Day: 20 August 2012

Redeemer Church, Ajax

Fresh Expressions Canada web manager and church planter Ryan Sim is working on a new approach to church for busy commuters in Ontario, starting with a mobile app and community called Redeem the Commute.

Redeemer Church - cars

Since November 2011 I have been working with the Diocese of Toronto to lead the development of a new church in Ajax, a growing suburb near Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 

We committed to planning, launching and sustaining a community of new disciples appropriately shaped for mission in its context. To understand that context, we spent six months in prayer, research and planning to learn as much as possible about life in Ajax and where the gospel could best take hold. Our temptation would be to implement forms of church we know and love, but that are incompatible with a changing context, or that might attract only those from other churches already following Jesus. This is a brief summary of our missional listening and research methods, and the plan that is forming in response.

We began by commissioning a study of the entire community, with typical age, education, income and other data, but also learned about common values, buying habits and responses to specific statements. This study helped us to locate a suitable home. 

I familiarised myself with the community by walking, driving, shopping and enjoying community spaces, and reading about the history, official plans and news of the community. I interviewed local civic and church leaders, as well as regular residents in more casual conversations.

Redeemer Church - road junctionAfter observing and listening as much as possible, I began to interpret and look for common threads. It quickly became clear that Ajax has an extremely high percentage of young, multi-ethnic families whose adults commute long hours to work.  They spend little time at home, have high demand jobs, and experience stress as a result. They long to reprioritize their lives, but feel stuck.

In times of prayer, I would ask God to reveal needs that were not being served by existing churches in the area. We know the gospel sparks the kind of life transformation and reprioritizing that this group longs to experience, but because of their limited free time at home, it became apparent that any church events, no matter what the time or theme, were unlikely venues for such overcommitted people to learn about Jesus for the first time.

How could we reach commuters with the good news of Jesus Christ, even while on the move? An idea emerged in a moment of inspiration, so we conducted an online survey to test its potential, and decided to go ahead.

Later this year we are launching Redeem the Commute, a mobile app and web site for commuters in our area. Smartphones are everywhere among commuting young professionals, and the commute is often seen as lost time; in need of 'redemption'. To help people redeem that lost time and make positive changes, we'll deliver good quality content that serves the needs of busy, commuting people, beginning with marriage and parenting courses. We'll introduce the Redeemer himself with a Christian Basics course, and then fresh, daily discipleship content for those growing as followers of Jesus.

Our aim is not to start a virtual church, but to bring people together in a dispersed form of cell church. Participants who start a course alone will be encouraged to start or join a discussion group, meeting weekly in places like trains, buses, workplaces and homes. We will 'seed' groups by using area churchgoers, but new groups will be organic and self-organizing, centred around gospel content, and with coaching, oversight and regular visits from staff.

By the end of 2013, we hope to see enough groups running and growing in faith that we can gather them all together for a great celebration in worship – our first of many times worshipping together as one community named Redeemer Church.

This is the very early shape of a church plant intentionally focused on the discipleship of a particular people in a particular place and time. It arose after a time of careful research, interpretation, planning, but especially prayer, asking God to reveal needs, and where a new church could help. I trust that through this process of missional listening, interpretation and creative response, God will reveal to missional leaders new people groups and new forms of church for any context, and transform our neighbourhoods, communities and world.

Redeemer Church - rails

(This story was originally published in the ECGI newsletter)

‘To do’ list for a journey towards missional community (Gavin Tyte)

Gavin TyteGavin Tyte writes his 'to do' list for a journey towards missional community.

I am two-and-a-half years into parish ministry in the Church of England, my mission being to lead a traditional, semi-rural, multi-church benefice into becoming a Missional Community.

I started off employed on a half-time basis and the church currently employs me for four days per week. I came with a lot of vision, drive and a few ideas that I thought might work. There have been highs, such as 300 people turning up for Easter morning worship this year, and lows – including the emails telling me to clear off out of the village.

To be honest, I do feel a little tired and occasionally grumpy because working with people is messy, complicated, frustrating and painful. However, working with God is exciting, fulfilling, energising and inspiring. To this end I would like to share 10 tongue-in-cheek practical 'notes to self' for vicars in the same position as me – working with multiple churches in a semi-rural setting. I hope they will be helpful.

1. Ensure you have a sound theology of mission

Your understanding of the nature and purpose of God and his church will underpin and shape how you do the job. If you think that the purpose of church is to get everyone into Sunday BCP (Book of Common Prayer) worship then you're probably not on the right page. There are some great mission resources out there so it might mean some reading or going to a conference or two. To ensure that your understanding is clear and coherent have a go at writing it down and then put it somewhere public – for example your church website.

2. Be prepared to shift your thinking

Do you oversee more than one church or congregation? Then you have Episcopal oversight. The 'one vicar does it all and takes five services in five churches on a Sunday' is going to go.

3. Adopt a model of multiple churches each with multiple congregations 

You might only have one congregation per church when you start. That's okay. Understand that God wants everyone in your communities to know him and be known by him. People will express their spirituality in different ways and long-term you will need to establish multiple congregations such as Messy Church and Youth Church. Don't be afraid of homogeneity – your congregations are probably already homogenous (i.e. aged 65+) but we've been in denial.

4. Grow congregational leaders

Be prepared to give up leading a congregation. I know this goes against everything you were taught in theological college but if God's church is going to grow and be effective in its mission then you need to grow leaders by identifying:

  • each existing congregation. Work towards growing one or more people to lead that congregation.

  • potential congregations. Look at 'growing' someone to lead these emerging congregations. Gather these leaders together monthly or bi-monthly for mutual encouragement and support. The good news is that you are skilled and trained. It's time to share it.

5. Help existing groups become missional and possibly congregational. 

This can include toddler groups, youth groups, choirs, bell-ringers and Bible-study groups, etc. For example, instead of having a traditional youth group, help the youth leader see the youth group as 'church' and release, support and equip them to grow and lead this church. To help groups think missionally, encourage them to complete this strapline, 'We seek to bless the community through…' Some won't budge but don't worry, work with those that are flexible.

6. Stop doing corny or cringe-worthy mission and evangelism

If someone suggests singing 12 traditional hymns on the village green as a form of witness, say no. If you have a 'mission' subcommittee of the PCC, gently scrap it. Mission should underpin all you are as a church. It is through encouraging people to join in with God's mission in the world that people will come to know him. Sure, the old model of inviting people to attractional Sunday worship or an evangelistic event does work with some people but the Church of England has been doing it for years and things aren't going so well are they?

7.Identify the mission areas for each church under your care. Come up with at least three for each church

The good news is that these should be obvious and will simply be a case of identifying and naming that which the church is already doing. For example, in the Church of England we do funerals and visiting in the community so pastoral care is there right away. Other mission areas might be overseas mission, families or school.

8. For each separate church form a staff team that meets weekly 

To start off with it might just be you and a churchwarden. Have a strategy to include on this staff team a person that oversees each of the missional areas of the church. 

9.Meet God's expectations and not people's

If you try and meet everyone's expectations or live in fear of upsetting people then you will be remain permanently in maintenance mode and the church will stay static. Be clear about the church, its mission and purpose, and warmly invite people to join in. Some will choose not to. Sometimes, although it hurts, you just have to let them go – even if it's the organist and choir. God won't let you down.

10. Ensure you have support for your model of ministry and the mission of your church

For example, aim to go and have coffee with your Diocesan Missioner once per month because their job is to encourage you in mission. Let them do it.

Upstart Church

A brief encounter with a coffee shop owner changed the way Greg LeMaster thinks about church.

Greg learned the coffee shop was struggling to make a profit and wanted to help. So he asked if the space might be used for an 'upstart church' on Sunday mornings. Without hesitating, the shop owner offered him a key to the building.

Greg has worshipped at Graceland Baptist Church – just west of Richmond, Virginia – for 20 years; the last five as the church's part-time minister of outreach. With a weekly attendance of 250, churched families who move to the area almost always move their church membership to Graceland as well.

Upstart Church - groupBut Greg is now helping the Graceland congregation to see things differently, going outside the walls of their building to the people not reached by any church.

Greg started the process by asking a few people from his congregation to begin meeting in coffee shops. They in turn were to invite friends who would normally meet them for coffee but not for church. The format for the group remained the same:

  1. catch up with one another;

  2. a short reading and reflection from the Scriptures;

  3. a conversation about the Scriptures and how it applies to our daily life;

  4. prayers for the group members and for the people in the place where they are meeting.

Greg has also been delighted by what has become a regular get-together for people from around the world. It started a couple of years ago when Greg and the associate pastor at Graceland arranged an outreach event at a Richmond apartment block. They organised some games and handed out ice lollies to the children while a team of visiting, Spanish-speaking missionaries shared a brief message with the people living there. Not only did they encounter Spanish speakers but they also met people of many different nationalities with some from Latin America, Jamaica, Sudan, Nigeria and the Congo (DRC). To their amazement, 15 of the residents became Christians.

Upstart - familyThis 'one-off' event has become a weekly gathering. Every Friday afternoon, a small group of people, some of whom first met at the original event, get together for church. They meet on Friday, because they (like 30% of people in the US) work on Sundays. 

This has connected Graceland, a predominately Anglo congregation, with Colonial Place Christian Church, a mainly international congregation in neighbouring Henrico County. Greg says,

You know it's a move of the Spirit, when all of these informal partnerships start to spread. A few months ago, we did not know any internationals. Now, we're doing church together.

This group is beginning to function as a church in its own right. They regularly share the Lord's Supper together and collect a weekly offering.

Greg's son Daniel is autistic and while Graceland is a welcoming place for him, he wanted a place where his son could be as expressive as he needs to be. So Greg started a group in his living room using the same the four-step pattern as in the coffee shop and apartment block. Several other families, uncomfortable about bringing their own special needs children to a traditional church, soon joined.

Upstart - pair

On most Sundays, Greg and his family go to an early service at Graceland and then return home where they are joined by a group of 12 to 14 others for Joy Church. It's a place where parents can share their joys and concerns – and where their kids are free to praise the Lord as they are comfortable. At Joy Church, an outburst is a welcomed part of worship.

Greg comments,

All the groups that we have started are foundationally set to be church. Some people may get confused with what they consider outreach because they have grown-up in traditional church from a very young age. However, the truth is that each is a church and has the DNA (Divine Truth, Nurturing Relationships, and Apostolic Mission).

As far as pressure to bring these into the 'real church' is concerned, I think that it may exist to some degree but the truth is these churches function by themselves. I have no problem that some people elect to get additionally involved in what they may perceive to be 'real church'.

I think this complements the ministry of Graceland Baptist as we together desire to disciple and direct folks towards a deep life in Christ. I feel that people at Graceland are beginning to see that we must engage the culture as we can no longer attract the culture into the church. We simply must take church (us) to them in fresh expressions.