeacon David Edwards, Parish Development Officer of the Diocese of Fredericton.

Cost: $10.00 each (includes lunch).

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Length:  1h:13m

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Length: 1h:08m each

Session 1:

Session 2:

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With all this talk of “fresh expressions” isn’t it easy for those of us in “not-quite-as-fresh-as-we-used-to-be” churches to feel left out?

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Length: 02.12

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In what sense is it right to call these “fresh expressions”, churches?

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Length: 00.57

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What exactly is a “fresh expression of church”?

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Length: 00.08

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Learn how one Saskatoon congregation put missional into writing

Joining God in his mission is a great adventure with so many blessings. But it’s also a lot of hard work. As a church leader, I’m continually amazed at how easily and quickly I can get pulled back into complacency and comfort. It’s true for me personally and it’s true for the Church.  It’s that human nature thing that Paul talks about in Romans 7: it’s hard to keep doing the things we know that God has called us to do.

Missional partnerships have been an important part of helping us stay focused as a church. Here, I’m defining missional as simply the posture and intentionality to be the sent Church, joining God in his desire to bring His blessing to the families and nations of the earth.

At Forest Grove Community Church in Saskatoon, we are involved in missions work in a variety of ways. We’ve found that taking the time to clearly articulate the parameters of a missional partnership (in writing) has reaped tremendous benefits. We’ve currently established two in this way, and we are discerning a third one. One is locally with an inner city ministry in Saskatoon called The Bridge (you can read about this in the book, Going Missional: Conversations with 13 Canadian Churches who Have Embraced Missional Life).  The other is with a ministry to the indigenous people of the jungles of Panama. We’ve had over 70 members of our congregation participate in this second one, in seven years of sending teams down to Panama.

Here are a few of the benefits — and power — of a clearly articulated missional partnership:

It sharpens your focus.  As churches and pastors we can feel pulled in so many different directions. Partnerships help us keep focused and make a true difference in a few areas, rather than feeling frustrated and ineffective in many.  It also helps define who exactly the partnership is with and what is the overall purpose we’re trying to accomplish.

It reveals our perspectives, biases and blind spots.  North American churches have lots to offer, but we have so much more to learn.  When I first went to Linda (director at the Bridge), I said that people in our church truly have a heart and desire to help those in our city who are vulnerable, marginalized and struggling with the many faces of poverty — but we don’t know how.  I told her that we needed The Bridge’s help to know how to live our faith. Their ministry (and clients) have helped us so much to see Jesus.  Written and wrestled into each of our partnership agreements is a commitment to bless each other — and what this two-way partnership will look like.

It helps our people engage.  When we take the time to clearly define the partnership and our mutual commitments to each other, we become family and we get to truly know each other.  This helps people see how to live out their faith and where their gifts might be used.  Some people will finally step out and try it because so many others have paved the way first.

It makes us evaluate effectiveness.  In our written agreements, we’ve defined effectiveness and also put a term-limit on our agreement.  Each of our partnerships is up for review every three years.  That makes us evaluate (together with our partners) what’s working, what’s not, and whether or not it makes sense to continue. Churches can be great at starting ministries; we’re not so great at evaluating and at times stopping them.

Jesus seemed to wonderfully combine spontaneous ministry — so much happened “as he walked along,”  see John 9 — together  with great intentionality, whether sending out “the 12″ or “the 72.”  We will always need both.  Being missional requires a posture of spontaneity and an intentionality to truly be effective. Missional partnerships allow for both in a powerful way.

Bruce Enns is lead pastor of Forest Grove Community Church in Saskatoon, Sask.

Beth Fellinger’s two presentations One Size Does Not Fit All and Half Way is Only Half Way are available by clicking here.

Stephen Cottrell‘s workshop Fresh Expressions in the Sacramental Tradition with David Harrison, is available by clicking here.

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Session 2: Length: 0h:47m

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Bishop Stephen Cottrell

This is a workshop given by Bishop Stephen Cottrell, and facilitated by Father David Harrison, at the Vital Church Planting Conference 2011.

Length:  1 hour

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Are you looking for a way to reach families who are not in our churches on Sundays? 

A ‘Messy Fiesta’ is a Saturday workshop to experience and learn about Messy Church.

Messy Church aims to create the opportunity for adults and children to enjoy expressing their creativity, sit down together to eat a meal, experience worship and have fun within a church context.

Reach out to children & young families in your community through Messy Church. This event is both for people who are new to Messy Church and for those who’ve already started up Messy Churches. Connect with others, share ideas and figure out what’s next when you join us for a great day of fun, learning & networking.  Cost is $20.00 each (includes lunch).  Bring a team of 3 or more for $15.00 each.

To find out more about Messy Church, visit the website where it all started and check out the video at www.messychurch.org.uk

Presenters: Rev. Nancy Rowe (MC Practitioner for 4 years) & Sue Kalbfleisch (MC Regional Coordinator)

Info and Registration