For centuries, the Advent/Christmas seasons have been a time for folks to automatically come into Church, perhaps for the only time in a year. However, in this post-Christendom, and some would argue post-Christian age, all bets are off. The days of expectation that people will naturally come into events in our churches simply because it is Christmas, are rapidly dwindling. This is not an urban, suburban, or rural issue.  This is not a church size or denominational issue. This is the new normal of every local church in our increasingly secularized age.

It is not a time for despair. In fact, it is an exciting season of opportunity and hope for those in Christian leadership who are willing to fully engage the challenges of our day. In Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of the magisterial Prologue in John’s gospel that is read every Christmas, we get a glimpse into the missional heart of the Incarnation:

The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, generous inside and out, true from start to finish. (Jn. 1:14, The Message by Eugene Peterson)

God moves into our neighbourhood. We have an opportunity to step back and re-think all we intend, practice and believe about our engagement with Advent/Christmas and with our culture. In whatever way your Church makes decisions, I am going to suggest that we gather, and consider six fundamentals of Advent/Christmas planning, before we look at some practical applications.

Ditch the complaining about the hyper-consumerism of our culture or the lack of religious practice in our society. We follow the One who not only is the Word made flesh, but also the One who breaks the back of death, evil and our sin by his atoning work on the Cross. Our world needs the good news of the Gospel as we share our hope that is grounded in the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ — the Gospel imperative.

Who needs to be part of this conversation? How can the conversation be expanded to include those not typically in the decision-making process? Engage those who only come at Christmas. Talk to those in your community who do not attend at all. Ask your youth and young adults about their expectations and experiences of what the Church can be and do at Christmastide.

Consider every aspect of your Advent and Christmas practices. Ask yourself the simple but exceptionally difficult question—why? Why do we do what we do during Advent and Christmas? Are these events aligned with the gospel imperatives of the Incarnation?

Consider what it will mean to engage your community this Christmas, versus expecting your community to engage your church events.

Think through when your Advent and Christmas events are held. Are attendance patterns changing? Do we need to change our event times to engage more people more effectively?

Where is the best expression of the Advent and Christmas season? Would it be more beneficial to change locales, to actually ‘move into the neighbourhood’ instead of offering events at our local church building?

These six elements of re-thinking and re-framing our understanding and practices of Advent/Christmas in our churches is the hard work of Christian leadership. You will find very quickly that “Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous patience.” (Hyman Rickover)

Historic methodologies and practices feel good to us, but do they connect the Gospel and our culture? If we have done our homework, and prayerfully thought through these six fundamentals, then we might be surprised by the need for the church’s historic gospel tradition, versus our own local traditionalism. In the context of your local community, remember theologian Jaroslav Pelikan’s famous dictum: “Traditionalism is the dead religion of the living. Tradition is the living religion of the dead.”

At St. Paul’s, as we have sought to consider these Advent/Christmas planning fundamentals, we have discovered some simple and effective things to engage and connect with the communities we serve. We are a work in progress, always trying to pray and think through what, why and how we are doing and being the Church.

Here are some things to think about for the Advent/Christmas seasons:

Advertise early and widely with the message that you want to engage with your community, not simply get them into church at this time of year.

Use social media to get the message out. Even if you have no experience or are personally wary – seek out those who regularly use Facebook or Twitter and learn. The cost of your usual advertising -—newspaper, flyers etc. – is increasing while their effectiveness is diminishing.

Undertake a prayer ministry to pray for your visitors, for your events, for gospel proclamation.

Ensure one clear theme in the music, preaching, and prayers so that your message is coherent, concise and consistent.

Through the Advent/Christmas seasons, place the incarnation in the context of the whole of salvation history. For example, a traditional Lessons and Carols service embodies the great sweep of Creation, Rebellion, Israel, Jesus, Still Being Written and The End.

In preaching, beware of the urge to bury people in scriptural volume. Do not overestimate the biblical literacy of our culture or our church communities.  Just because you know the implications of the incarnation, do not assume everyone does.

Beware of the urge to find new meaning in the old text. Allow the Gospel and the text to shape your preaching.

But do preach! Please do not offer a Christmas devotional or read someone else’ thoughts. This is a prime opportunity for you to connect the biblical story with your community in an authentic and meaningful way.

Offer an evangelistic, relationship-based program that people can sign up for immediately, on the spot that will begin right after Christmas. Use Alpha or Christianity Explored. We use Christianity 101 (C101), which for us starts first thing in the New Year.

Put your best foot forward with preaching, liturgy, music, and hospitality. Think of the famous title of Oswald Chamber’s daily devotional book—My Utmost for His Highest. To offer your best to the Lord Jesus is to do just that, offer your best. Whether we like it or not, people are used to high quality production values and they expect your practice to be aligned with our message that the Gospel is the most important good news in the world.

Consider giving your visitors a small and inexpensive gift that explains Christmas, such as Nicky Gumbel’s “Why Christmas?”

Work to reframe your understanding of Advent as much more than a liturgical season.  Be a community that truly seeks to reshape yourselves and society’s worldview from one of consumption to one of compassion. The Advent Conspiracy (adventconspiracy.org) is a brilliant resource to highlight, particularly at this time of year, that you are blessed solely to be a blessing to others.

Offer opportunities to serve at Christmastide. Perhaps you might offer a Christmas dinner to those who are alone at this time of year. You might encourage everyone in your church to offer one hour to your local food bank or one hour to visit a nursing home. Even the smallest churches will have an impact. To engage your community means to serve your community in some capacity, particularly at this time of year.

Throw a party. If you have a children’s or family service, build a festive venue with cupcakes and balloons. Visitors and their children relate to a birthday party for Jesus. For your Christmas services, provide opportunities to build relationships (not just a coffee hour), where your faith community can genuinely engage the community by not only serving, but also simply having fun.

 We live in a changing world and this time of year can be a season of challenge and over-extension. With Advent and Christmas—we have been given an opportunity to connect with our world. As Christopher Wright wrote in The Mission of God:

 It is not so much the case that God has a mission for his church in the world, as that God has a church for his mission in the world. Mission was not made for the church; the church was made for mission—God’s mission.

 As church, we are made for such a time as this.  We are made for God’s mission, which is to proclaim in word and deed the reality that “the Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighbourhood.

Barry Parker is rector of St.Paul’s Anglican Church, Bloor St., Toronto. Check out their website —and how St.Paul’s is presenting Christmas to their community— at www.stpaulsbloor.org

Length: 1h:15m

In particular, I believe we need an explanation of the Gospel upfront on our websites. Many church websites describe their community as “family-oriented,” “inclusive,” “kid-friendly,” “a welcoming community,” and so on. Most go further and say something about faith: “knowing Christ and making him known” is popular; “followers of Jesus” and “a faith-filled family” are phrases that crop up. Smart websites have a “Frequently asked questions” section, anticipating visitors’ questions like “What’s the dress code?” and “Do I have to belong to your denomination?” But I haven’t found many church websites with a section explicitly called, “Becoming a Christian.”

The church of which I am a member, St John the Evangelist in Hamilton (see              www.rockonlocke.ca), recently added a section called just that, under the tab     “New here?” (OK, I confess, it’s not a coincidence: I had something to do with it.)    What    follows is the text of that part of the website. Naturally, you don’t have to agree  with every word of it. There is not enough about some things and probably too much  about others. It’s intended as a taster, a teaser, meant to intrigue and attract. It is  not a systematic theology. If you don’t like it, hopefully it will inspire you to write  something better. But if you do like it, you are welcome to copy it or adapt it for  your own church’s website.

 Becoming a Christian

 The simplest way to define a Christian is as “a follower of Jesus.” That means, someone who tries to learn from Jesus Christ what he has to teach about God, about life and how to live it, and about death and how to deal with it. In a sense, a Christian is a student of Jesus the Teacher.

If that is a Christian, then what is the church? Again, at its simplest, church is when followers of Jesus get together. Why do they get together? To learn more about how to follow Jesus, to pray together, and to encourage one another in their faith. In a sense, the church is the school of Jesus. And, in most churches, they also break bread and drink wine together (variously called the Mass, Communion, Eucharist, or Lord’s Supper) as Jesus told his followers to do. They also get together because one of the things Jesus taught was that God is interested not just in individuals living good lives, but in people learning to live as a diverse and harmonious community.

 Another way to think of a Christian is as someone who has responded to the Good News—or Gospel—that Jesus taught. What is that Good News? It is about something he called “the Kingdom of God”—the state of affairs where things are done in the way the Creator intended. Jesus said that this Kingdom came into the world in a special way when God sent him into the world—in effect, that he was the King of this Kingdom

So what is the Good News of “the Kingdom”? That God in love has not given up on our world, with all its hurt and folly and wars. Rather, in spite of all appearances to the contrary, God is at work to put things to rights, to shape a world where all pain and self-centeredness is done away with. And God invites human beings everywhere to be part of this new thing he is doing in the world.

How do you become part of God’s work, part of God’s “kingdom”? That’s where becoming a follower of Jesus comes in. Why? Because it’s from Jesus that we learn most clearly what it means to work with God in this project of restoring the world. Jesus demonstrated the Kingdom himself—by the way he lived, but also by his brutal execution for our sins and by his miraculous coming back to life three days later—and he taught others how to walk that same road. And that’s why, if we want to work with the Creator in this amazing global restoration project, the best way to do it is in the school of Jesus.

How do you become a follower of Jesus, then? Jesus used two old-fashioned-sounding words to describe it: “repent” and “believe.” “Repent” means to turn away from one thing, and “believe” means to turn towards something else: a 180 degree change, as if we set off walking west and then turned right around and start heading east. Another word for turning around like this is conversion. For some people, that turning around is sudden, but for others it takes a long time.

So what does that journey in a new direction look like? As you might expect, it means a complete change of view. (After all, if you were heading west, you would have been walking towards the sunset; now, facing east, you’re heading towards the sunrise.) Before, it meant living my life as though it belonged to me. Now I realise that it is a gift from the Creator. Before, it meant setting the priorities of my life according to what I thought was important. Now it means learning what God’s priorities for my life are. Before, I could be as selfish as I wanted to be. Now I am learning to serve God and others. The changes are huge.

Does that sound difficult? Well, yes, Jesus never said it would be easy: he was very clear that in some ways it would feel like a death, and any experienced Christian will tell you that following him is often difficult. But the good news is that in following Jesus, you are actually learning to follow the Creator’s way, which means you’re learning to live your life with the grain of the universe, not against it. And in the end that means experiencing what Jesus called “life in all its fullness”—becoming the person that you were created to be, and doing what you were made to do—and in the company of the God who made you and who loves you.

If this sounds intriguing, come check us out one of these Sundays. As you can tell, becoming a Christian is a big thing—in fact, the biggest decision you could ever make—and nobody wants you to rush into it. Come see what church (this followers-of-Jesus-getting-together event) is like. How do they experience Christian faith? How do they handle the difficulties? What are the joys? How do they keep going? How do they experience the love of God? Listen in on their praying, their singing, their teaching, their conversation. They will welcome your eavesdropping!

And if, after a time, you decide that this is indeed what you want, talk to the minister about baptism. If being a Christian is being a student in the school of Jesus, getting baptized is the way you register in the school. It’s a public ceremony (you can’t be a private Christian) and involves you stating your desire to be a follower of Jesus. And the whole Christian community (your fellow students) is there to cheer you on, promising to support and encourage you in your new life.

Perhaps you were baptized as a baby, but have never really done anything about it. In that case, if you decide you want to be a follower of Jesus, there is something called “Re-affirmation of Baptismal Vows,” where you are not baptized again (that’s not necessary), but you take the promises that were made on your behalf as a baby and make them your own as a thoughtful adult choice. And that can be just as meaningful as baptism itself.

Do email us or phone if you would like more information. And, wherever you are at in your spiritual journey, we look forward to meeting you one of these Sundays.

***

The first step to revising your own church’s website just might be to check out the sites of other churches. What works? What doesn’t? Learn from the mistakes of others and be inspired by the ingenuity of those who do it well. And, in particular, let’s take the opportunity of this first contact with new people to say something about the Gospel

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).

Register On-line here

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.

We need to revise the rules of a game which seems to be played out with one active pulpit, before an audience of passive pews. Here’s one way forward

As Canadians wrestle with a shrinking Church and a growing recognition that the God of all ages is not limited to high ceilings, wooden pews, or even Sunday morning, we are beginning to grasp the magnitude of the task ahead. It is huge, and will require more than young priests and ministers eager to enter traditional parishes. We face a revolution in how we do ministry, plant churches, communicate a message, and create community.

Mission Shaped Ministry (MSM) was developed as an advanced training course for teams of lay people planting Fresh Expressions of Church in Great Britain. I wish I could say MSM is a magic formula, creating new churches to replace those that have reached the end of their lifespan.

Instead, it challenges the Church to rethink itself on at least three levels.

How we lead: We have come to think of the Church in terms of pastor and laity — one doing the skilled work and the other supporting in many ways. But Fresh Expressions of Church are as much the formation of ministry teams as the reformation of professional leaders. Thinking back to the Acts of the Apostles or the Pauline Epistles, new ministries were always the work of what I think of as the apostolic AND:  Paul and Silas and Barnabbas and Titus and Phoebe and Priscilla and Aquila and Epaphras and Mary and Andronicus and Junia and many more cited by name.  The next generation of church leaders will have complementary ands in every leadership team.

How we finance ministry: As much as I appreciate collecting a salary for doing the things I love – and would likely continue doing even if I won the lottery tomorrow — my income comes from the accumulated wealth of generations.  People older than myself, for the most part, have paid the mortgage on buildings we could no longer afford to purchase. In the future, I suspect much ministry will be conducted by teams of lay persons; supported, encouraged and blessed by clergy but not restricted by the availability of the ordained and salaried.  We can no more afford to launch only churches build by professional church workers than could the early church — or any of the other church planting movements of history. Unless we are willing to send out mendicants with bowls to beg for their supper, Fresh Expressions of Church will often be the work of those who earn their salary and mingle with the working population as others do. Instead of numbing themselves in front of the computer, console, or TV, dedicated Christ-followers will create new Christian communities through networks of relationships inaccessible to parish focused ministers.

Role of pastors: There must be a shift from pastor centred mission to multi-faceted team. The British MSM was designed to aid groups of eager lay people in need of seasoned advice, theology, and structure and to temper a spontaneous church planting. Guiding an unruly outbreak of enthusiastic lay ministry does not seem to be a significant problem in the Canadian Church. But we cannot forget that the early Church was largely a movement of lay persons mentored by followers of Jesus, tied to the teaching of the apostles, but not to buildings or methodologies.

The difference between a laity that cares beyond its friendship networks and one that is ingrown appears to lie in one of the eight measureable quality characteristics of Natural Church Development (NCD). Passionate Spirituality is the ability to apply one’s love for God, one’s knowledge of scripture, one’s experience of the transforming power of God to everyday life and relationships at home, in community and at work. It is that extra “something” that pushes past loving fellowship and a crowded agenda of work and leisure to a life that follows in the footsteps of Jesus — and of the 12 — and the 72, and 500 and so on through to those who mentored the ministries of which each of us are a part.

Does the world need another course to learn how to plant a church or fresh expression of Church?  If it does, MSM is a pretty good one.

But I think we must strive for more than more than deepened knowledge. We need to recruit young people and active retirees and persons whose circumstances allow them to live simply in order to serve God’s mission in the world.  We need priests and pastors ready to rethink tried and steady patterns of ministry that support a passive laity.

We need to revise the rules of a game which can be played out with one active pulpit, before an audience of passive pews. MSM is a team sport. Gather a gang of two or three or ten, and see what you can do. I can safely say that God is on your side.

That evening, his comment came back to me: “More liturgical than missional.” I’d heard that kind of comment before, but the distinction had never been put quite so baldly. Why did it bother me so much? The answer came that Sunday, during Eucharistic Prayer #4 in the Book of Alternative Services, sometimes called the “Star Wars” prayer because of its reference to “the vast expanse of interstellar space, galaxies, suns, the planets in their courses, and this fragile earth, our island home.” Personally I love it, perhaps because it puts the Christian story in such a vast and beautiful context: it is (literally) awesome.

Then comes the reminder of what went wrong in our universe: “We turn against you, and betray your trust, and we turn against one another.” It is our failure to love God and neighbour. And then the comforting words, “Again and again you call us to return.” Thank God, God does not give up on us. “Through the prophets and sages you reveal your righteous law.” God’s rescue began almost as soon as sin entered our world. But then, “In the fullness of time you sent your Son, born of a woman, to be our Saviour.” Jesus, the climax of God’s mission to our world.

What was that word? “Mission!” The fancy term theologians use for it is the missio dei — the mission of God to redeem our sinful and hurting world. And there it was at the heart of the Eucharist!

I quickly flipped through the other prayers of consecration. There it was again:

When we turned away from you in sin, you did not cease to care for us, but opened a path of salvation for all people. (#1)

Jesus . . . lived and died as one of us, to reconcile us to you, the God and Father of all (#2)

[I]n these last days you sent [Jesus your Son] to be incarnate from the Virgin Mary, to be the Saviour and redeemer of the world (#3)

In Jesus, your Son, you bring healing to our world and gather us into one great family. (#5)

In your mercy you came to our help, so that in seeking you we might find you. Again and again you called us into covenant with you . . . (#6)

At the heart of every one of the prayers of consecration is the same simple message, though phrased in different ways: God in love reaches out to a sinful and hurting world, and as the culmination of that reaching out sends Jesus into the world to redeem humankind. The verbs are revealing: send, give up, open, bring, come, call, reconcile. They are words of movement, change and hope —words of mission.

The Christian God, these prayers remind us, is a missionary. They never tire of telling the story of what this missionary God has done in sending Jesus. Today’s emphasis on “being missional” is not just the latest flavor of the religious month. It is reminder of that mission which begins in the heart of God and which swoops down to redeem a rebellious world. And the Eucharistic liturgy, it seems, is first and foremost a celebration of mission. That’s why we can’t separate the two quite as easily as my friend wished.

But then a second thing hit me: the Church where we celebrate the mission of God in the Eucharist would not exist, were it not for that mission. The story of God’s mission, which we retell at every Eucharist, is not the story of some far-off reality or an alien people; neither is it an abstract theory for theologians to argue over. The story of God’s mission is the story of every church, however remote or ageing or small, where the celebration takes place. The only reason any church exists is because it is the fruit of God’s reaching out in Jesus Christ. This is why the prayers are full of “we,” “us” and “our.” If there had been no missio dei, there would be no Church. If there were no missionary God, there would be no Eucharist. The very word Eucharist — thanksgiving — is precisely because God has reached out to save us. This is the story — the only story — which constitutes the Church and its worship. It is most truly, for the Church, “the greatest story ever told.” This is why it comes at the climax of Christianity’s most distinctive act of worship.

This means that liturgy is in one way centripetal: it is the sacrament which speaks of God’s mission to “to gather us into one great family” at the cross and at the table. God reaches out his hands to us in mission: we are drawn to respond in repentance, faith and thanksgiving.

But this is not the end. Liturgy is also centrifugal. As the Eucharist came to an end, it became clear. We say together:

Gracious God, we thank you for feeding us with the body and blood of your Son Jesus Christ. May we, who share his body, live his risen life; we, who drink his cup, bring life to others; we, whom the Spirit lights, give light to the world.

If worshippers are mysteriously united with Jesus in the bread and wine, there are practical consequences to that unity. If we are one with Christ, we are one with him in his work in the world. And what is that work? To “live his risen life,” “to bring life to others,” and to “give light to the world”: not a bad summary of Christ’s missionary work —which he now shares with those who have eaten and drunk at his table.

The Eucharist is not an escape from the wicked world. It is a drawing apart from the world for a time, in order to be sacramentally reminded that “God so loved the world”— and then sent us out to serve God there.

The downward swoop of God’s grace catches us up into its onward flow. John Stott has said: “People need two conversions: one from the world to Christ, and the other with Christ into the world.” And at the hinge between those two movements stands the Eucharist, to which we are drawn by the mission of God, and from which we are sent for the mission of God.

Liturgy without mission is like the Dead Sea. Rivers run into it, but there is no outlet. No life can survive in it. Mission without liturgy is like a flash flood, powerful but quickly over, not fed by permanent springs — and equally unable to sustain life.

Liturgy and mission together, however, are symbiotic, as God intended, life-giving first to the people of God, and then through them in the power of the Spirit to the world.

I think I need to call my friend and schedule another lunch. This time it will be my turn to pay.

Years ago, my best friend Janet and I travelled from Halifax to Vancouver and back again on a student Via-Rail pass. For 21 days we sat, slept and snickered in coach seats, eating peanut butter sandwiches and once an entire cream pie. We giggled through northern Ontario and cackled through the prairies, until, to our utter bewilderment, someone finally snapped.

Our fellow passenger shouted “Would you please stop that incessant giggling!” The rest of the car applauded. They weren’t clapping for us. Amazingly, they were clapping for the man who told us to shut up.

We were stunned to discover not everyone — not anyone, actually — thought we were the cat’s meow. And that’s how the church is to some people, in some neighbourhoods. The church has become irrelevant, and maybe even annoying!

This past year, I had the privilege to interview and write the stories of 13 Canadian churches — of various sizes, shapes and denominations — across Canada who have decided to get relevant, big-time. Going Missional: Conversations with 13 Canadian Churches who Have Embraced Missional Life is the book, borne of that research and co-written with Willard Metzger, then World Vision Canada’s director of church relations.

All across Canada, there are churches embracing missional life. They are moving out of their comfort zones into a more intentional local engagement and serving their own communities in remarkably creative ways — not to grow their churches — but to grow their obedience to Jesus’ teachings to deeply love the people and places that surround us.  And they are doing it in partnership with all kinds of people and community groups already active in their midst.

Partnerships was a huge part of many of the missional adventures I learned about. Ask, then listen, advised Judy Paulsen of Christ Church, Oshawa, an Anglican congregation profiled in the book. Going out to meet with community groups, asking how the church can serve them, then coming up with creative partnering possibilities is a staple of the missional life.

I shared this idea of partnerships with people in the community, who weren’t necessarily the least bit churchy at all, with our own church’s Mission and Outreach group. Inspired, we formed a team  to go visit the local schools and offer our church’s assistance for students in need. The result, after months of talking and re-visiting, is a bursary for social action at the high school, and a sizable donation to another school to build up their literacy program.

We feel certain we are on the right and very new track.

This immediate application of what I was learning happened again and again during the writing of Going Missional. Because our own congregation of the Ascension in Port Perry is well on its way to a renewed incarnation in our community, we were able to apply some of the missional lessons right away, which is the very point of the book.

We fellow travellers on the missional road – and many would argue there is no other road — can learn so much from each other. Simple things like dialoguing with the community to find out how we can help — and not presuming to already know.  Realizing that God is already at work in Port Perry and elsewhere, whether we are a part of it yet or not. And knowing that simply being a friend can be the greatest witness to Christ’s love. One church I spoke to built a homeless shelter right down the hall from their sanctuary; another offers fixed-up cars to the poor in their community, yet another asked surprised parishioners to donate their coats and boots (on a cold Saskatoon Sunday) to a homeless shelter downtown. A west-coast church volunteered in droves for an Aboriginal Olympics taking part in their hometown, and did more to build bridges in two weeks than in the decades previously.

I ended this project feeling like it was a good time to be a Christ-follower in Canada — and in my very own community. For the first time in a long time, I am excited about what is to come.

Going Even More Missional

I interviewed 46 people, from 13 diverse church communities from coast to coast, for Going Missional. Here are some more ways these congregations are living out Christ’s call in their communities.

1. Work with other churches: In almost every case, churches who are deeply engaged in their communities are open to collaboration with other — often very different — congregations.

2. Be prepared to help when the community needs you. A large Montreal congregation founds its missional feet during the ice storms of 1998. Their sanctuary became a shelter, and their reputation as a church the community can trust grew exponentially.

3. Know your community. The churches in the book spent time asking questions, hearing from community groups and even just travelling on city buses to hear and absorb what the needs of their communities really were.

4. Encourage lay people. Often, the best ideas for missional outreach come from parishioners who want to share their passion and their gifts. Sometimes, clergy are most effective as cheer leaders.

5. Move from writing cheques to being present. The churches in the book, especially Christ Church, Oshawa, have intentionally moved from mostly financially supporting needs in their communities to actually rolling up their sleeves and getting to work. Parishioners love the switch.

6. Preach and teach boldly. One church in Winnipeg tells members that if they aren’t willing to get to work in the community then they are just taking up a chair someone else could use. Ministry opportunities are presented on their website like job descriptions and everyone has a chance to participate.

7. Open your doors — for free. A large Saint John congregation opens its building (rent-free) for community meetings and events and has gained a reputation, starting with that simple act, as being on the side of the city.

8. Train people how to serve. A St. Catharine’s congregation that houses a homeless shelter makes sure its volunteers are well-trained and comfortable. They present varied “on-ramps” for engaging parishioners in missional activities.

9. Invite the community in — even on Sundays. A church in Duncan, B.C. invites community leaders to join them for a Sunday service and share what they do for their town, then the church offers to pray for their work, right there and then.

10. Do your programs well. A Saskatoon church took a load of their “Sunday best” clothing, in new boxes, to a homeless shelter and the shelter staff were moved to tears. Another church-run homeless shelter washes their visitors’ clothes and offers them fresh pyjamas to sleep in. Offer the world your best.

Going Missional: Conversations with 13 Canadian Churches who Have Embraced Missional Life is available through The Leadership Centre, Willow Creek Canada, at www.growingleadership.com

Karen Stiller

The Hard Stone Café (HSC) began at St. John’s (Stone) Anglican Church, in Saint John, NB, in 2002, as a connection point for youth, aged 13– 18yrs, and in particular for youth without a prior connection to church or Christianity.  This was one program in an umbrella of programs created to engage the community directed by Ven. David Edwards, Rector of Stone Church. David commissioned his then, newly appointed Youth Minister, Jonathan Springthorpe, to create an event for the young people of Saint John. What began as a monthly event developed into a community, and a fresh expression of “Church”.

Here, in his own words, Jonathan Springthorpe recalls the growth and development of the Hard Stone Café.

“The Hard Stone Café came from humble beginnings in December of 2002. The Stone Church Youth Group helped to construct a stage for musicians, put up decorations, and helped to create a menu of slushy drinks (non-alcoholic of course). As the event approached, my anticipation grew of crowds of youth piling into the church ready to hear the Gospel, yet instead of crowds only two brave souls entered the gothic revival exterior to attend the first Hard Stone Café. The youth group had not invited their friends with any enthusiasm, as they feared I would use the café as a “bait and switch” evangelistic event. After the first HSC event, the youth group invited their friends without fear and we had about 10-15 youth from the community at the second café.

Early on several colleagues in youth ministry inquired if they could bring their youth groups. David and I were committed to reaching the “unchurched”, and we wanted to protect the Hard Stone Café from becoming another event for church youth. We decided that while all youth were welcome we would not host organized Christian groups.

Within two years the attendance had grown to an average of 25-30 youth from the community. In spite of the growth, our experience was one of frustration. We longed to share the Gospel with those who came to the café but we felt like our hands were tied. We feared that any strong witness would break the trust we had worked hard to build and we found out that our fear was justified. On one occasion the Christian musical guests, contrary to our instructions, began the evening with the intimate worship song: “Jesus, Lover of My Soul” and all but four of the Youth Group cleared the room. It was as if someone was spraying teen repellent into the air. Most “unchurched” youth were suspicious, and often critical of “organized religion”. Many youth were reluctant to come to the café because it was in a church.

From the beginning we had hoped we could find Christian musicians who were able to play secular tunes as well. The evening would begin with secular cover songs, many of them classic rock of the 70’s, and 90’s. Once the youth were comfortable the musicians would play a Christian song or two, introducing them as a musical expression of a personal belief in God. Christians could share something brief about God, provided it was through the medium of music. Music is the currency of teen culture. This strategy worked well at times but we simply couldn’t find many musicians who were comfortable playing both secular and Christian music.

An important step forward happened when one of the youth group, asked me: “can my friend’s band play at the next café?” Permitting community youth to play presented us with potential problems: lyrics and spontaneous interactions with the crowd could contain profanity and offensive material, not to mention encourage “moshing” (definition available on UrbanDictionary.com). We became conscious that we were bridging two completely different worlds: the congregation of Stone Church, and the youth of Saint John. We agreed to let outside musicians play, but we drew up guidelines that they must abide by: “lyrics must be 100% free from profanity and explicit lyrics”; for safety reasons: “no moshing”, and musicians had to arrive an hour before the start of the cafe. Virtually all of the bands, in their gratitude for an opportunity to play were happy to respect the guidelines.

Certain aspects of teen culture can be baffling. In 6 years of hosting teen musicians, the audiences were uniformly supportive of their peers, even when an attempt at music was painfully amateur.  Subsequently, the Hard Stone Café became known as the “only all ages venue” in Saint John at the time. The youth of the community rallied around the café, helping to promote the events, spreading the word, and helping to recruit musical guests. Parents of band members stayed on occasion, and were thrilled with the Hard Stone Café. In a few years the phrase: “the café” was adopted in the vocabulary of local youth; this is a milestone of acceptance in teen culture.  A core group of youth from the community began to attend the café faithfully. They were not Christians though God was at work in them.

In May 2008, attendance at the Hard Stone Café reached record numbers through the popular social networking site “Facebook”. Over 800 invitations went out throughout the Greater Saint John area, one friend inviting another, and over 150 youth showed up. It was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. We had to ask some people to leave the loft area and move to the “overflow rooms” for safety. Nine bands had shown up to play and we came close to turning youth away at the door. There was no doubt that we had made inroads into the youth culture but we were still wondering how we could share Christ with them in this setting.

Not by some brilliant design but by necessity something happened. The café began at 7pm and finished around 9pm. The youth group from Stone Church remained till 10:30pm to clean up. Many parents from Stone expressed their displeasure that it finished so late. To address this concern we added a youth group sleepover after the Café. This served to reward the youth group who had worked before and during the café in service of our guests. These sleepovers became times of natural discipleship that I relished. We would worship and talk about the Scriptures together sometimes well past 3am. We began a regular time of worship that became the highlight of the evening for the Christian youth.

The next step forward happened when the core group from the community began to hang out with the youth group after the café. They requested to join the sleepover event. Initially, I was hesitant as I would need to contact their parents to be sure they were permitted to stay, and there was a question in my mind: would their presence interfere with our time of Worship? The first time our group was about to ascend to the upper room to begin our worship I wondered how they would respond. To my great surprise the visiting youth joined us, mostly out of curiosity. These non-Christian youth experienced in their own words: “something inspiring”, though they did not know exactly what.

In the following months this core helped to welcome other youth to the worship session after introducing it as “this God thing”. Over six to eight months teens who were previously hard against organized religion were softening to the Gospel. God was at work in these lives and a number of them came to faith.  The Hard Stone Café had evolved into a form of church that was drawing youth from the community without having to strategize. A new Christian community was forming.

In hindsight, the program that started in Dec. of 2002 that would evangelize young people, turned out to be the start of a remarkable journey. Through much of the journey we felt lost and unable to reach the youth of the wider community for Christ. We learned the importance of community. We learned to work as a team, with the Stone Church Youth Group, as partners in outreach, and seeds of a community were sown.

My time in leadership of the Hard Stone Café came to an end a year ago with a move to Toronto to attend Wycliffe College. The Hard Stone Café continues under the direction of, Catherine Bonham, one of my colleagues in Threshold Ministries. It is my conviction that the way to reach “unchurched” young people is through fresh expressions of church.”

Jonathan Springthorpe

Evangelist, Threshold Ministries

see the HSC in action

Behold! Something stirs in the English countryside

“Tanworth-in-Arden is a small rural parishbetween Birmingham and Redditch. Paul Cudby, vicar of St Mary Magdalene church, explains what they are doing to reach those who don’t ‘do’ church.” read more

Apparently, it’s just one of those long-standing Christmas traditions. More people will come to services this Christmas than at any other time of year. And the majority of those people will not come back for another 12 months. Is this inevitable? Do we simply shrug and accept it as a sad reality? Or is there something we can do to make those people think it might be worthwhile to come back sooner than next Christmas—maybe even next week?

Some of the answers are obvious, though not always easy: a genuinely welcoming community; liturgy that is done well; music that delights the ear and the heart; and quality refreshments afterwards, for a start. All those require the enthusiastic co-operation of the church community. But I want to address another component of the service that is primarily the responsibility of one person: the sermon.

How do we preach this Christmas in such a way that the hearers say, “Wow! That’s amazing. Maybe I need to come back and hear more,”—instead of, “Ah yes, the boring sermon. Another reason I gave up on church 20 years ago. I remember it so well.” Here are some modest suggestions:

1. Name people’s hang-ups—whether or not we share them

Many people outside the Church assume that church folk do not think like them, and certainly don’t understand the doubts and reservations they experience around church stuff. To name those things helps people relax: “Wow, the preacher knows how I think, and seems to think it’s normal!”

What should we name? Here are just a few:

*Difficulties with the historicity of the story: “Many of us have a hard time believing things happened just the way they’re described in the story.”

*Difficulties with adult belief: “We think the Christmas story is OK for kids, but not for adults.”

*Difficulties with church: “Many people have had bad experiences with church, and that’s deeply sad.”

*Difficulties with the incarnation: “To say ‘he came down to earth from heaven’ makes it sound as though Jesus was an alien being visiting from another planet.”

*Difficulties with faith: Mark Twain said, “Faith is believing what you know ain’t true.”

Of course, we can go on to address whatever the problem is, but we need to start by naming it as a legitimate concern. Otherwise the hearers are always thinking, “Ah, but if you knew my particular questions, my doubts, my experience, you’d understand why I’m not here more often.” If we can disarm those reservations, it increases the likelihood that our hearers can hear the good news.

2. Speak from the heart—and take time to find it

John Stott says somewhere that, although he loved to preach the atonement and did so frequently, he was careful not to use clichés in doing do. Each time, he would seek to be personally reminded of the reality of the cross, and to find fresh ways of talking about it that would engage both him and his hearers.

The same is true for the incarnation (and, I suppose, ideally for all Christian truth). I would suggest that our sermon preparation is not complete until we ourselves have been touched afresh by the reality of God become a human being, until we feel the utter goodness of the Good News, and our sermon-in-the-making is more than words. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks,” says Jesus. Let’s make sure our hearts are full to overflowing before we speak. People recognise authenticity—and they recognise when we are just saying the words without feeling them.

3. Avoid theological jargon

C.S.Lewis says there is a place for in-house technical language in every profession or social group. We can’t manage without it: it can be precise and efficient. Once we step outside that specialised community, however, our language has to change. In particular, explanations tend to take far longer. Lewis suggests that most in-house words require 10 everyday words in order to explain them. He adds that if your job is to communicate with outsiders—especially in the name of Christ—then suck it up (I paraphrase): take that extra time, and don’t grudge it; use those 10 words (unfamiliar though they may be), and don’t look for short cuts. For example:

*Talk about “the author writing himself into the script of the play” rather than “the incarnation”—this is a C.S.Lewis analogy (10 words instead of two)

*Talk about “Matthew’s biography of Jesus” rather than “the Gospel of Matthew”—it’s not obvious to an unchurched person what “a Gospel” is

*Talk about “the story” rather than “the text” or “the narrative.” Avoid academic terms—unless your congregation attracts a lot of university folk, of course.

This kind of translation is actually a good discipline for us. Apart from anything else, it’s what missionaries have always done.

4. Do something surprising—even if it’s outside our comfort zone

We live in a multi-media age. Sadly (for those of us over a certain age at least), words alone seldom stick in the memory. Our sermon is far more likely to be remembered and discussed over Christmas lunch if it is more than words. Why not consider  things like:

*Having a roving microphone in the congregation. Ask questions that invite a one- or two-word answer. “What comes to your mind when you think of Christmas?” is simple and sure to get people involved. Don’t ask for stories or you might never get your microphone back.

*Preaching from the aisle rather than the pulpit. People in the Western hemisphere feel (perhaps since the 60s) that informal equals sincere, and formal equals inauthentic. There is really no rational basis for it, but it’s worth remembering.

*Having a new Christian say (briefly) how his or her view of Christmas has changed. A personal story from an “amateur” can carry more weight than the views of the “professional.”

*Including a short dramatic sketch on the subject of the sermon. (As I write this, I remember one such at Trinity Anglican Church in Streetsville (Ontario), over 10 years ago. Even now I find it moving.)

*If you have the technology, showing an appropriate video clip. The website textweek.com has a tab called “movie index,” which offers lots of good ideas.

And if some of these suggestions seem somehow beneath our dignity, let’s remember that this is after all the festival of the humiliation of the Word.

5. Show how the Gospel makes a difference

Postmodern people don’t care whether Christianity is true, but they are interested to know whether it works. It’s a legitimate question. After all, it is “by their fruits”—not by their compelling arguments—that “you will know them.”

So how might it affect our hearers’ lives if they believed that God really became a human being? How might the most amazing event in history cause them to see the world differently? How might they treat their spouse, their colleagues, their in-laws, their neighbours, differently? How might leisure or work or sex seem different? How might life be more joyful? And, to be honest, how might life be more difficult? (There is always a cost to believing).

Of course, it will help if we can say too how the incarnation (forgive the technical term) has changed—and is changing—the way we and our congregation live.

Sacramental preaching

Preaching at Christmas is a challenge, but one worthy of the season. After all, if we believe that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” the sermon can be a sacrament of that same Incarnation—not just talking about God, but by our preaching giving the hearers a taste of the God who enters our world, who participates in our language and our culture, who speaks to us “right where we are,” to affirm us and challenge us at the depths of our being.

Whether our guests actually come back the week after Christmas is their responsibility before God, not ours. Our responsibility is to be faithful in representing the Gospel as best we can—and then to leave the rest to the God who loves them enough to come to earth for them.

Vital Church Planting 2011 West takes place in Edmonton, AB, May 26-28

Steven Croft

Vital Church Planting 2011 East takes place in Toronto, ON, May 31-June 2

Watch short promotional video here.

Website for both conferences here

Bishop Steven Croft will be the main speaker at both VCP 2011 East & West .

I have an actor friend, Joe Abbey-Colborne, who worked with me in campus evangelism nearly twenty years ago. When I first suggested a collaboration to him, he was nervous. He had had too many experiences of doing dramatic sketches, then having a preacher stand up and say, “Now, I hope you understand that this character represents Jesus, and that the lesson the sketch holds for us is the following.” I promised I would never do anything of the sort.

C.S.Lewis had similar worries about The Chronicles of Narnia. He was emphatic that the Narnia stories are not an allegory, like Pilgrim’s Progress, or even his own Pilgrim’s Regress, where a is meant to represent b, and c to represent d. They are rather, he suggested, a “supposal.” Suppose that the God who created our world created life on other planets, and suppose that this God chose to communicate with them, what that communication look like? Naturally, there would be similarities to our experience of God in our world—we might recognise something of the same flavour—the same style if you will—of God as we know God in Jesus Christ. And yet it would be distinctive.

As a result, with the exception of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first (and, I would argue, the weakest—he got better as he went along) of the books, while we may recognise Christian themes in Aslan’s dealings with the Narnian world (his loving strength, his demand for trust, his willingness to be intimate with his creatures), there are few one-to-one correspondences with the story of God as we know it.

His goal, he told his friend George Sayer, was “a sort of pre-baptism of the child’s imagination.” Sayer comments, “His hope was that when, at an older age, the child came into contact with the real truths of Christianity, he or she would find these truths easier to accept because of reading with pleasure and accepting stories with similar themes years before.” [1]

In a sense, Lewis is giving his readers the opportunity to follow the course of his own spiritual journey: raised in the Anglican church, but finding it lifeless, and turning instead to atheism; having experiences of “joy” through reading pagan mythology; and finally returning to Christian faith (and Anglicanism) by realising (with the help of his friend Tolkien) that the mythology he had loved was really pointing him beyond itself to a depth in Christianity—the true joy—that he had never known as a child.  The Chronicles seek to circumvent the “watchful dragons”[2] too often associated with “religion.”

Naturally, there are few hints in the Chronicles themselves that this is Lewis’ goal. That would be to subvert his intention—not to say ruin a perfectly good story. But in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, he gives two very strong hints of what he is about.

One takes place when Lucy is in the magician’s house on the Island of the Voices, reading through the book of spells. She comes across a story “for the refreshment of the spirit,” which takes up three pages and tells “about a cup and a sword and a tree and a green hill.” She says, “That is the loveliest story I’ve read or ever shall read in my whole life.” Yet as soon as the story is done, she cannot recall it, nor can she turn the pages back. She asks Aslan, “Will you tell it to me, Aslan?” And he says, “Indeed, yes. I will tell it to you for years and years.”[3] For the thoughtful reader, it raises the question of where Lucy might find such a story in our world. Christian readers already know.

The other place is right at the end of the book, when the children are about to return to their own world, and Lucy weeps because (she thinks) they will never see Aslan again. Aslan says, “But you shall meet me, dear one.” Edmund doesn’t understand: “Are—are you there too, sir?” To which Aslan replies:

“I am . . . But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. That was the very reason you were brought into Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.”[4]

Again, Lewis is putting a grain of sand into the oyster of the reader’s mind: what on earth is Aslan’s “other name” in our world? How can we possibly know the fictional Aslan in our own world? How can there have been a this-worldly “purpose” to our reading about Narnia? Lewis is not going to tell us: but he wants us to think about it, and (with the help of the Spirit) to discover the answer.

Lewis is a good evangelist—clear about The Story but respectful, winsome and imaginative in how he presents it, seeking a response and yet encouraging us to figure it out for ourselves. We could do worse than to follow his example. And maybe the movie—if it as faithful to the book as it is supposed to be—will be helpful to us in our own evangelism.

[2] Lewis, C.S. “Sometimes Fairy Stories May Say Best What’s to be Said”, in Of This and Other Worlds (London: Collins Fount Paperbacks, 1984), 72.

[3] Lewis, C.S. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, 1965), 134, 137.

[4] Ibid., 209.

The Church’s prayer in every generation is always for the people of God to be renewed. When our hearts and minds are renewed it opens us up to the unifying love that is Christ, brings the desire to serve others, and offers peace and hope to our families, communities, and to the world. This, of course, is the Church’s mission and raison d’etre.

In order for the local church to be effective in its mission in every generation, its pastors need to be intentional and systematic in guiding its people—and ultimately its whole region. The people of God need to be loved, cared for, and shown compassion and mercy. And the people of God also need to be well instructed in the Christian life.

In our Canadian context we are living in a predominantly un-churched society, where perhaps only 10 to 15% of the population is affiliated with organized religion. Moreover, the influence of our secular society on that 15% is substantial. Recognizing the church’s mission mandate, and well aware of this societal conditioning, in 1999 the Anglican Parish of the Resurrection in South River, Newfoundland, began a process of renewal, educating our Christian community and re-creating ourselves.

Here is our story.

In the fall of 1999, the parish was a four point charge with small, diminishing, and tired congregations. It was evident that we would have to become one congregation, with all the heartache that would entail, or we would die. This is how we managed, with the grace of God, to recreate ourselves into one vibrant congregation.

We began experimenting by pooling all the human resources from the four congregations in such a way that we would function administratively, liturgically and catechetically as a one point parish. Liturgically, we had one main service on Sunday mornings that moved each week around the parish. The music was more contemporary, and the children’s church was worked into the liturgy. Those who appreciated the contemporary worship and children’s church would “move” to a different building each Sunday morning. Administratively, all four vestries met and worked as one body responsible for the entire parish; and a single financial team was put into place to manage all parish finances.

These “experimental” changes made the running of the parish more efficient, and the liturgy more life giving. But the factor that gave the process deeper roots and the desire to persevere was the intentional, systematic, and ongoing catechetical evangelization of the congregation. If the parish was going to survive, to be renewed and to be made effective in ministry and mission, it was evident that we needed to challenge those already in the pews to learn more about their faith, and to deepen their spiritual practice. In other words, we took as our very first mission mandate to evangelize and educate those already in the pew.

So, at the same time that the administrative and liturgical changes were happening, we introduced the Alpha Course to the parish. All four vestries and others from the congregations were challenged to take part in that first Alpha course. And, thank the Lord, most vestry members responded. This first Alpha was life changing for a number of those who participated, not only by deepening their experience of God, but also by building new relationships across the boundaries of the four congregations. This was a major factor in bonding together in faith and friendship those who hardly knew one before.

The Alpha Course in the fall of 1999 was only the beginning of the catechetical evangelization of the congregation. A Sunday Breakfast Bible study and a weeknight Bible study began right after that first Alpha. In addition, we dedicated two nights each week to Christian Education. Thursday nights was set aside for Alpha, and Monday nights for other Christian education opportunities such as After Alpha, various other programs, and guest teachers who would come to speak on selected themes.

Gladys Harvey writes: Twelve years ago, I was a churchgoer but notacommitted Christian. I decided to do an Alpha course which was offered by our then new priest. That course changed my life and set my feet firmly on a faith journey which has led to a deep involvement with my faith community and with Christian adult education. Alpha gave me the nuts and bolts to begin with, and Lectio divina gave me the discipline of prayer. Christian education , in addition to theology based sermons from our priest, has helped to build a faith COMMUNITY where formerly there were four dying congregations.

As the faith of the congregation was deepening and maturing, many were being prepared to make the hard decisions to become constitutionally a single congregation with one vestry, to sell our old buildings, and to construct a new House for the Church.

During this interim between the old order (with four buildings) and the move to the new House for the Church, the Alpha and other various courses, including Bible studies, continued to renew and transform our people. The Sunday homilies, strategy and visioning workshops, and special lectures also became very important in educating the congregation about the liturgical principles that our new Oratory would embody, and the ideas of hospitality that would direct our new “Emmaus Café.”

Winston Bishop writes: In September 2006 my family and I decided togive church a chance again and take in a service at the newly opened Parish of the Resurrection. We were a family in need of something meaningful to help fill the emptiness that was within us. We received a warm welcome and after several services, an invitation was extended to us to attend Alpha which soon became the single most important event in our family’s lives. Alpha saved us as a family; it introduced us to Jesus and gave us a place to belong, praise God!

After moving into our new community home in 2006, we added to our Christian Education menu a Wednesday afternoon Spiritual Reading Group. This group meets after the Wednesday mass and lunch, and has read and discussed books including such classics as Augustine’s Confessions and The Autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila, and popular works such as The Shack. During the fall of 2010, the Spiritual Reading Group will be reading and reflecting on Three Cups of Tea, the popular story of one man’s encounter with the Pakistani tribes high in the Himalayas, and his response to their great kindness to him.

Another strand of catechesis we’ve been developing over the last four years has been outreach to the wider community: courses on marriage, parenting, bereavement, divorce and separation courses (using resources available through Alpha Canada) and relevant support groups. We’ve moved into this area for a number of reasons: we want to be seen as a resource to our region for people who are not members of our parish; we discerned a need in this area for our region; and there is potential that when folk participate in the outreach programs that we run out of our café, they may decide to explore faith issues with us as a parish.

Finally, for those interested in learning the disciplines of meditation and contemplation, and early in our process of recreating our community, we introduced the practice of Lectio Divina, which has become an important aspect of our catechetical evangelization. This has developed into a regular corporate practice on Sunday evenings, and, when we moved into our new House for the Church, on Wednesday mornings also.

Debbie Kaba writes: When I started attending Parish of the Resurrection at thebeginning of Advent 2007, I was eager to learn meditation and contemplation and  have found them very helpful in my Christian journey. It helps me quiet my mind and emotions and feel the love of God no matter what situation I’m in. Stuck in traffic? I can practice silent prayer until the frustration abates. It has also developed a deep love and connectedness to others of the parish who corporately practice this prayer. The self-discipline it takes to grow in this discipline has been beneficial, too.

Our schedule for catechetical evangelization in the fall of 2010 is full: the new seven week Alpha course; a Bereavement Course; the Spiritual Reading Group discussing Three Cups of Tea; Sunday morning and Tuesday evening Bible studies; corporate meditation on Sundays and Wednesdays; Sunday and Wednesday Mass; and a Parenting Course and a Divorce and Separation Course on request. The winter schedule will be similar, except that we will add the Marriage Course.

As we have sought to develop a mission focused parish, we have discovered that ongoing, intentional, and planned “catechetical evangelization” needs to be a regular component of congregational life. The results, by the grace of God, can be remarkable.

Thomas Brauer

Ministry at the edges of Church and culture is a challenge, to say the least.  It is often hard to discern which particular edges should attract our limited mission attention (and budgets).  With challenges in finding both people and money for long-term mission projects, it is often helpful to find “one off” mission opportunities which can still work to build community, offer opportunities for discipleship,  even worship, and to build the skills and capacities of potential mission volunteers.  Many of our communities have just such mission opportunities, ready made and waiting, in the shape of festivals, fairs, and cultural events.

All the major cities of Canada, and many rural communities, have significant annual cultural events of some sort.  There are theatre festivals, Jazz, Blues, Folk and Rock festivals, fall fairs, rodeos, and agricultural exhibitions almost every week somewhere in the country.  Many of these events draw significant crowds and offer tremendous opportunities to serve many people at one go.  Yet these events are often neglected as mission and ministry opportunities for churches.

Where to start?

So, let’s say you have a passion for mission, and live in a community with a festival or cultural event coming up. Where do you begin to plan for mission to that festival’s community.

Step One is to find a group who might be interested in serving with you – this is your mission team.  They should be willing to give their time, and energy, and they should share your vision of service.

Step Two, is, gathering your team together, pray for God’s wisdom, and guidance as you ask yourselves the following questions:

1. Who is involved in the upcoming festival?

(think of patrons, artists/presenters/contestants, commercial supporters (food venders and such),  residents of the festival area, and anyone else you think might be impacted by the event).

1. How might those involved need to be served?

(go through the list of groups you think are involved one, by one, discerning how they might need/desire to be served.  If you don’t know – find someone involved in the festival to ask.  They’ll tell you.  Usually you won’t be able to serve them all, but you might well be able to serve a few.)

1. What are our capacities?

(spend time thinking about what resources you have – personnel, time, money, space, gifts and talents, etc.)

1. Knowing who is involved, how they might need to be served, and what we have to share, how can we best be of service to the people involved in this event?

(don’t be afraid to go small, perhaps focusing on one involved group and serving a minor need.  It doesn’t have to be big, it just needs to be done with love, and with the intent to serve.)

Step Three is to get the permissions you need.  Do you need a bishop’s approval, or parish or denominational approval?  Do you need municipal permission/licenses?  Do you need permission from festival staff/organizers?  Depending on what you have chosen to do, you might need permission from multiple sources.  If so, get them.  It will make your life much easier later.

Step Four is to make an implementation plan with your team.  Make sure you’re all on the same page, you all know what is going to happen, when, and where.  Also make sure you’re all on the same page about why you’re doing this.  There is always one person who thinks it’s about getting bums in pews.  It’s not.  It’s about serving out of the love of Christ for the sheer joy and purpose of serving.

Step Five is to get to it.  Let people know what you’re doing, that you have permission, and that you want to be a part of the festival fun by serving the festival itself, and get on with it.  Enjoy yourself, and pray often, giving thanks for the opportunity, seeking wisdom for all involved, and pursuing how your team might be of greatest service.

What might this look like?

Perhaps a concrete example or two would be helpful.  I’m involved in a mixed economy church setting in Edmonton.  I’m working to plant a Fresh Expression of Church called the Project, currently based out of Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Edmonton.  Holy Trinity is located within blocks of the Fringe Theatre Festival grounds, and for years has served as a venue for Fringe productions (the Edmonton Fringe Festival is the world’s 2^nd largest Fringe, and has a central festival location).

Two years ago, members of Holy Trinity and I began plotting how we might be of service to the Fringe.  I made the announcement on a Sunday morning that I would be leading a project to serve the festival, and would welcome as much input and support as possible from the congregation.  Together, we discerned who was involved in the festival – we used the language of ‘stake-holders’.  We knew there were artists (foreign and domestic), festival staff and volunteers, vendors, commercial service providers, neighbourhood residents, and patrons.  In all, this was several hundreds of thousands of people (the 2010 Fringe served well over 400,000 patrons, with another 1400 volunteers, several hundred performers and artists, and several dozen staff, not to mention the 20,000 people who live or work in the festival area).  It was clear that we couldn’t serve them all, but it was necessary to now discern the needs of the various stakeholders.  Through long discussion, and working through the questions above diligently, we settled on serving first the artists and patrons that would be coming to Holy Trinity as a venue.  We also thought we could manage serving festival patrons who might need a place of rest and peace between shows during the day, or who might just need a break from the activities of the festival itself.

In the end, we decided we had resources and opportunity enough to offer the artists volunteer support during shows, there by relieving them of the onerous task of finding their own volunteers for box office and ushering duties.  We also operated a concession stand at reasonable costs (most festival venues charge exorbitant rates for concessions as a cash grab).  We provided clean and comfortable green-room space for the artists (a green-room is a room for actors to relax in before and after a show) as well as food and drinks for them.  And we simply went out of our way to be as welcoming as possible to both artists and patrons.

Over and above show time support, we offered three other services during the days of the festival to create a space of rest for tired patrons.  Our biggest hit was the “Green Room Teahouse” where we served (in good Anglican fashion) tea and fresh scones (made to order with our own heavenly recipe served with clotted cream and jam).  We also set up “Father Tom’s Lemonade Stand”.  This was a wonderful way for me to meet people in the community and to talk to folks who were walking by the church building.  The third offering was ‘solace’.  ‘solace’ is a contemplative arts installation located in the nave and chancel of the church, and offers people a place of rest and peace, and an opportunity to (re)engage with Christian spirituality.  One of the most gratifying results of these activities was seeing how many people made one or more of our offerings a daily part of their life for the ten days of the Fringe.  This year, our second year, we saw almost all of last year’s folks come back, and they brought friends.  We ended up serving over 400 scones in 10 days.  A lot of work, but well worth it.

The combined impact of our activities of serving the Fringe resulted in many, many people commenting on how welcome they felt, and how Holy Trinity embraced the spirit of the Fringe in a unique and meaningful way.  From their perspective, we met them where they were, and valued what they valued, and offered a little bit of the peace, generosity and welcome of Christ to them during their festival.  Clearly this worked to build community, but it also created many discipleship/evangelism opportunities as people asked why were doing this, and what we as a Christian church were about.  And it was greatly appreciated by the more than 4000 patrons who made Holy Trinity part of their Fringe in 2009, and the 6,100 patrons did so in 2010.

Now, not everybody has access to the kind of support necessary to serve a festival as large as the Edmonton Fringe in as robust a fashion as we did (year one saw 50 volunteers put in 500 hours, and year two saw 66 volunteers put in 640 volunteer hours).  But there are other ways.

While traveling in the UK, I met a woman who leads missions into New Age Spirituality and psychic fairs and festivals.  These are events that are shunned by many Christians and churches, but she felt that they posed wonderful opportunities to meet people who were actively seeking a spiritual life.

Her process was this: she would rent a space at the fair, like any other vendor or service provider, then she would communicate with local churches to find mature, prayer centred Christians interested in mission to join her team.  Together, they would decorate their booth/table/tent in the classic purple and gold beloved by this community, and would post a sign reading simply “Healing Prayer”.  While most ‘healers’ at such events charge for their ministrations, the ministry team would not, and when someone came seeking prayer, they would explain that they were Christians, and that they were there to serve in love, and that the healing they were offering came not from themselves, but from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Some people would walk away, but the vast majority were so taken aback that Christians would come to them and offer spiritual support and prayer, that they stayed and often asked many, many questions.  This is a very simple and direct approach to serving the spiritual needs of people in a distinct environment and culture.   It could easily be adapted for any kind of event.  Imagine a booth at a folk festival offering prayer, or one at a business convention, or even just setting up a table on Main Street at noon with a sign reading “willing to listen and pray for free.”

It is astonishing what opportunities for mission there are in festivals and cultural events.  I’ve discussed only two, but I know of several “rodeo churches” that follow the rodeo circuit in the west, and others who open prayer booths at folk festivals and such.  The options for mission are limited only by our imagination, and the gifts of the Spirit.  Which is to say that there are no limitations at all!  If you are looking for opportunities to engage in fresh mission in your community, but don’t have the resources for sustained programs, or ongoing ministry support, I’d encourage you to consider what festivals and cultural events are going on in your area, and how you and a few friends might be able to serve them in the name of Jesus Christ.

Note: for a far from comprehensive list of Canadian festivals, look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_festivals_in_Canada

Or here:

http://www.storytellersdirectory.ca/Pages/CultFest.html

or contact your municipal offices for a list of local events.

Canada is a significant destination for Diaspora Christians around the world, some fleeing persecution, others poverty and war, and some are on the move (I think) because they’ve been called by Christ to missionize the western world—like the Filipino church planter I met in North York who planted an intercultural church in Mississauga which then birthed another congregation in Etobicoke even before the Mississauga church secured their first pastor.

They are not reticent about their faith.  Like the Christians of the early Roman Empire serving the established classes, I am hearing anecdotal evidence of children demanding to go church because their nannies have told them about Jesus, personal caregivers leading seniors to faith in Christ, receptionists praying with clients in the waiting room, and other professionals I dare not name in print lest we jeopardize their timely unawareness of the need to compartmentalize faith so it cannot seep into the workplace.

Twenty years ago, I thought God had brought us the nations of the world so we could share Christ. Now I think I had it backward.  We are the ones who need to learn that faith is no less a passion than World Cup Football, and spiritual conversations are as natural as discussing the weather.  We are the ones who need to forget that our brand of Christianity had its capital in Europe—perhaps temporarily—and remember that the Church has always been the world’s most truly multi-national, multi-ethnic, inter-cultural corporations.  We are the ones who must adjust to the new reality beyond our cultural borders where it is more normal to purchase a theatre to turn it into a place of worship than to sell a church and turn it into condominiums—and that others are doing just that in our midst.

Soong-Chan Rah, a 1.5 generation Korean-American scholar in Chicago has it right when he says that the real wave of transformation in the North American church will not be ushered in by hip young white guys with goatees and book contracts with the Christian media juggernaut, but by intercultural ministries.  First generation immigrants often arrive with a vibrant faith, but with too many cultural barriers to communicate easily into other people groups. Their children, however, who arrive as young people but grow up with vibrant faith and a Canadian education and accent—these 1.5 generation immigrants are shaping up as a formidable force on the Canadian landscape.

Five years ago, I thought that perhaps 50% of church goers in the Greater Toronto area on any given Sunday morning were in black majority or immigrant churches.  No one knows how many unregistered churches there are, but I suspect the percentage of worshippers is much higher today.

We thought it would be of great interest to many Canadians and could even start an online discussion of the issues it raises. At the end of the article we have asked a question to which we would like you to respond!

Share thoughts – August 2010

exploring fresh expressions of church together

Rural fresh expressions

On a rural housing estate in North Oxfordshire, Church Army pioneer Ian Biscoe got to know his neighbours, put on a Christmas talent show at which Alpha was advertised, ran the course, turned it into a Thursday evening discipleship group, and enabled the group to be church. Five years later there were four congregations with 100 to 120 people overall.
David Muir, a pioneer minister in Devon, has offered these ten tips for people wanting to develop fresh expressions of church in rural areas.

1. Do some serious homework on the social realities in your area

The countryside is hugely varied, so beware of generalisations about what ‘country people’ are like.

2. Do assume that countryside people are well disposed to the Christian faith

Most are. So think hard before using language like ‘becoming a Christian’.

3. If you are new to the countryside, get involved

Traditional countryside people will always see you as an in-comer, but it will only take a couple of years to be accepted as an ‘OK in-comer’.

4. Beware of the idolatry of nice village life

This is a temptation for the traditional inhabitants of the countryside and for in-comers seeking their rural idyll.

5. A community centred on its own well-being is a form of selfishness

The church must challenge this rather than collude with it to gain acceptance.

6. Support the church building

It is a social symbol that continues to have some Christian opportunities. Attending funerals will open some doors.

7. Accept that we have lost the battle for weekly public worship

‘Public’ worship was a Christendom idea and we need to let go of it. Think about how else to give expression to a living faith community.

8. Support the vicar

People still want clergy for baptisms, weddings and (most of all) funerals. So support ministers in their traditional roles, and find ways to link their ministries to whatever fresh expression of church you feel called to develop.

9. Refuse to be trapped by geography

Countryside people travel, often quite long distances, to things they really want to go to. So think wide. Doing something ‘just for our little community’ is killing the countryside socially.

10. Think ‘sustainability’ rather than ‘funding’

Evangelism by largesse is another Christendom idea that needs to die. It fosters dependency rather than initiative. Grants run out. So keep it simple. Start what the group can sustain.
Do you agree with David? What else might you add? Have you an experience of rural fresh expressions that you can share? You might like to comment on the Share page, Rural fresh expressions.
For more thought-provoking articles on different aspects of fresh expressions of church, visit the Share website. To discuss with others, join the Share Community.

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Question: “In what ways do Canadian rural situations differ from, or match, the English rural scene?”

Please key your response in the comments box below. I hope we can get a good discussion started!

Standing Stones. Thanks to Margaret Marschall, Editor of the Edmonton/Athabasca paper, The Messenger

This morning I was part of a monthly gathering of church planters in Edmonton.  We gather to support and encourage one another, and we take it in turns to discuss issues that are concerning us in our ministries.  At the end of that meeting, I was asked how I thought the recent 2010 Vital Church Planting West Conference went.

Now for those of you who might not know, the Vital Church Planting (VCP) conference began some four years ago in partnership between the Wycliffe College Institute of Evangelism, and the Diocese of Toronto.  Since its inception, the conference has been a clarion for Fresh Expressions of Church, and refreshing approaches to mission and ministry.  Last year, John Bowen extended an invitation to the Diocese of Edmonton to put on a second conference, uniquely focused on mission and ministry in Canada’s West.  And we said yes.  Thus, this past May, the first annual Vital Church Planting West Conference was held in Edmonton at Taylor Seminary, a seminary for the North American Baptist Church.

Now back to my conversation from this morning.  In the course of our discussion about the conference, it was shared with me by a faculty member of the Seminary, who is a part of our church planters’ group, that the office staff of the seminary spent a week following the conference talking about how overwhelmed they were by the “Christian spirit” exhibited by our conference delegates.  The staff felt that every challenge was presented with grace, every problem was handled with a smile, and that all the people they encountered were generous and giving in their words and actions.

It is this spirit of grace, gentleness, compassion, understanding and service that shapes my own thoughts about this past VCP West.  We had two key note speakers.  Phil Potter, who was one of the keynoters for VCP 2009 in Toronto, addressed the conference three times.  Phil leads pioneer ministry for the Diocese of Liverpool, and has over 20 years of church planting experience in the Fresh Expressions vein.  Phil’s approach to teaching mission was so gentle and grace filled, that one almost missed the depth and profundity of his message calling for a change in the church that both enlivens our inheritance, and freshens our mission.

Our second key note speaker was Harold Roscher, who presented the second of our four  key notes. Harold is the only ordained aboriginal pastor in the Christian Reformed Church in Canada.  His ministry is to the aboriginal community in Edmonton, and he has built a worshipping and faithful community of believers who express their Christian faith through traditional aboriginal culture and symbol.  Again, in Harold, we were presented with a face of gentleness and grace.  While acknowledging the harm caused by the sins of the past (naming the residential schools in particular), Harold presented to us a way of healing and encouragement in ministry to aboriginal peoples in Canada.  Harold’s call was to build a Church of equals, each pursuing Christ through the spiritual language and symbols of our own cultures, but unified by the Holy Spirit in our love for Jesus; a Church that honours all, loves all, and serves all, and creates space for Christ’s transforming power in all cultures and cultural expressions.

In our workshops, we ensured that we had a strong rural ministry component, along with teaching for urban and suburban contexts.  A highlight of the conference was the workshop offered by Cam Harder of Lutheran Theological Seminary, Saskatoon, and the Centre for Rural Community Leadership and Ministry (CiRCLe M).  Consistent with our theme of gracious and gentle presentations, Cam offered to delegates resources for and approaches to rural ministry that will help to equip and strengthen churches in shrinking or struggling communities.

And the whole conference was ably and (continuing with our theme) graciously emceed by John Bowen, of the Wycliffe College Institute of Evangelism.

What of the delegates? you might ask.  What did they say?  Who were they?  Fear not, for answers are coming.  The majority of our delegates were not ordained, yet felt that they were active in mission in their home communities (though most felt that they would be more active if they had more resources or support).  They came from across Canada’s two western ecclesiastical provinces: from Vancouver Island BC to Kenora ON, and to Whitehorse YK.  Their response to the conference was overwhelmingly positive.  With praise for the speakers and presenters, the facility and the conference organizing team, the delegates flew, drove, and walked home tired, but excited for the work the Spirit was doing in the Church.

We return again to grace, gentleness, compassion, understanding and service.  These words not only characterize the spirit of the conference, but also the spirit necessary to plant vital churches, and to refresh the churches of our inheritance.  If we are able to continue to carry this spirit out into all our ministries and the world, then the future of mission in the Church is both bright and blessed.

Harold Percy was recently the speaker at the annual Institute of Evangelism dinner at Wycliffe College. This is the text of the talk he gave that evening.

It is no secret that our churches across this country are generally having a difficult time connecting with people and attracting them into the lives of their worshipping communities.  It seems to be mystifying and bewildering to many that forms of worship, church life, and governance that worked effectively for generations no longer do so.

George Hunter, in one of his books on church life and North American culture, offers the picture of a corn farmer whose family has been successfully raising and marketing corn for generations.  He ask us to imagine that one morning, as this farmer and his crew wake up to go into the fields to harvest the corn, they discover to their amazement that overnight the cornfields have turned to vineyards.  Instead of acres and acres of rich, ripe corn waiting to be harvested, instead there are vines dropping with juicy grapes waiting to be picked.  A preposterous picture to be sure, but go with it for a minute.  Hunter says that in this situation there are a number of options open to the farmer.  Of all these options, surely the most disastrous would be to think, “There can’t be that much of a difference between corn and grapes, so let’s just start up these corn pickers and drive into the fields and harvest the grapes.”  This could not possibly end well!  In fact, the harder they worked at this, the more damage they would be likely to cause.

Hunter says this is the situation facing churches (for our purposes, particularly mainline churches and especially the Anglican Church) in North America.  For generations we had a way of “doing and being” church that fit perfectly into the surrounding culture and so was very effective.  But in recent years the changes in the culture have been rapid and significant.  The result is that the churches are much like the corn farmer, surrounded no longer by corn but by grapes.  The harvest has changed, and changed dramatically. And, if we as the church are going to be effective in what we are called to do, we must change as well.  To insist that we can continue to do just exactly what we have always done, and hope that our results will eventually change, is folly.  Corn pickers can’t harvest grapes.  We need to rethink what we are doing and how we are doing it.

Dallas Willard wrote, concerning church life in America, that “your church is perfectly designed to get the results you are presently getting.”  If we want to get different results we need to do some serious thinking about what needs to be changed, and what we need to be paying attention to.  The following acrostic on the word VITAL provides a convenient framework for me to make a few observations about some of the things I think we need to be paying attention to if we are going to revitalize our congregations and carry on effective ministries.

Visionary Leadership

The “V” stands for visionary leadership. We need visionary leadership at every level because the nature and scope of the changes required go far beyond simply tinkering a little bit with what we already have. It is clear that the traditional parish model which is organized around liturgy and pastoral care simply doesn’t work anymore.  No matter how good we get at these, it won’t help.  What we need is new DNA, and leaders who get this, and can model and communicate it.

The number one job of leadership is to explain why the organization exists and to communicate this clearly and effectively.  We have congregations all across this country who don’t know why they exist, with leaders who are unable to tell them.

I read somewhere that the two most radical questions any organization can ever ask itself are these:  Why are we doing what we are doing?  And why are we doing it the way we are doing it?  These are questions that have to be asked on a regular basis in every congregation, parish, and diocese across the country.  It is hard to know just what to do if you aren’t clear on precisely what it is that you are trying to do.  What should be the result of all this work and effort we are putting into church life?

For my money the answer to the first of these questions would be something like, “The church exists (or this parish exists) to let the whole world (or this particular community) know that Jesus is Lord;  to explain what this means, to live what it looks like, and to invite everyone within our sphere of influence to become an intentional follower of Jesus and learn to live the new life of his Kingdom.

Again, for my money, the worst possible answer to the second question (why are we doing it this way?) is “Because we have always done it this way.”  A better answer is “because we have tried and experimented in all kinds of ways and currently this is what seems to be most effective, but we are always looking for ways to get better at this.”

The leadership in a vital congregation needs to be able to inspire the people of that congregation with a vision of who they can become as they work this out, to dream of what such a community of people might look like in their particular context, and to nurture such a community into being.  That is always an exciting journey for everyone involved.

The challenge is that our systems of formation and oversight do not produce and nurture such leaders.  In fact, they probably weed them out more often than not in the early stages.  We send clergy out into the field, full of passion and dreams and hope, but without the necessary training and ongoing coaching in the transformational leadership skills required to take hold of a parish and lead it through a process of transformation to vitality.  So, as they try or suggest various things, they get beaten up, discouraged, tamed, even skittish, and often end up simply trying to hang on and survive.  This is an issue that needs to be addressed.

Inspirational Worship

The key here is simply to remember that people mostly prefer parties to funerals.  Over the years I have come to the conclusion that we put far too much emphasis on the set texts and forms of our liturgical worship and expect far too much of the liturgy in return.  We need to get over our obsession with “doing liturgy properly”—not that we should strive to do it badly, but because there are more important things to be thinking about.  We simply overplay this in terms of its importance and what it can do.

One of the problems with the way we think about liturgy is that it is rationally driven.  It is explained by means of logic and reason: “this piece goes here, because we have just done so and so, and this is what should follow.”

I don’t have a problem with this, except to say that of much greater importance is the tone and pace and feeling of what is happening, no matter how the pieces are linked together.  It simply is a fact that the majority of our churches bore the pants off people with the tone and pace of the service.  It is just quiet, somber, and weary.  I have often marveled at how Anglicans can be such jolly, life loving, vibrant people on the parking lot or in the coffee hour, but so totally dull and dreary at worship.  There is nothing in scripture to suggest that worship needs to be a funeral march.  So much of what we do and how we do it is just lacking in imagination and energy.

When the people we are hoping to connect with do eventually come to church to check things out, most of them aren’t asking whether the pieces of the service fit together theologically, nor even, “What did I learn?” The first and most important question for them is usually, “How did I feel?”  Did I feel that I was in a community that is life-filled and loving?  Did I feel welcome?  Did I sense that in some way I was actually in God’s presence, and that God and I were connecting?  Did God speak a word into my life in that service?  Was I touched? Was I challenged? Did I get excited? Did I leave with a new or renewed sense of purpose or hope; a new or renewed perspective on my life and its possibilities?  Was I convicted of things in my life that need changing?  Do I feel that I have been forgiven?

They aren’t asking if the priest adopted the proper postures or stood in the right places or if the hymns were proper hymns, or if their grandmother would have been pleased with the way the service was conducted.

Training In Discipleship

This has to do with the teaching and coaching that enables people to make an intentional commitment to be followers of Jesus and to learn to live the new life of his kingdom.  I believe that this is at the very heart of the life of a vital congregation, but for various reasons we have let this slip badly.  In fact, in many of the churches I have visited across this country most of the members have never even heard that this shot is on the board.

This work has been badly neglected.  We have life long parishioners who don’t know how to pray with their families or in their churches, and life long parishioners who are functionally biblically illiterate.  And these are just the basics.

I think this might be the result of thinking that this work is done by the liturgy, or that it  is done as we breathe in the air of a Christian culture, or that people have just learned these things somewhere else.

But most parishes make the mistake of starting in the middle: simply assuming the people in the pews are already mature, well formed, holistic followers of Jesus, and know how to make the connections between faith and life on a daily basis.  This is not a good assumption. We need to get back to the absolute basics of the faith, and take it from there, helping people to grow through a deliberate process of personal transformation.

Again, for my money, my hunch is that we put far too much effort into what we call pastoral care and not nearly enough into discipleship training.  I believe that our clergy need to be delegating most of the pastoral care to gifted and trained care givers in the congregation who are longing for ways to make a difference, and to spend their own time working at developing the processes by which disciples are formed and nurtured in their congregation.  “Pastoral care” should be changed to “congregational care”, and in the seminaries I believe that the departments of Pastoral Care should be changed to Departments of Congregational Leadership.

Authentic Community

I am not talking here about churches that seem more like comfortable Christian clubs, but about communities of growing disciples who are meeting together to encourage each other in their journeys of discipleship, caring for each other deeply and tenderly, and learning what it means to “love one another, to weep with those who weep, and to rejoice with those who rejoice.”

Loving Outreach and Evangelism.

All of this brings us to point where we are prepared to begin seriously thinking about how we will reach out in the name of Jesus to serve our communities and to invite others to join us in the adventure of learning to follow Jesus.  The means and ways to this are limited only by our imaginations.  I believe that Jesus would still say today, in our parish neighbourhoods, “the harvest is plentiful”.

But in order to be effective in this, we require visionary leadership, inspirational worship, training in discipleship, and authentic community.  When we have these, we will be able to do this, as an authentic expression of who we are; ministering out of vibrant, life filled, dynamic congregations in which the message of Jesus is modeled and shared:  “Come and see, join us in Christ’s mission, learn to follow Jesus with us.”  Such congregations, and only such congregations, are ready for sustainable evangelism, whether “attractional” or “fresh expressions” or whatever.  Without these, all our efforts will be hit and miss—like playing pin the tail on the donkey, with the tail ending up all over the place.

I love the thought of communities of Christ followers meeting together for prayer, bible reading, holy communion, and then going out to walk through their neighbourhoods asking “how can we help”—and thinking seriously about what it would mean to share Jesus in that place.

My friend Tom Bandy said it well, I think:  “Love your church, of course: but love Jesus more.”