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Experiences of an Urban Bi-vocational Church Planter

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Church planting is complex, and so is the call to be a church planter. When I first got involved in church planting, I was a bright-eyed twenty-year-old in my second year of conscription in the Singaporean army[1] eagerly awaiting university. I remember specifically the prompting of God at that time: “Stay local, plant a church, serve me.” To respond to His call, I decided to forgo the two spots I had reserved in Law and Economics at prestigious universities in the UK. Instead, I remained in Singapore to embark on a journey I had hardly the faintest clue about—church planting. I’m now twenty years in from that experience of God’s call, and I confess that sometimes I still haven’t the faintest clue what I’m doing.

It is said that church planters need to be foolish enough to obey God and foolish enough to be (initially) unaware of the challenges and sacrifices ahead. Maybe that doesn’t apply to the average church planter out there, but it certainly was true for me. Looking back, it was a very fruitful and spiritually engaging path, with many irreplaceable experiences that allowed me to deepen my walk with God and rely on Him completely. From the get-go, I needed to learn how to be sustained by the grace of God, rather than my gifts or individual ability.

 

More Than I Bargained For

Here are some of the strangest situations I found myself in, planting churches in urban Singapore (a city with the same geographic size as Toronto, but with close to six million people packed in):

  1. Planting a church with just me and another disciple, then watching this plant grow quickly to twelve people before we took it to the next stage.
  2. Having people suddenly join the church because they had an encounter of some sort with Jesus. (Someone saw an angel behind me. I didn’t see anything. But I told her, “Let’s talk about Jesus!”)
  3. Holding praise and worship in an open downtown area, with people joining in as they walked past our loud rag-tag group.
  4. Walking around campus (forcing myself, actually!), chatting with different people along the way about Jesus. Prayer walking was a norm. Looking for God-coincidences was a norm.
  5. Chatting with classmates and colleagues and finding that, at unpredictable times, the conversation would turn to Jesus. Out of ten such conversations, four people decided to attend sessions of the Alpha Course, and out of those people three of them attend churches today. Another three of the original ten later committed their lives to Jesus, crediting the initial conversations we had on campus as playing a key role in their conversion.
  6. Performing an exorcism (a casting out of evil spirits).
  7. Helping a woman who was being harassed and threatened by her boyfriend. We accompanied her to the nearest police station, staying with her until the wee hours of the morning.

At that time, I didn’t know anyone else who had experience in church planting. It just wasn’t something we talked much about in church circles! I knew how to bring the people in, but after that I had to shift and learn how to manage the church lest I get overwhelmed.

Throughout that time, I went from being a middle school/high school teacher to becoming a Head of Department and subsequently going into private teaching. In retrospect, I unwittingly stumbled upon the beautiful privilege of bi-vocational church planting. In all honesty, when I was living it, it seemed like a thankless task—I was waiting for the church to get its act together and have enough income to support me. But done well, bi-vocational church planting brings its own joys and challenges. In some ways, it overlaps with traditional church planting, but it is a spiritual service of its own. Perhaps you’re a bi-vocational church planter who feels unwanted, because you’ve got to both shepherd the sheep and support yourself through your livelihood. I hope you draw encouragement from stories like mine—God doesn’t always call the equipped, but he equips the called.

 

Benefits of Bi-vocational Ministry

A stable source of income for your family and that you’re connected to the missional environment you’re in.

This is important because this immediately takes care of one of the crucial needs of life for you to last the distance. It also frees your family to serve alongside you, especially if your spouse and children also have the heart for ministry. But more importantly, it allows you to have your workplace/industry as the seedbed for your church. Your colleagues are people whom you can minister to and touch, people who may never otherwise step into a church. For some, this can be their first contact with Christ who is in you. The workplace thus becomes an arena for incarnational ministry, where people experience Jesus even before they step into a church building. Ministering to colleagues gives you important experience needed for discipleship. The everyday events of the workplace can be useful anecdotes for preaching, given the right setting and timing. Your work allows you to be present in your world. It removes the ivory tower many clergy find themselves trapped in and allows you to bring a fresh perspective consistently about how the Scripture comes alive in everyday life.

Allows you to set an example of giving.

People joining a new church plant rarely start out as faithful tithers. Often, you as the pastor set the example for sacrificial giving. The fact that you’re bi-vocational (not drawing a salary) and a major giver to the new church plant allows you to speak about tithing freely. It reduces the degree of friction you might have with other donors who may want the church to go in a different direction.

Sometimes allows you to set boundaries about your personal time and to practice active discipleship.

“Necessity is the mother of invention”. Nowhere is this truer than in church planting ministry. If you’re like me, being bi-vocational while seeing your church grow quickly immediately leads to a crunch for time. This can sometimes mean church members are willing to be more active, taking up the slack that you’re not able to because of the demands of your other work. This can also create opportunities for apprenticeship, since more hands are needed for the work which God is calling you to do. Church plants require everyone to pitch in.

 

 Challenges of Bi-vocational Ministry

It can be hard to find the balance between church demands, work, and family.

Church planters are not always the best in setting boundaries. For many church planters who love serving in ministry, balance does not come easily. It’s even tougher for those who are married with children, for they need to juggle family responsibilities with their outside job and ministry. It took me three tries before I started to find a sweet spot between the demands of my ministry and my work. If you are a bi-vocational church planter, the flexibility of your paid work setting matters. It is also helpful to have a separate ministry cell number, to enable you to have a better sense of work-ministry balance.

Requires certain gifts of leadership and knowing how to deploy the right people in the right leadership positions.

This was something which took me some time to learn. It feels exciting to be everywhere all at once and trying to do every ministry well, but that is a recipe for burnout. Instead, it’s advisable to form a team as soon as you can, and to pray for the right personnel who can help push the church in the right direction. In my inexperience I tended to take on far more than I should have, and soon I had a growing church which placed growing demands on my time, but which did not necessarily have the finances to support the amount of time I was spending on the church.

It is quite important to be able to balance people’s expectations with whatever stage the church is in. For instance, my experience in Singapore taught me that the demands for governance are usually quite high. Not all church members understand that it is important for processes to evolve. Financial accountability, checks and balances, and some other best practices need to evolve according to how large the church is at a given point in time. Some people may want more activity than you can manage, and sometimes church plants suffer from unfair comparisons with larger churches.

Another difficulty experienced in bi-vocational church plants is that even though discipleship and apprenticeship may be key priorities for you, they will not necessarily be shared by your whole congregation. Furthermore, not all church members will immediately have the strengths you want. In the initial stages of planting, it’s important to allow people to test out ministries in order to uncover the gifts that they have. At times it is better to allow someone new to serve, even though they may not be that proficient, especially if they are willing to serve joyfully. It might mean not having everything as perfect as we church planters would want! 

Growth needs to be intentional.

Because I started bi-vocational ministry in my early twenties, my progress was slow. I simply did not have the networks of church leadership and expertise that others who started later in life had. Almost immediately I had the “baby church” on my shoulders and it took time before I could get the advice that I needed in order to grow as a leader. Attending seminars and conferences was also challenging because it either reduced the amount of time I could spend earning an income, or it reduced the amount of time I could spend focusing on the church plant. Most church planters will tell you that taking courses one at a time at a seminary is an option, but they still experience the tension of submitting assignments on time and having that next ministry call or work call which then they need to juggle with family needs. Having said that, Stephen Covey’s advice to “sharpen the saw” rings especially true for a church planter. Don’t ignore your own need to grow and learn.

Hard to find the time to network with other church planters.

Finding friends and colleagues who are doing what you do is really crucial, and so this needs to be highly intentional. In today’s context this seems to be a bit easier than when I started, as more excellent church planting networks, which enable planters to get to know and support one another, are starting to surface. Having the right colleagues who will support you, pray with you, and at times simply allow you to let off steam, is crucial.

With these different challenges, why would anyone persevere in the task of being a bi-vocational church planter? It’s the same reason people take up church planting to begin with—because they see a need which current established churches do not meet, and they are willing and able to listen to God’s direction to meet it. Church planters are people who know that Jesus has promised to build His Church (it’s His anyway—Matt 16:18) and that the gates of Hades will never prevail against it.

May God strengthen all who are called to church planting for the task ahead, and may you serve in this important and rewarding form of ministry with eyes wide open.

[1] Conscription at that time for Singaporean men was 2.5 years, prior to university.

The Strength (and Possible Weakness) of Small-Church Life

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What is the primary strength of a small church?

I have asked this question in many settings and with many different people, and they all reply in the same way. Their wording may be different, but their answer is the same.

 

Relationships!

We are a family, they say. We are really close. We care about each other. We are there for each other when someone is hurting. Whatever discussion this topic raises, it always comes back to the same thing. The heart of small-church life is relationships, and we love it that way.

In June of 1978, Billy Graham came to Toronto. In many ways it was an event at the opposite end of the small-church–large-church spectrum. Rev. Graham preached for four nights in the old Maple Leaf Gardens and four nights in the CNE stadium. As a very young Bible college student, I had the privilege of participating in those meetings. Approximately 209,000 people attended the meetings and just over 9,000 people made a commitment to Christ over the course of those eight days.

It was a wonderful experience, but those days are gone. No longer do crowds flock to evangelistic meetings. We live in a culture in which many people think of “evangelical” as a bad word. Church attendance is down, and a larger percentage of people claim to have “no religion.”

How do we share the gospel in what many people label a post-Christian society? Throughout most of the last century, people in Canada either attended church on a Sunday morning or suffered a measure of guilt that they were not there. Today people have much more diverse religious backgrounds than they did in the twentieth century. They also approach church attendance with a very different mindset. Today the question that Christians must answer is one of relevance. What possible difference would church make in my life?

If Christians are going to have an impact on people today, there is only one way they will be able to do so. They must build relationships with them. They must earn the right to share their faith. The tried-and-true methods of the past, such as large-scale evangelistic events, are neither tried nor true in our current culture.

It is important to note that the greatest strength of the small church corresponds exactly with the most effective way to reach people with the gospel. In these times, maybe it is not the large church, with its many staff members and expensive programs, that is best equipped to reach people. Maybe it’s the small church, which has relationships at its core.

 

Inside the Church

It makes total sense for any church to build around its strengths, so every program that a small church runs should be built around relationships. This is true of children’s programs, the morning service, Bible studies, and whatever else a church might decide it is called to do.

Karl Vaters, in his book Small Church Essentials, suggests that to connect with people in the wider community, small churches need to learn to do church from their buildings rather than in their buildings. He suggests that “in addition to keeping our doors open, we need to look for places where their doors are open so that we can start new relationships and nurture friendships where they are, instead of insisting they do it our way.”[1] This advice should play right into the hands of small churches, especially those in small communities. A worthwhile goal for a small church in a small town is to have a member serving on each of the committees and service clubs working for the betterment of the community.

So why doesn’t this happen more often? One of the weaknesses that holds back many small churches is that while they see their relationships as a strength, those relationships are often limited to each other. The members do care for each other. The coffee time after the service is filled with conversation and often laughter. If someone from within the church family is in need, the members rush to meet that need. But that is sometimes as far as it goes.

 

And With the Stranger

They are not equally loving to the stranger who comes on a Sunday morning or the neighbour who lives beside them. A woman was visiting a relative in Toronto and decided that she would visit the small church down the street. She enjoyed the service, but after it was over, she wanted to talk with someone, anyone, and so she remained in her seat waiting for someone to come over and greet her. No one came. She continued to wait, and while there were lots of conversations going on all around her, none of them included her. Slowly people left until only the pastor remained, and he was heading to the coat rack to put on his jacket. Finally, she exited without having spoken to anyone.

While this may be an extreme example, it illustrates the weakness from which many small churches suffer. Relationships can be the strength of the small church, but they can only have an evangelistic impact if the church intentionally commits to making relationships with new people—those who are beyond the present church family, who visit the church or who share their community with the church.

In summary, if you are a large church wanting to reach new people, figure out how to be small, in terms of building deeper relationships for the sake of mission. Learn from your small-church sisters and brothers. And if you are a small church, make sure that your strength in relationships doesn’t become your weakness in terms of your calling to share the gospel with new people.

[1] Karl Vaters, Small Church Essentials: Field-Tested Principles For Leading A Healthy Congregation Of Under 250 (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2018), 231.

Home is Where Christ is

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How migration to the Maritimes provinces could change the Church’s mission.

“There’s no place like home.” This year’s tourism slogan for Nova Scotia accurately captures recent census figures, which show that increasing numbers of people are making the Maritimes home. Local congregation members have missional opportunities to put on the tea kettle and put out the (radical) welcome mat like never before.

 

Statistics Canada reported in March that more people moved to New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia from other parts of Canada than moved away. In fact, for the first time ever, Nova Scotia’s population reached the one million mark this year, with a 5% bump from 2016 to 2021. New Brunswick’s jumped 3.8% and PEI’s population grew by a whopping 8%. Notably, all three provinces charted a record number of immigrants, with a high percentage putting down roots by purchasing properties.

 

There are a variety of reasons for the increased number of newcomers making their home in the East Coast. Whether it be for the slower pace and relaxed lifestyle of the Maritimes, lower housing costs, shorter commutes, or the ability to work from home, even some of the rural areas are seeing population revival. This is indeed good news; the harvest is plentiful for missional ministry, especially as new residents settle in and seek the warmth of community.

 

Radical Welcome Mats

The Anglican Parish of New Germany, located in the centre of Christmas tree country in Nova Scotia, has been working hard to help people connect to their neighbours. Each Thursday the small congregation hosts a morning Community Café in St. John in the Wilderness Hall, which they always keep festively decorated. A team of ministers (laity and ordained) extends down-home hospitality with delicious baked goods, fruit, and fair-trade coffee. Inspirational scripture verse cards are placed on each table, alongside fresh flowers.

 

New Germany does not have a coffee shop, so the church hall has become the hub for community connections. An average of 30 people show up each week, most new residents who have purchased houses, hobby farms and cottages in the county. Two regular attendees are a Korean couple, who moved in after living in Toronto and Dallas. Another pair—she from Ontario, he from Australia—purchased an old farmhouse nearby. Their first visit they discovered a babies and toddlers group and decided to join because she was pregnant. After the child was born, the Café hosted a community party to celebrate.

 

One missional leader describes the Community Café as a “lifeline” for those who have few or no local family connections. Workshops, farmers’ markets, free meeting space, and craft sales are offered during the Café gathering too. There is no charge to attend Thursday mornings. Free-will donations cover the cost of refreshments, and the remaining money is used to support a local family at Christmas time. Building on the attendance of the Community Café, leaders invite patrons to attend a monthly Café Church in the same space. The congregation’s ukulele group leads music worship.

 

Missions such as these occur all over the Maritimes. On the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia, a passionate missional leader keeps an eye out for “Sold” signs in her Sheet Harbour neighbourhood. When she sees a moving truck, she delivers soup and other homemade goodies to unpacking residents. During pandemic restrictions, she invited a group of these new neighbours to a driveway party, complete with lawn chairs, lemonade and cookies. In Sydney, northern Nova Scotia, 3,500 international students attend Cape Breton University. Many of them hail from hot countries and arrive unprepared for chilly winters. One minister takes carloads of students shopping to help them choose snow boots, parkas and toques for when the snow flies. Another missional leader in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, is working with a team to host free monthly meals for international students at Holland College. Their aim is to build relationships, serve, and hopefully offer spiritual care to (and possibly worship with) these newcomers.

 

Listening and Sharing

Creating caring environments and offering generous hospitality to newcomers is one of the first steps to sharing the love of Christ; it is authentic faith in action. It is reported that Teddy Roosevelt said, “People don’t care what you know until they know that you care.” Intentionally listening to the needs of these new residents, especially related to their spirituality and curiosity about faith, will help ministers to shape and host opportunities for seekers to connect with Christianity.

 

Jesus was in the habit of sharing meals and relaxed time together with his companions. He included outsiders in his circle and invited them to follow the Way of Love. His disciples witnessed and experienced his authentic compassion and grew an openness to hear his transformational teaching about God and Good News.

 

Christ is our home. How can we find ways to practically live Christ and create “home” for people who are new to our neighbourhoods? In what ways can we intentionally hold safe and generous space for those who are seeking genuine connection with others and with the Holy?

Lessons in Church Planting

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I am not a church planter. Let me clarify—I don’t call myself a church planter. I have worked at two different church plants and have poured thirteen years of my life into resourcing and supporting the development of church plants, but I still don’t call myself a church planter. Perhaps this is because in the church we often fall subject to the misconception that church planters are wild-eyed entrepreneurs who flout traditional convention for the sake of creativity and innovation, start conversations with complete strangers daily, and are admired for their risk-taking. Or maybe this is just my own insecurity talking, because I do not see myself as possessing those gifts!

Yet the Lord in His wisdom has seen fit to reshape my life and my heart towards church planting. Over the passage of time, I have come to the conviction that every minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ must, in fact, become a church planter. Given the exceedingly low rates of church attendance in our country and the rapid secularization of society, Canada needs the gospel of Jesus more than ever, as many Canadians are generally unaware of who Jesus is and why his existence might be relevant to their life.

On top of this, COVID-19 has completely upended the usual rhythms of the Church, deeply disrupting our common life together, and further reducing the number of people who feel comfortable worshipping God alongside other people. Add this factor to the many other obstacles we face when trying to present the gospel, and it adds up to a tough season to be labouring for the growth of the Church. Yet that is our mission, and planting new churches is a part of that mission.

Advice on Church Planting Today

In light of these tough conditions under which we labour, I humbly offer these few bits of advice on church planting today:

1. Have a good team. Don’t do church planting (or any ministry for that matter) alone. Make sure you have people working with you that you can be accountable to and who will support you. This is so important. Ideally, find people who have very different gifts from your own, but who are similar in terms of their faith, goals, and focus. Ensure your mission or purpose statement is crystal clear, and make your identity as a church together transparent.
Find as many lay leaders as you can to join and support you. Train and disciple them. Whenever people leave (given the high cost of living in Victoria, this regularly happens to us!), be sure to train up two new people in their place. Retreat together, share life together, build trust and accountability with one another. Survey the various giftings of your group and build your mission around that.

2. Pray. Prayer is the first thing to do in the morning and the last thing to do at night. Pray alone, pray with your leaders, pray with your wider church community—pray without ceasing! Saturate every meeting with prayer and set aside special times to pray for a particular purpose or need. I’ve been surprised by how common it is for churches to motor ahead with a sudden inspiration before stopping to pray. Whenever you can, invite God into your daily activity, and seek His wisdom as often as possible. Lift up each other’s needs and ask for God’s provision for the hard work ahead.

One thing that the pandemic took from the Church was the joy of mutuality, and times of prayer are often when that is most felt. When we re-gathered, prayer was the thing our leaders were most hungry for, alongside times of worship. Be sure to pray for your leaders to encourage them and to further their ministry.

3. JESUS. You need him, so stay close! Sometimes we get so lost in the work that we neglect the One who sent us. Make sure that you set aside regular times to be with the Lord and enjoy His presence. Since the pandemic, I’ve taken up a regular regime of daily walking, sometimes multiple times a day, to be alone with God, to pray, and to marvel at His creation. Thankfully, living on the west coast, I will never run out of good routes.

4. Bring a friend. At our church plant, The Table, we learned this principle about three years ago. One of our team members gave ( and continues to give) a majority of his time to new missional experiments, and often when he started something it initially had a good response. But when there was no one else to share the work with, it stagnated and he was never free to move on to new projects. So, we made a new rule: for every new idea, he had to find two people to partner with him in order to make it happen. To this day, if he can’t find people that like the idea enough to join him, we don’t do it. A co-worker, Josh Wilton, often says, “there are a million good ideas, but it doesn’t mean that you have to do all of them.” Having this litmus test of finding other leaders to participate helps weed out the ideas that are not for us, at least not for right now.

This also means that if you are lean on resources, whether it be money or people, you focus your best resources on the best idea. Each year as you discern the work God has for you to do, brainstorm all possibilities, then whittle the list down to two or three ideas and see if there are people willing to commit to any of them. Your best ideas will rise to the top as people choose to commit to them.

And be sure to save the ideas you don’t try this year for the future! Keep a running list of things you would love to do and wait to see if God sends you the right leaders to make it happen. We had long wanted to do a meal-based evangelism course, and after several years of waiting, God sent a cookbook author into our community. We knew the time was right. She loves the chance to cook for groups of people and her meals are stunning—what a gift! Thanks to her presence in our midst, we can now host the course we’ve dreamt of for several years because she is part of our leadership.

5. Rest. Even Jesus took naps. If the season of COVID-19 taught us anything, it taught us that we never know what tomorrow brings, but it helps to be well-rested. Church planting too often leads to burnout. We start thinking there is no one else in the world that can do the work we do, and we fail to trust that God will take the responsibility for building His own church. He will provide the people and means necessary. Over-extending ourselves is a waste of our energy and is to believe the lie that the church only grows based on our human effort.

This past summer I took a sabbatical. At the time of planning, I didn’t even really feel like I needed it, but it turned out to be the perfect time to get away. This meant I was pre-empting my own need by making provision for rest for myself and my family. My time away helped lower any anxiety I had about what would happen to our church post-COVID-19; because I wasn’t at work to do anything about it, I just had to trust that Jesus was looking out for things. Taking times of rest means that we submit to the refreshing truth that God is the Lord of the universe, and we are not.

6. Don’t get too ahead of yourself. Plan for the next twelve months, then reassess. Too often in ministry we get too far ahead of what’s before us and we waste our energy. Right now, the Church is in an extremely uncertain position due to COVID-19, so we shouldn’t plan long into the future anyway. Short-term planning allows us to reassess and refocus as needed, rather than commit ourselves to an eventuality that may never happen. This also provides some checks and balances along the way as we embark upon new projects. Be sure to gather with your team and decide what fruit you need to see in order to keep committing to your work.

Our church plant has learned a hard lesson on this front. We have made a few attempts at launching a second site for our church with mixed results. Year by year, we kept trying to push forward without seeing much fruit being produced as a result. Finally, we agreed as a team that we simply don’t have enough leaders nor enough commitment from new members to make this a live possibility for now. For the time being, we have put this dream on the backburner and hope that God might revive it in the future. The old saying that “we make plans and God laughs” is very true. We cannot assume that things will go according to our plans, so be sure to leave lots of room for God to bring clarity and sharpening of purpose.

Church planting isn’t an easy calling. Yet it is one of the most rewarding, whether you are the main initiator or a member of the team. Each of these positions is necessary to make ministry happen. Focus yourself on finding that team to partner with—pray for God to provide the people you need, and then invest in relationships with those people.

Ultimately, the past two years have taught me to stay close to Jesus and to wait on Him.
It is a miracle when anyone, much less a non-believer, comes to Christ. And when Christians mature in their faith and draw closer to Jesus, that is a miracle, too. Everything in our culture is distracting and dissuading people from doing just that, so marvel at the miracles that happen in your midst. Christ is building his church—praise God!

Invite a Friend or Colleague to Join You in Exploring the Claims of Christianity

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The data across North America suggests that while churches often talk about evangelism, very few are actually doing it. But where would a church start in order to change this?

Why not try some experiments!

Throughout the fall and heading into the winter, Institute of Evangelism director Judy Paulsen has proposed three experiments for churches to try, to help them share the faith with their unchurched or de-churched friends, neighbours, or colleagues. Each experiment should first be solidly grounded in prayer, as we learn to trust God to help us join in His work of drawing new people to Himself.

* * * * *

Most Christians affirm that it’s important for their church to share the faith. But many also think someone else is better suited to that task than they are.

  • Some think evangelism is the job of pastors, who have theological training
  • Some think it is best done by especially gifted communicators known as evangelists
  • Some think it requires someone who has great answers to tough philosophical questions
  • Some think it can only be done by someone who knows the Bible far better than they do
  • Some think it must be done by people whose lives are way more holy than their life is

But what if we believed that God is already calling people all around us back into relationship with himself, and we are all called to participate in that work of reconciliation? What would happen if all Christians across Canada believed that, just as they are, they could be used by God to help someone take steps toward him?

There is plenty of data that indicates there are many people across Canada with spiritual questions and longings who would be very open to exploring faith issues, if they were just invited by a friend to do so. In fact, a public opinion poll conducted by Angus Reid in 2017 found that roughly 30% of the Canadian population self-identified as ‘privately faithful’.[1] This group was made up of people with no connection to any faith community or sacred texts, but they reported believing in God, praying to God, and wanting their children to learn about faith through a recognized faith community. This poll suggests there are over ten million such people in Canada. If we cared about reaching such people, how might we do it?

The final proposed experiment in our tripart series of articles is something churches can work on together. They can intentionally offer several evenings specifically geared to helping explorers and seekers address some of their spiritual questions and longings, requesting that their church members invite people in their lives with no connection to a faith community to attend these evenings with them. That last bit is key. Data indicates people are much more likely to come to something offered by a church, or even something held in the home of a church member, if they personally know someone there.

Resources for Churches

There is a wealth of free or very inexpensive downloadable resources that churches can use for these evenings. Here are four that we recommend:

  1. Christianity Explored

https://www.christianityexplored.org/

This ten-session course uses a series of videos to help people engage with scripture so they can explore such questions as: Who is Jesus? Why did he come? Why did Jesus die? What was his resurrection about? What is grace? What is a Christian?

The website also provides a series of short videos that address some of the most difficult questions people pose about the existence of God, suffering, evil and good, religion, and what God has to do with our lives today. A discussion group focused on these short videos could be another great way to spark conversation that addresses people’s questions. https://www.christianityexplored.org/Groups/276317/Home/CE_ORG/Tough_Questions/Tough_Questions.aspx

 

  1. Nua

https://nuafilmseries.org/ or https://nuafilmseries.org/nua-film-series-registration-form.

Nua, which means “new” in Irish, is a series of short films produced by Scripture Union Ireland. These 15-minute free downloadable films address such questions as: How did we get here? Jesus: fact or fiction? What about the resurrection? What was Jesus really like? Why do I like Jesus, but struggle with Christians? How can you say that God is good? Has the Church caused more harm than good? What’s Jesus got to do with me?

 

  1. Jesus the Game Changer

https://www.olivetreemedia.com.au/jesus-the-game-changer/

This ten-part documentary series explores how the life and teachings of Jesus changed the world and why it matters. Each film touches on how Jesus changed the way the world viewed issues such as equality, forgiveness, women and children, democracy, care, leadership, health, wealth, and science. The series includes footage from all over the world as scientists, theologians, political leaders, financial leaders, historians, and biblical scholars from many different cultures are interviewed.

 

  1. The Alpha Course

https://alphacanada.org/

This course is one of the most widespread and popular courses aimed at helping people explore Christianity. The fifteen video sessions (three of which are usually run as part of a weekend retreat focused on the person and work of the Holy Spirit) allow people to address questions such as: Is there more to life than this? Who is Jesus? Why did he die? How can I have faith? How and why should I pray? How and why should I read the Bible? How does God guide us? How can I make the most of the rest of my life? How can I resist evil? Why and how should I tell others? Does God heal today? What about the Church?

 

  1. Christian Foundations

https://www.wycliffecollege.ca/christian-foundations

Unlike the courses profiled above, this resource is not a film series. Instead, it uses a workbook format that includes short narratives, discussion questions, and a variety of interactive exercises to help people explore questions such as: How can I know and serve God? What is the story of Israel? Who is Jesus? What do Christians believe? Why are there so many sorts of Christians? How can I grow in my faith? What is my part in the kingdom of God?

Some churches have used these workbooks as a baptism prep program, as a resource preparing teens or adults for confirmation, as a small-group resource to better ground Christians in the faith, or as a tool for one-on-one discipleship.

 

Clearly, there is a wealth of resources for churches to use and adapt to their context, to help the many people around us who are interested in exploring the Christian faith. As we head into 2023, may every church across Canada commit to intentionally reaching such people, helping them take steps toward becoming followers of Jesus Christ.

[1] Angus Reid Institute Public Interest Research, Canadian Public Opinion Poll, 2017. A Spectrum of Spirituality. Published April 13th, 2017, at http://angusreid.org/religion-in-canada-150/

Supper Club: An Exploration of Dinner Church

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Maybe Forrest Gump’s mother was right about that box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.

 

My favourite memory from Supper Club occurred just before Christmas 2019. We were all gathered, quite literally in an upper room, around a very large dinner table. There were about 30 of us. The food stretched far enough that everyone had just about enough. A box of chocolates went around, and I watched as each person in this diverse, eclectic group selected the chocolate they wanted. Feeding people always warms my heart. Some of these particular people had experienced rejection at the hands of the Church—so what else could we do other than pass them a box of chocolates? A little chocolate-covered blessing was given and received. Welcome to Supper Club in the Diocese of Montréal (pictured above).

 

Supper Club is our experiment in Dinner Church ministry. It has been operating one way or another for more than five years now and has continued to evolve over time. This ministry has given us a compelling example of how rewarding it is to create a community around dinner and conversation and, along the way, to learn what the Church can be.

 

Dinner

Serving dinner is at the heart of many missional initiatives. The Dinner Church movement began from a missional impulse to connect with unchurched and de-churched people, and from a desire to rediscover the agape meal of the New Testament. In the Diocese of Montréal, Supper Club meets once a month over dinner and conversation. It is a community that was durable and compelling enough to take us through the isolation of COVID.

The food itself is an important part of the equation and is worth paying attention to. As our Supper Club community tends towards younger adults in Montréal, the food is always vegan and locally sourced. This might be different if you are working with young families, for example, where you likely want to serve child-friendly food. Think about the food you serve and the people you are serving and align the food offering with their values and lifestyles. In the same way, decide if you or a team of people will prepare all the food or if you want to include your participants in food preparation and make that part of the whole event. Sometimes a lot of life can be shared, and community built, while chopping onions.

The point behind all this eating and drinking is that Jesus spent time with people eating and drinking. It helps form community and creates a relaxed atmosphere in a way that isn’t possible for a coffee hour after church. It is a way of giving a gift to people rather than demanding something from them. A hot dinner shared together is a beautiful way to care for people, and it can provide a framework for great conversations about life, God, and Jesus. And please pass the bread.

 

The Art of Gathering

Our Supper Club did not come into being because we put up a sign somewhere. It took, and continues to take, regular, persistent work on the part of our leaders to gather and keep this community together. This coordination includes phone calls, social media posts, and emails. Persistence is the key. This is an important lesson from our Supper Club experience we want to extend to the wider church, particularly applicable in any situation where we continue to try to attract people to church, yet despair if they do not come. This community was gathered together and nurtured by some very intentional actions on the part of its leadership, and this work should not be underestimated.

 

An Open Space, an Evangelistic Space

There is no one pattern for Dinner Church, so what is the difference between a Dinner Church and a potluck supper in the parish hall? This difference lies in its purpose. You will gather, check in, sing songs, listen, share and eat but all around a focused purpose. You can create any purpose you want for your event, depending on the kind of people you are in contact with. Supper Club draws together a mix of people, including established Christians who are looking for something different and a conspicuous number of people who have left established Christianity for various reasons. Your conversations will explore life, faith, God, and Jesus, but from a much wider perspective than some might find comfortable. But that is Supper Club.

An open space, over a glass of wine and dinner, a wide-open conversation. Those of us who are integrated into the Church sometimes need to refrain from correcting others and instead open our ears to what is being said. When you do that, you discover something powerful, missional, evangelistic. For when you listen, you discover that people need to work out their faith verbally and explore their beliefs in a non-judgmental environment. This is the evangelistic power of Dinner Church. Let people talk it out, but do not correct them. When you suspend judgement and listen, you hear the stories of people being chased out of Church because they are gay, or of people losing the faith of their childhood and searching for a new one. You hear about rejection. You hear of bitter disappointments, and prayers gone unanswered. I have learned so much about why people leave the Church and give up on faith. These are essential stories for us to hear and make space for in our community, and Sunday morning is not the right time for them. It can feel like a risk to allow these stories. But people need to spread their spiritual and theological wings and begin to figure out faith for themselves. Sometimes the best response to whatever people wish to share is a simple one: pass the chocolates.

This is why it is important that Supper Club is church and not only a gathering of friends for dinner. Our conversations have a focus. But unlike Sunday morning church, Supper Club creates a space for people to express themselves and begin to work out just what it is they believe. Give them that space and watch what the Spirit can do.

 

But What About the Liturgy?

I am regularly asked whether Supper Club has a liturgy. The answer is: sometimes. We do have music, we do pray, and we eat. We check in with each other. We have celebrated the Eucharist, but Supper Club style, simple, stripped down, around the dinner table. We’ve told Godly Play stories and wondered together. The possibilities are endless, limited only by your imagination. Some expressions of Dinner Church do use liturgies, but the focus tends to be on sharing the stories of Jesus in creative and open-ended ways. Instead of preaching at people, we engage with people. Keep that in mind when you plan your expression of Dinner Church. Remember that it IS church, indeed is a way the very first Christians met. But it is not a formula you just repeat over and over again.

 

A Measure of Success

It is never easy to measure the success of a missional event, but at our last gathering before COVID there were so many of us crammed around the table we thought we would run out of food (we didn’t!). We cannot be said to be creating new Anglicans or getting them to take envelopes, though some do find Supper Club compelling enough to support it financially. And some have found their way into Church, each in their own way. But we have created a community which has been a source of refreshment to some and belonging to all.

I see the greatest measure of its success in my own life. After the COVID lockdown was declared, we immediately met online in the now-ubiquitous Zoom space and ate “together”. We just wanted to be together in any way we could. I even cooked vegan food for myself, in keeping with our ethos. I wanted to keep in contact with these people, I needed to. For somewhere along the line this eclectic group of people became my friends, people whom I valued deeply and needed in my life. When I had an accident, broke my ankle and ended up having surgery, I wanted them to know. For this is my community too.

And in the fullness of time, someone passed the box of chocolates to me. I chose a caramel crème. I will always be grateful to Supper Club for what they teach me about all that church can be.

Experiment #2: Invite a Friend to Have a Gospel Conversation

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The data across North America suggests that while churches often talk about evangelism, very few are actually doing it. But where would a church start in order to change this? Why not try some experiments!

In our September, October and November issues, Institute of Evangelism director Judy Paulsen will propose an experiment to help churchgoers share the faith with their unchurched or de-churched friends, neighbours, or colleagues. Each experiment should first be grounded in prayer, as we learn to trust God to help us join in His work of drawing new people to Himself.

 

* * * * * * * *

Gospel Conversations – Conversations that make stories from the Gospels accessible to seekers, explorers, and the somewhat curious

Having a conversation over a cup of coffee or tea is a familiar way for people to meet with friends or colleagues in our culture. As restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic have started to relax, small personal gatherings like this have been one of the first forms of social interaction to return. For people who might be hesitant to attend a more formal expression of church held within a church building, a simple conversation focused on some of the stories from Jesus’s life can be a way for them to talk about their own perceptions of Jesus, to learn more about him for themselves, and to voice some of their own spiritual questions and longings.

These sorts of personal conversations also offer an environment of simple hospitality and friendship to which Christians may find it easier to invite their unchurched or de-churched friends, neighbours, and colleagues. While the data on Canadian spirituality suggests fewer people are going to church, it also indicates that many believe in God, pray regularly, and have spiritual questions they can’t readily discuss with anyone. In such an age, it is going to be critical to equip all Christians to be the transmitters of the gospel message. And for that to happen we’ll all need to engage with the people around us in a context that they are comfortable with. A conversation over coffee may just be a simple yet profound way through which someone you know starts to consider the person of Jesus for themselves.

 

Getting ready

  1. Begin with prayer. Ask God to bring to mind someone in your life who doesn’t have any church connection. This could be a family member, friend, neighbour, colleague, or even a new acquaintance. They might be someone who once was part of a church but drifted away, or someone who has never been connected to a church. Then, ask God to give you an opportunity and the right words to invite them to have these conversations with you.
  2. Try this experiment with some others in your church so you can pray for each other as you have these conversations with unchurched or de-churched people.
  3. Invite the people God has brought to your mind.

Here are some examples of invitations:

“Our church is hoping to learn to talk with people beyond our congregation about spiritual issues. Would you be interested in meeting a few times over coffee with me to explore some passages from the earliest biographies of Jesus?”

“Our church is trying something called Gospel Conversations, where we meet over coffee with a friend or neighbour to discuss three different stories from the life of Jesus. I’d love to hear your views on these encounters people had with Jesus. Would you be interested?”

“Hey ­­­­­­­­­­­­_____________, along with others in my church I’m trying to learn how to talk with other people in my life about questions of faith. Would you be interested in meeting over coffee a few times to discuss some passages taken from the Bible about the life of Jesus?”

Or, if you think a small group discussion would be less threatening than a one-on-one conversation, you might like to invite a couple of friends to join you. Perhaps these are people that share a hobby with you or are members of some sort of group that you belong to. For such people you could use this sort of invite:

“Hey, would you be interested in being part of a small discussion group that explores some of the stories from Jesus’s life found in the Bible? My plan is pretty low-key; just to meet for a coffee and chat together, meeting two or three times. What do you think?”

  1. Pray again as you select three passages to discuss together in your Gospel Conversations. What passages might especially resonate with the person you will meet with? Here are some examples to choose from:
    • John 4:5–42 [Jesus talks with a woman at a well]
    • John 3:1–21 [Jesus talks with Nicodemus, a religious leader]
    • Luke 19:1–10 [Jesus engages Zacchaeus, a tax collector for the Roman Empire]
    • Luke 10:25–37 [Jesus’s parable of the Good Samaritan]
    • Luke 24:1–12 [The resurrection of Jesus]

 

Some suggestions as you begin to meet

  1. During the conversations let the following questions be a guide, but don’t feel bound to them. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide the conversation.
    • What words or phrases stand out for you?
    • What do you think this passage tells us about the culture of the day?
    • What do you think this passage wants us to know about Jesus?
    • Do you see any connection with our lives today?
  2. Don’t worry if they have questions that you don’t know how to respond to. Simply admit that you don’t know, and let them know that you’ll ask someone who might be able to address the question they’ve raised. Perhaps that will be your pastor, or another member of your church. Remember, this is a conversation, and conversations are different from a Q and A session.
  3. Be ready to suggest a possible next step if they seem open to continue exploring questions about Jesus, Christianity, or faith in general. Are you willing to keep meeting? Is there a book you could read together and discuss? Would they like to meet over coffee with you and your pastor? Would they like you to pray for them? Test these waters gingerly, but don’t be shy to encourage them to keep exploring.
  4. Enjoy your conversations! Be open to where God may take them. Perhaps you will have simply planted a seed that will germinate much later. Perhaps you’ll meet regularly. Perhaps you’ll invite them to Dinner Church, or a book club, or some other “easy access” event or program at your church. Above all be genuine, and love them as Jesus would have you love them.

Experiment #1: Invite Some Friends to Dinner Church

by .

The data across North America suggests that while churches often talk about evangelism, very few are actually doing it. But where would a church start in order to change this? Why not try some experiments! In each of the next three issues, Institute of Evangelism director Judy Paulsen will propose an experiment to help churchgoers share the faith with their unchurched or de-churched friends, neighbours, and colleagues. Each experiment should first be grounded in prayer, as we learn to trust God to help us join in His work of drawing new people to Himself.

* * * * * * * *

Dinner Church – A simple Christian gathering that is accessible to seekers, explorers, and the somewhat curious

For people who might be hesitant to attend a formal expression of church held within a church building, Dinner Church features a familiar setting and trusted friends. It also offers an environment of simple hospitality and friendship, to which Christians may find easier to invite their unchurched or de-churched friends, neighbours, and colleagues. Finally, Dinner Church creates a context which encourages deeper bonds between those attending, as participants share in reading and discussing a passage of Scripture, praying for and with each other, and serving in their communities together.

Getting ready:

  1. You and another one or two Christians decide to try the experiment of Dinner Church. First, you meet to pray together for a couple of weeks, asking God to guide your plans and to bless and multiply your efforts, so that new people can come to know Jesus. Your group decides together on a night that will work well for everyone, how often you want to meet (I suggest weekly or biweekly meetings, for the sake of continuity and depth of connection), and where you want to meet (usually a home).
  1. Your small group can then invite some others to join the gathering. Ideally you would aim for 6 to 10 people, depending on the size of your table, with a mix of Christians and a few people who you know well and who are not connected to any faith community. Again, before you start to invite people, ask God to direct the invitation process. Invitations can be quite personal and informal. For example, an invitation could sound like this:
[shorter version] “I’m getting together with some friends to try something called Dinner Church. We’ll share a meal and talk about a story from one of the early biographies of Jesus. Would you like to come?”

[more detailed version] “Some friends and I are trying something called Dinner Church in which we’ll gather for supper and discuss a passage from one of the early biographies of Jesus. Everybody is welcome to bring something to share at the meal. Whether people are already a part of church, have been away for a while, or have no experience at all, we want everyone to feel free to participate as much or as little as they like in the discussion. Would you like to come?”

  1. Don’t be discouraged if someone declines an invitation to Dinner Church, especially the first time you ask. Keep the option open by saying something like “No worries. When we get together again, I’ll let you know how it went. Maybe next time you’ll feel like joining in.”
  1. If someone accepts the invitation, ask them to let you know if they have any food allergies and if they’d like to contribute to the meal. (This can help people feel more a part of things right from the start.) Give them details about the location and start and end times, to help them plan ahead.
  1. Close to the date of Dinner Church, follow up with a phone call or text, letting them know you’re looking forward to seeing them. If it’s needed, offer them a ride.
  1. When getting ready for your first Dinner Church, remember to keep things simple. This is meant to feel more like a family meal than a formal dinner party. Different opinions and questions should be expected and encouraged. Hosts and leaders can guide the discussion while also being good listeners, recognizing that some guests may be just starting their faith journey. When you’re not sure how to respond to something someone says, there’s always, “That’s an interesting take on things.” This response lets the person know you appreciate them offering their opinion and so keeps the conversation open, without stopping you from offering your own view.
  1. If you’d like to try Dinner Church but worry that there might be some tough questions about the Scripture passage that you won’t be able to answer, relax. This is a discussion between friends, so you don’t have to provide an answer to every question. You just need to be yourself and say something like, “That’s a great question . . . and one I have no idea how to answer! But I’ll write it down and see if our priest/pastor is able to help us with it.”
  1. If you have a sense that people are still wary of gathering physically due to the pandemic, you could host an online gathering over Zoom (this would need to be shorter than an in-person Dinner Church, since most regular Zoom accounts only allow for a 45-minute meeting). An email or phone invitation could look like this:

“Hey, our church is trying an experiment called Dinner Church, and I wondered if you might be interested. I’m getting some people together to explore a passage from one of the first biographies of Jesus, but the pandemic still makes a physical gathering tricky for a lot of people. Would you be willing to join us for a dinner on Zoom? We plan on looking at one story from Jesus’s life and then talking about what it might mean in our lives today. I’d love it if you would join in the discussion. We might also talk about what’s going on in the world and offer up a prayer. I know eating in front of one another on Zoom is a bit weird, but right now this is the best I can manage. Would you like to join in?”

 

Some suggested elements to include as you begin to meet

  1. Gathering and greeting: everyone brings a contribution to the meal and gets seated.
  2. Dinner is served and leader #1 says a prayer of thanksgiving for the food prior to eating.
  3. Leader #1 reads aloud a Scripture passage.

To get you started, here are a few passages you could choose from:

  • Luke 9:10–17 [Jesus feeds the five thousand]
  • John 4:5–42 [Jesus talks with a Samaritan woman]
  • John 3:1–21 [Jesus talks with Nicodemus, a religious leader]
  • Matthew 22:1–14 [Jesus’s parable of the wedding feast]
  • Luke 19:1–10 [ Jesus engages Zacchaeus the tax collector]
  • Luke 10:25–37 [Jesus’s parable of the good Samaritan]
  • Luke 24:1–12 [The resurrection of Jesus]
  1. Guests eat dinner as discussion is led by leader #2:
  • What words or phrases stand out for you in the passage?
  • Was anything surprising, confusing, or encouraging?
  • What do you think this passage tells us about Jesus?
  • What are the connections you see between this story and life today?
  • Given what the story teaches about Jesus, or about the kingdom of God, what do you think this could mean for people learning to follow Jesus?
  1. A short commentary on the Scripture reading could be read aloud by leader #3 to bring in a scholarly perspective. This could be from a commentary series such as N.T. Wright’s series “For Everyone”, or even a short reflection written by your pastor/priest.
  2. Guests share any challenges that they are facing, or things they’d like to pray about. They pray around the table, or write prayers and place them in a basket for someone else to read out loud. For example, what are the needs of the world and our own lives that we want to bring to God? “God, we lift to you the following needs we see around us and have heard about tonight…”
  3. Coffee, tea, other drinks, or dessert is served.
  4. People clear their places and assist with clean-up.
  5. Leaders mention the date for the next gathering of Dinner Church before the end of the evening.

Over time, as participants become more accustomed to Dinner Church, leaders could add other elements of Christian worship, fitting these around the core elements. These elements include: prayers of adoration or thanksgiving to start the meal; reading the Lord’s Prayer, the Nicene Creed, or the Ten Commandments together; praying a prayer of confession followed by a proclamation/reminder of God’s forgiveness; discussing ways for the group to help meet particular needs in the neighbourhood; or reading the Grace (2 Cor. 13:14) to close the mealtime.

 

What is the goal of Dinner Church?

Dinner Church can be a vehicle through which Christians offer a simple expression of Christian gathering that allows the somewhat curious, explorers, and seekers to learn what Scripture teaches, how Christians pray, and how they serve their communities together. My hope is that Dinner Church gatherings will grow and multiply as more people become a part of them. Once a Dinner Church reaches 10 to 12 people, it should split and form two new gatherings.

In many cases, members of a Dinner Church will also be part of a larger gathering of Christians meeting regularly in a church building for worship. In communities that don’t have a church building, or where the building is no longer in regular use, Dinner Church may become the primary form of Christian meeting. Such Dinner Church gatherings would function more like cell churches, where cell church lay leaders are equipped by the clergy to lead their cell. In such settings pastors/priests may travel from cell to cell, to lead sacramental ministry (in denominations requiring this) and to encourage and support the leaders of each Dinner Church.

So go ahead and try this first experiment. Let’s see what God does with it in the lives of both the Christians and the non-Christians who gather for Dinner Church. Then, send us an email to share how it went!

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