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

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

You will have an opportunity to experience what Messy Church can offer your church.  The session will allow you to experience a MC, brainstorm your own MC, gather resources, and explore the history of this innovative way of being Church in a changing world.  You will take away knowledge, skills and materials to help you get started.

Presenters: Rev. Nancy Rowe (MC Practitioner for 5 years) and Sue & Andy Kalbfleisch (MC Regional Coordinators)

Information and Registration Flyer

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

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

Credit: Kelly Fowler, The Messenger

As team leader of Fresh Expressions Canada, Nick is in a unique position to provide an introduction to Fresh Expressions, which started life in England as an initiative of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and the Methodist Council in 2004, with a brief to encourage churches all across England to establish new congregations and Christian communities through creative and innovative outreach. This was a response to the changes experienced in English society over the past fifty tears, many of which we have experienced here in Canada. Since 2008 Fresh Expressions Canada has been working  “to encourage the development of fresh expressions of church alongside more traditional expressions, with the aim of seeing a more mission-shaped church take shape throughout the country.”

To date he has presented “Changing Times-an introduction to Fresh Expressions”, to the National House of Bishops, the Vision 2019 Planning Team, a theological college, General Synod 2010, and diocesan synods.

Many congregations desire to reach out to the unchurched with the Gospel. But they feel unprepared for the task. To reach a post-Christian culture, congregations will need to transform their own congregational culture from maintenance to mission. Before our congregations can become effective evangelistic communities, we need to engage in a “turn-around” process. This will require turn-around leadership on the part of clergy and lay leaders.

David is available to consult with congregations and their leadership, and offers a workshop on principles for turning around congregations, entitled Turn-Around Leadership: Cultivating a Congregation for Evangelism.

Written by John Bowen to introduce David Reed

Before going into ministry, Wendy worked in the areas of sales, sales management and marketing. Her background has now translated itself into “gentle evangelism” which she loves to share with others. This theme of “gentle evangelism” is common to all her workshops.

 Wendy has served in 2 rural parishes and is currently serving in the rural yet slightly urban thinking parish of St. James in Caledon East. By instilling her strong belief in the power of the hospitality of the kingdom of God into the hearts and minds of the people in the congregations, and the power of God working in them and through them, churches have grown significantly. 

 Workshops offered by Wendy

• Hospitality of the Kingdom of God Today: in this workshop we take an in-depth look at hospitality as it is presented to us in Holy Scripture and then we establish ways in which this hospitality may become a part of the DNA of our congregations. Hospitality of the Kingdom is absolutely essential, it defines who we are as Christians, therefore we must ensure that we do it very well. (5 hours)
• Mobilizing Laity: sometimes it seems that it is always the same people doing all the work in our churches, yet we know how important it is to encourage one another in the work of our Lord. This workshop will allow us to explore a variety of ways in which to encourage, equip and enable others to become involved. (5 hours)
• Your Community and the Sending Out? This workshop gives us an opportunity to think about what it means to be a community in Christ. Even though we may be a perfectly good community it is always good and healthy to check in and make sure that we are on track with God’s plan for us and for who we are as His community. The sending out section allows us to look at the humbling reality that we are all sent out in Jesus’ name.  What does that mean, and how does that work in your community? (can be done in 3 hours)
• Rural Realities:  Church life within a rural setting presents some unique opportunities and challenges. In this workshop we consider all aspects of the rural church. We look to scripture for insight and revelation. Jesus did most of his ministry in rural settings and small towns. We develop a base of ideas with which to move forward. (can be done in 3 hours) 

How in the world do you connect to a cynical, skeptical, and apathetic post-modern world?  Can a sermon ever be a relevant tool in addressing today’s post-Christian context?  Is there any way to effectively resurrect, remake, and re-invigorate how we deliver God’s unchanging gospel message to a spiritual searching world? 

For the past 10 years, John has been actively engaging these questions in his ministry . Through the process of planting this new community, he’s re-discovered a “brand new/centuries old” way to bridge the gap; “Start with where God is already at work in people’s lives!   Believe that God is already active in the movies, songs, sports, arts, science, work, news and history of everyday life.”

John offers a day long workshop on Preaching to a Post Modern Culture. Starting with an outline of the underlying theology, he’ll then teach a methodology for engaging and exegeting contemporary culture.  

Visit the church’s website at www.newhopechurch.ca and see what this is all about, listen to a message or two, and ask if this kind of preaching can work for you. You can also read a sermon of his, based on the movie Crash, and published in good idea! a couple of years back.

Written by John Bowen, to introduce John van Sloten

This Article is originally from the Fall 2005 edition of good idea!, also available here in a fully formatted PDF file. The version below was updated January 3, 2009

Many people in our society would say they are “exploring their spirituality.” Some of them at one time or another will check out the church, to see if we have anything to offer them in their explorations. What will their experience of our church be like? Will it be welcoming? Will their encounter with Christians be such that they want to repeat it the next week-and the next-or will it be such that they never want to come again?

Often parishes will identify themselves as welcoming, nurturing communities, when in reality there are numerous barriers that make it difficult for newcomers to enter into the life of our congregations.

Ed Dallow has adopted and adapted principles from Andrew Weeks’ book Welcome! (The Alban Institute, 1992) to create a highly effective program of welcoming and integrating newcomers at Christ Church-so effective that a couple of years ago they erected a new building to accommodate the enlarged congregation. He has also developed a very helpful workshop in response to those who have asked about the practices which have been so fruitful in Cataraqui.

Ed’s presentations are therefore designed to provide ideas, tools and techniques to help congregations with skills of Greeting, Welcoming and Integrating Newcomers into the Body of Christ. Our goal should be that someone visiting us for the first time will discover something exciting and God-inspired in our worship services and in our community, and be drawn to return and learn more.

In the workshop we examine such things as:

• Evangelism and stewardship as they relate to our culture

• the ‘real-life’ situations of the churches represented at the workshop
• the pros and cons of ‘marketing techniques’
• responding to those who come wanting ‘Rites of Passage’

• providing opportunities for ‘seekers’ to become involved in the life of the congregation.

A key part of these workshops is looking at case studies provided by those attending, with a view to discovering workable solutions.

This Article is from the Fall 2005 edition of good idea!, also available here in a fully formatted PDF file.

One of the crucial needs for a congregation wishing to grow in the area of evangelism is to offer a course where the “basics” of the Christian faith are taught in a way that is accessible, winsome and challenging. For many churches, Alpha has filled this niche; for others, Harold Percy’s Christianity 101 series has been very helpful.  Yet there is evidence that churches which offer their own homegrown courses of this kind see very similar levels of response to those offering the better known programs.

Tim Chesterton has been teaching Christian Basics courses since 1997. Currently, St. Margaret’s runs three Christian Basics courses a year, two on weeknights and one on a Friday night and Saturday; the courses are four sessions long, and are designed for inquirers, for new Christians, for new church members, for long-time members who need a refresher course in the basics, and for baptismal candidates or parents bringing children for baptism.St. Margaret’s also runs a six-session follow-up course, Growing and Living as a Christian, designed to help people who have accepted the invitation to become followers of Jesus and who want help on the next step in their journey.

The material from these two courses has recently been published as Starting at the Beginning (Anglican Book Centre, 2004).  Bishop Victoria Matthews says, “I especially recommend this book for seekers and those wondering what becoming more serious about the Christian faith would mean.”

Harold Percy adds, “The time has long since come for the church to reclaim its primary ministry of making disciples—intentional followers of Jesus who are learning to live to the glory of God. For congregational leaders who want to help people grow into spiritual maturity, this book will be a helpful tool.”

Tim is excited to make the material in Starting at the Beginning available to a wider audience through the Institute of Evangelism, so that more congregations can begin to create and teach their own Christian Basics program. He is able to offer two slightly different weekend workshops.The first workshop simply presents the Christian Basics course within that time frame. This leaves participants to work out how they might create a similar course for their own context. Some prefer this approach.

The second presents the Christian Basics workshop but also gives guidance about how to run Christian Basics courses in a parish setting. Tim’s parish experience has been in small congregations in the ‘Family’ and ‘Pastoral’ size categories, but the principles are applicable to all sizes of congregations.

Tim is no longer available as an Associate of the Institute.  Please contact the Director, John Bowen for help teaching Christian Basics.

This Article is from the Fall 2005 edition of good idea!, also available here in a fully formatted PDF file.

For churches to thrive in a post-Christian culture, at least two things are needed.

They need clear leadership to help them switch from maintenance mode to understand and focus their calling to mission.

Good pastoral leadership can make the difference. Secondly, many congregations are still nervous about evangelism, but need to recapture a healthy understanding of evangelism if they are to shape their communal life to minister to the needs of the spiritually hungry.

Judy offers three presentations to address these twin issues of leadership and evangelism.

They can be combined in different ways to suit the requirements of the hosting group. Each presentation is self-contained, and can form a half-day workshop. Or the three can be run consecutively to create a one-day workshop. In either format, the goal is to encourage and strengthen clergy and other leaders in their leadership role, and to offer an understanding of leadership and evangelism which is stretching but which has integrity.

The workshop’s narrative style examines such issues as: the transformative nature of the Gospel, the key tasks of effective leadership, the unique challenges and possibilities for ministry in today’s culture, and strategies for building or rebuilding compelling and passionate communities of faith.
 
 

This Article is from the Fall 2005 edition of good idea!, also available here in a fully formatted PDF file.

Connie was born and grew up in Southern Ontario. One parent was Roman Catholic and the other Christian Reformed, and the family settled into the United Church of Canada as a bridge. It was in the United Church that Connie experienced a spiritual awakening as a teenager. This diversity of background allows Connie to work comfortably and knowledgeably in a broad spectrum of denominations and theological milieus.

A graduate of Emmanuel College within the Toronto School of Theology, Connie also holds a doctorate from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, with a specialty in Church Growth.

Connie was ordained by the Toronto Conference of the United Church in 1980 and has served United Churches in rural Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, London (Ontario), and Toronto.

She has been involved in starting three churches: one suburban United, one multi-cultural Pentecostal, one English speaking congregation within a Methodist Chinese Church.   Connie has successfully led church “reboots,” one rural and two suburban, taking congregations which had stalled at a membership of about fifty to 150, 180, and 220.  She is also a trainer of coaches for Natural Church Development.  

Since 1999, she has been team minister at Alderwood United Church in Etobicoke, Ontario. Aware that the successes of a previous decade may have little relevance in the communities we face today, Connie is in the early stages of working with this congregation to shift from a building-centred ministry to missional thinking, a process that will probably take a decade.

Connie continues to pursue a wide variety of Church Development-related interests. She is a trainer and experienced coach for Natural Church Development, a conference presenter for Alpha Canada, an experienced coach of church planters (particularly during the planning stage and critical first years), a church consultant, conference speaker, and a lecturer in Church Planting at Wycliffe College.

She lives with her husband Doug, the pastor of an ethnically diverse Methodist Church in Bramalea, and two teenagers, in Brampton, Ontario where they are restoring and renovating their century home.

What Connie Offers

 Many churches would say they are “doing OK” but confess that they are not growing in either depth or numbers, and do not know how to move forward. Connie brings a broad and sympathetic knowledge of “how churches really work” and a large repertoire of alternatives to the status quo in the form of her Next Steps presentations:

Next Steps for Congregations

For the leadership teams of parishes that have plateaued or are aware of the need to explore other avenues of ministry. Connie is an experienced diagnostician and practitioner who will facilitate discovery of helpful strategies for the individual parish or congregation.

Next Steps for Denominational Leaders

For denominational leaders who would like to broaden the repertoire and improve the morale of their clergy, Connie offers interactive workshops, seminars, and plenary sessions on trends in Canadian Christianity, Natural Church Development, Spiritual Gifts Discovery, and other topics as requested.

Next Steps for New Parishes

Connie will meet with individual church planters or area clusters of church planters for mission strategy and problem solving.

This Article is from the Fall 2005 edition of good idea!, also available here in a fully formatted PDF file.

Youth ministry is seeing a renewed emphasis in Canada after having fallen off for several generations. The vast majority of young people are no longer involved in parish life after early adolescent years, and where they are present they often say that they feel like aliens in the church. This disconnect needs to be overcome, but many people say they don’t know how.

George’s training and involvement in youth ministry in various contexts over many years has put him in a place where he also works with youth leaders to equip them for reconnection ministries. He leads explorations in engaging postmodern youth cultures, exploring adolescent development and spiritual formation, relationship-building and equipping adolescents for ministry.

Realising that congregations come in a variety of liturgical traditions, cultural/ demographic contexts, and different places with respect to youth ministry, he is flexible in his content and style.

George believes that every parish is called to some form of youth ministry. His goals are: (1) to help congregations explore their unique vocation in regard to youth, and (2) to see young people become fully functional disciples of Jesus engaged in ministry both inside and outside their home congregations.

He offers a one-day seminar entitled Growing YAMs (Younger Adolescent Ministries), aimed at helping congregations learn to minister effectively to youth in middle and junior high school.

George also offers a range of seminars for both paid and volunteer youth workers on  such topics as: Starting an Effective Youth Ministry; Adolescent Spiritual Formation; Running Short-term Missions with Youth; and How to Plan and Run a Youth Conference.

Other youth-related topics can be negotiated with George to suit the particular needs of your ministry.