Month: August 2015

Lasting networks of encouragement in Canada (John Bowen)

John BowenJohn Bowen discusses lasting networks of encouragement in Canada.

The fourth annual Anglican church planting conference, hosted jointly by the Diocese of Toronto and the Wycliffe College Institute of Evangelism, offered great signs of encouragement.

Those attending Vital Church Planting East 2010 were from many parts of Canada, from Winnipeg to Newfoundland. Western Canada will have its own conference – sponsored by the Diocese of Edmonton and the Institute – next month. In 2007, 60 people came to conference; this year there were 180. Most of these were Anglicans, though a contingent of interested United Church pastors was there too. Six bishops – the five Toronto bishops plus Don Philips of Rupert's Land – also attended.

A wide range of workshops included Wycliffe graduate Rob Hurkmans talking of his Church on Tap in a Port Colbourne pub, and Judy Paulsen on Messy Church in Oshawa. Tay Moss (Church of the Messiah) and Ryan Sim (St Paul's) explained how to use new and social media in evangelism. Ann Crosthwaite also led a session on Contemplative Fire.

As with all good conferences, some of the best things often happen in the cracks – over coffee and lunch, and between sessions. Relationships begin, emails are exchanged, ideas are swopped, and problems are debated and sometimes even solved. This has been one of the advantages of holding this conference each year: Not only has it gained numerical momentum, but people come back year after year, and lasting networks of encouragement and wisdom begin to emerge. It's difficult to be a pioneer in isolation.

Were there any low points? For me, the most depressing moment was when one person asked: 'I am finding a conflict between, on the one hand, the fact that we're wanting to do this for the sake of self-preservation and, on the other, the fact that we're talking about authenticity. How can we do both these things?'

Following Jesus is never a matter of 'self-preservation'

Pernell Goodyear, a Salvation Army church planter in Hamilton, was one of our conference speakers. He dealt with the question far more graciously than I would have done, and explained that following Jesus was never a matter of 'self-preservation', and that following God's mission always involves laying down our lives. You'd think it was obvious, but apparently not.

So does this conference achieve anything? Frankly, I am too old to have any patience for conferences that leave you with a set of notes you never look at again, and warm feelings that evaporate within a week. So I am glad to report that the answer is yes. For example, one priest, Chris Snow from St John's Newfoundland, came the first year. As he told us later, he wanted to check out whether there was any theological substance to this thing and to see if it was just an evangelical clique.

He decided we were OK on both counts, went back home and hired a young curate to start a Messy Church. The next year they both came, and reported on what they had done. During the year that followed, the Messy Church grew into a Eucharistic community. Once again, Chris and Sam came back to the conference and inspired us with their story. And the number of such first-person stories increases year by year.

So I pray, and invite you to pray too, that the seeds sown at this conference will be nurtured and bear fruit across the country for years to come. I believe it may take 20 years for significant change to come – not for the survival of the Anglican Church (it's about mission, not survival, remember), but for the furtherance of the Good News of Jesus among those who have never heard it.

Restoration in Tucson, Arizona (Kate Bradsen)

Kate BradsenKate Bradsen shares a story of restoration in Tucson, Arizona.

For the last two years, I have helped to form an intentional, ecumenical community called the Restoration Project. We began as a group of young ministers and social justice activists who wanted to live with more intention and spiritual groundedness.

A year ago we rented and moved into a big, old house near downtown Tucson. We share food and cars. We take turns cooking. We offer hospitality and do spiritual practices together. Since the beginning we have offered a weekly meal for anyone who wants to come. Mostly because of this, I think, the community now includes members who do not live in the house. Over the last year, hundreds of people have come to eat, work in the garden and participate in the writing groups, films, workshops and parties. To some, the Restoration Project is becoming their spiritual community, a place where people are known and their gifts are recognised and valued. In this context, we can wrestle with questions of faith, all as we walk alongside one another. 

Moments of spiritual ritual have emerged organically. We created a communal piece of public art to remember the 206 migrants who died crossing the Arizona desert last year. We blessed a couple expecting their first child. We created a ritual to stand in solidarity with some of our members who had experienced a traumatic event. For All Saints/All Souls we hosted a potluck where we shared the stories of people we have loved and lost and the food that reminded us of them.

Sometimes the Spirit calls us beyond the places institutions are ready to go

This pioneering stuff hasn't been easy. I don't get paid to do this. When I first stepped out of a traditional church job to cultivate something new, primarily for people who had no spiritual community to call home, some of my colleagues thought I had left the Episcopal Church. Sometimes the Spirit calls us beyond the places institutions are ready to go. 

When I look around at our weekly open meal, I get a glimpse at what the Spirit is stirring. Last night, for instance, we were Latinos, Native peoples, Gringos, students, wanderers, farm workers, lawyers, community organisers, grandparents, writers, nurses, engineers and teachers. We were all hungry. We sat and ate together and shared wine and stories. Everyone belonged and no one went away feeling empty. For a moment the beloved community of God was so real we could taste it.

What’s the relationship between membership and discipleship? (Jackie Bellfield)

Jackie BellfieldJackie Bellfield asks what the relationship between membership and discipleship is.

There is a particular time in the year that I dread, a time of sleepless nights and worry – the renewal of my car breakdown cover! As I get older, alongside my car, I worry whether I (or my car) need to be rescued and recovered, just rescued, only recovered, or simply just towed away. Which one do I go for in the plethora of options? Many organisations offer a variety of options in relation to membership. There is the seasonal membership, the family card, occasional usage alongside frequent visitor, to name a few.

As a fresh expression missioner, it is an amazing privilege to work alongside others as we explore fresh and vibrant ways of engaging in ministry, church and worship. Over the past three years, 13 new fresh expressions of church have been formed in the Warrington Circuit, each reaching a wide range of people, encouraging all to grow in discipleship and their awareness of God. Some of these people have previously seen the inherited church as irrelevant to them and others have been hurt by it. But the question remains: do they want to become a member of the Methodist Church? Or of any denominational church?

When I read the Great Commission, I hear the mission and purpose of the church. And that purpose is to spiritually form disciples. In other words, the church is not a club – it is a discipleship-forming community. The task of discipleship formation begins right here. We can no longer expect the culture, the schools or anyone else to do that task for us. It is the purpose of this community of church. How will we, with God's help, be effective in the process of spiritually forming disciples?

A discussion about the relationship between membership and discipleship needs to take place

I do not think that the question can be answered in the length of a short blog. Nor am I suggesting a 'home or away' season ticket, a reward scheme for regular attendance (though that has a certain appeal) or a loyalty card for regular giving – give five weeks and have the sixth free – but perhaps a discussion about the relationship between membership and discipleship needs to take place.

I am not, of course, saying membership is not important and critical in encouraging full participation, stewardship and involvement within our local church communities. But I'm asking: how do we encourage attendees of fresh expressions to be involved in the decision-making processes of the church that affects them? And how do we encourage them to take ownership when, as things stand, they firstly need to become members? Let's start the conversation; it is an exciting place to be.

New times call for new ways of being church (Michael Volland)

Michael VollandMichael Volland states that new times call for new ways of being church.

Since the publication of the Mission-shaped Church report in 2004, the church in the UK has gradually begun to recognise that as well as continuing to support and build up inherited forms of church, the advancement of God's kingdom requires the training, deployment and support of Ordained Pioneers who might serve as catalysts for the emergence of Christian communities in the midst of culture.

Here at Cranmer Hall in Durham I have been given responsibility for designing and delivering a training pathway for Ordained Pioneer Ministry. This task has inevitably led to many discussions with pioneers, bishops, and DDOs about how pioneers relate to the institutions that are creating space for them.

As with any new venture, there are bound to be all sorts of complex teething (and ongoing) issues – especially since the rationale for Ordained Pioneer Ministry has involved the church recognising the need to ordain and utilise the gifts of those who may see the relationship between culture and church in fresh and potentially challenging ways.

Many pioneers have an entrepreneurial flare that is being harnessed for the sake of the gospel and used to gather and nurture new communities of faith. But if the whole church is going to grasp the mixed economy vision, Ordained Pioneer Ministers must be ambassadors who are present at the centre of the church, as well as entrepreneurs operating at the edges.

What seems to be required at this point is patient endurance that is held in tension with prophetic creativity

In order to be ambassadors for a ministry with a particular focus on creativity and fresh thinking, the lives of Ordained Pioneers must also be marked by highly visible levels of maturity and humility. If the concept and practice of Ordained Pioneer Ministry is to gain widespread and genuinely heartfelt support, then those engaged in such a ministry must demonstrate a genuine willingness to listen and learn as well to speak and teach. Innovations will be owned and shared within a wider church that feels it is in conversation with pioneer ministers.

There is no doubt that new times call for new ways of being church. The new country stands before us, but the whole church must make the journey into it. For those whose understanding of the times gives them a sense that perhaps they can see a little further ahead, there is always the temptation to rush on alone or with a few others in tow.

But what seems to be required at this point is patient endurance that is held in tension with prophetic creativity. If pioneers catch glimpses of the new country, then they must speak of it wisely. People can only hear so much in one go. Pioneers must tread gently but firmly and they must keep moving forward at a pace that honours the whole church.

Don’t lose sight of the wood for the trees (Tony Cant)

Tony CantTony Cant warns not to lose sight of the wood for the trees.

St Luke's-in-the-High St, Walthamstow, is a missional church that has transitioned itself from traditional church. Our building is closed for worship, and is now for sale.

We don't meet for church on Sundays, but instead I manage the weekly Farmers' Market in Walthamstow High Street, at which the church runs a community stall, and therefore, are, in the real sense, a church without walls. We get together for reflection, prayer, Bible study and worship on Wednesday nights; our sense of liturgy and teaching is very conversationalist and hardly ever didactic; we share Holy Communion together each Wednesday night; and we eat together on a monthly basis.

An old friend of mine, John Smith of Christian mission and youth outreach association Concern Australia, uses the image of a tree to give some shape to thinking about how trad/inherited church and fresh expressions are part of the same organism. The growth in a tree happens right at the edge – the bark layer. You can kill a tree by ring-barking it; ie, cutting a ring of bark about a foot wide right around the tree and removing it, as the sap that is the lifeblood of the tree runs through the bark.

Tree RingsNow, while the bark is where the growth is, it can't exist without the wood of the tree that has formed the trunk throughout the whole life of the tree. The bark and the wood need each other to become a living tree. We, as a fresh expression of church, need the structure of the traditional church/CofE to support us while we grow some new wood at the edge of the tree. But if we are cut off from the tree, the tree might stand for a while longer but the life will be gone – you can see where the metaphor goes.

At St Luke's, we do participate in the life of the wider church by attending the Bishop's Council, Diocesan Synod, Diocesan Mission and Pastoral Committee, Deanery Synod, and Clergy Chapter, as well as being an integral part of the Parish of Walthamstow Team. The traditional structures have been positively instrumental and supportive of what we're trying to do, and have not tried to subsume us. In effect, we have been blessed by those structures.

It's a complicated business that we're involved in, and has all manner of implications including long-term sustainability issues. Let's hope we don't lose sight of the wood for the trees.

How the mighty fall, and why some churches never give in (Will Sudworth)

Will SudworthWill Sudworth reflects on how the mighty fall – and why some churches never give in.

'Decline can be avoided, detected and reversed.' So begins Jim Collins' latest book How the Mighty Fall, based on four years of research into companies which found that decline is 'largely self-inflicted'.

Below is a re-wording of the main findings, using 'church language' to see if it helps our exploration of inherited church and fresh expressions.

The five stages of decline that proceed in sequence

Stage 1: Churches become insular

Church members believe their church is 'entitled' to exist, losing sight of the true factors that originally established it.

When people are saying 'We're established because we do these specific things' instead of the insightful 'We're established because we understand why we do these things and under what conditions they would no longer work', decline will very likely follow.

Stage 2: Undisciplined growth

When a church grows beyond its ability to fill key leadership roles with the right people, it has set itself up for a fall.

Stage 3: Denial of risk and peril

Internal warning signs mount, yet membership and attendance remain strong enough to 'explain away' disturbing data or to suggest that the difficulties are 'temporary' or 'cyclic'.

Church leaders start to blame external factors such as culture rather than accept responsibility.

The vigorous, fact-based dialogue that characterises healthy churches disappears altogether.

Stage 4: Solution grasping

Church leaders respond by grasping for quick solutions – eg, introducing a new charismatic visionary leader, instigating a dramatic cultural revolution, or merging established churches.

Initial results may appear positive, but the results do not last.

Stage 5: Irrelevance or closure

Repeatedly grasping for quick solutions erodes financial strength and individual spirit to such an extent that all hope of building a great future is abandoned.

In some cases, the church leaders just sell out; in other cases the church atrophies into insignificance; and in the most extreme cases, the church simply closes.

Specific findings relevant to fresh expressions of church

With a map of decline in hand, churches heading downhill might be able to reverse course

It's not as simple as 'they failed because they didn't change'. Churches that change constantly but without any consistent rationale also collapse. There's nothing wrong with keeping specific practices, but only if you understand the 'why' behind those practices, and thereby see when to keep them and when to change them.

To disrespect the potential remaining in the inherited church – or worse, to neglect it while focusing on fresh expressions in the belief that the inherited church will continue almost automatically – leads to decline. Even if you face the impending demise of the inherited church, that's still no excuse to let it just run on autopilot. Exit definitively or renew obsessively, but do not ever neglect it.

Hope

With a map of decline in hand, churches heading downhill might be able to reverse course.

The signature of the truly great is not the absence of difficulty, but the ability to come back stronger than before from even cataclysmic catastrophes.

A fresh expression of church is NOT a cheap and cheerful option (Caroline Holt)

Caroline HoltCaroline Holt explains why a fresh expression is not a cheap and cheerful option.

Those of us in the church need to wake up to the fact that many people don't feel comfortable with any of our traditional ways of doing things. They also don't have a clue what we stand for.

The Wesley Playhouse may look nothing like a traditional church – with its children's soft play area, climbing frames, ball pool and café in the middle of it – but those who come along to our Playhouse Praise once a month see this place as their church, and so it is.

A fresh expression of church should be one that understands a generation and culture that's very different to what we may know and recognise. The young families I come across don't know what to sing and they don't understand our words. Why should they?

On Mother's Day we're laying on a four-course meal for mums and their families. It's a chance for people to relax while we wait on them. It should always be about service.

We have already had several christenings here, but we have just taken bookings for two more.The families had initially asked at other local churches but had been told that it couldn't happen because the godparents hadn't been baptised. They were being pushed to get to a place where they didn't want to go.

I'm not saying that we're the cheap and cheerful option; I'm saying that we welcome people even if they don't call the ceremony a christening because they don't know the 'right' word. It is completely alien to them. Ours is a consecrated church building so we're happy to arrange christenings, explain what it's all about in their terminology, and develop relationship with them.

Many people don't feel comfortable with any of our traditional ways of doing things. They also don't have a clue what we stand for.

Why in traditional church do we ask people to make promises that we know are not going to be kept? Yes, I'm aware that people will have been through some sort of baptism course and are meant to appreciate the seriousness of what they're saying, but we have to get real – that is not what happens in many cases at all.

The church will feel that it has done what it is meant to do by making them go through the hoops; in turn the people will promise to turn to Christ and renounce evil, etc. The uncomfortable fact is that these lies are told in front of God in church and that's an accepted part of Christendom, but, more often than not, the words mean absolutely nothing. That's not because the people don't want the very best for their child, and they certainly wouldn't want to lie to God, but they can't really relate those words to everyday life.

In the past I've asked children in schools, 'What happens in church?' Their answer was, 'You go there to die', because they associated church with funerals. Now a lot of people go straight to the crematorium without having a church service, so the church is not even where you 'go to die' any more.

We've got to change our ways, care for the people, fund risky initiatives like ours, and give thanks for the chance to do it.

The hardest thing I’ve done in ministry (John Maher)

John MaherJohn Maher tells us the hardest thing he's done in ministry.

Over the years I have done a number of things in ministry that are very challenging. These have included successfully 'Wimberising' a typical Episcopal parish by introducing healing ministry, worship bands and other influences from the Vineyard. We also built new parish facilities and relocated.

However, these things were nowhere near as challenging as planting a new church to reach people no other church is reaching.

The reason why is because our parish structures assume a population which is attracted to church already. The difficulty we find is that one of the fastest growing sections of the surrounding population (in my opinion) is the group that is not attracted to any Christian church. Changing the structures most Episcopalians, and probably most Americans, have in their mind as to what a local church is supposed to be like is far more difficult than building a new facility and moving to a new location.

In 2005 I moved to the Phoenix area and began work to plant a new church in the Diocese of Arizona. Most of the people who initially joined in with the new work had this picture of church:

priest + building + liturgy = church

I quickly began to see that something new was needed. Bob Hopkins and Mike Breen gave me a new model, or operating system, in their book clusters: creative mid-sized missional communities, 3DM Publishing, 2007. We have since been working to understand and implement:

faith + community + action = church

This is a profound change! A community of faith equipped and ready for action will make people with no church connection thirsty for what it has. For those who are used to a priest-centred way of operating this can be a very uncomfortable change, for both the priest and the people.

Part of my strategy is to have our staff leaders spend more time in the community during the week

To pursue this new operating system I have a two-part strategy. The first part is to decentralise as much as possible. When we started out we had monthly dinners for the whole congregation to attend. We are now beginning to identify and train leaders who will host these kinds of dinners for their neighbourhoods instead of only church members. It takes a lot of encouragement for someone who is used to asking the priest about almost everything to begin thinking about what is the best kind of activity to serve their own neighbourhood. It is, however, the way to faith + community + action.

The second part of my strategy is to have our staff leaders spend more time in the community during the week. Our children's ministry team leader is gearing up for an adaptation of the 'Messy Church' approach. Our youth ministry team leader is preparing to volunteer in the local high school to meet students who know nothing about Jesus.

It takes a long time to change the operating system.

How deep are we willing to go? (Mark Berry)

Mark BerryMark Berry asks how deep we are willing to go.

Graham Cray told General Synod last week that a crucial factor in the spread of fresh expressions has been 'a new imagination about the form or shape of church'. He is right. We have seen over the last half decade an exploration emerge which concerns not just the stylistic aspects of our gatherings – music, dress, structure, location, etc – but concerns the very substance of what it is to be church. The question is, if this is good, how deep are we willing to go?

At the heart of the matter is how we have sought to be community and how this journey has led us into a new romance with the God who is by nature community. We have had a new encounter with God as Trinity, not a hierarchical Trinity with God the Father as the CEO, Jesus as middle management and the Spirit on the factory floor, but with the Trinity as the root of radically mutual community … of the meal table, not the boardroom table!

This is changing how we see and do leadership within communities, where we put the emphasis on the flow of gifting rather than the authority of a title or position. Each of us surrenders our gifts to the community and so each of our gifts, rather than being lost becomes animated from use and spreads through the community. When a prophet is willing to give their insight then all our eyes are opened in new ways; when the artist creates, we all find new ways to express ourselves.

So, how deep are we willing to let this change affect us? How much of our systems and structures are we able to challenge? Can we let a 'ground up' shift impact how we think about every part? Can it change the way we think about leadership, about ordination, about our structures? 

Can it change the way we think about leadership, about ordination, about our structures? 

A colleague of mine from Lichfield Diocese, Revd Richard Moy, challenged Synod why it 'locked its trainee clergy away for three years in a place full of other Christians'. I agree. We need to reflect on how we train our leaders, but have we got to go deeper? In this changing world, which will force our church to change, is it time to release leadership, to give it back to communities, to create a new way for sustainability which does not rely on a professional body but on equipping and resourcing communities to lead themselves? 

After a recent visit from our new bishop, one member of safespace said how great it was to share with him as he was not at all 'bishopy'! Is it time to reflect the shift from hierarchy to community, not only on the ground but can we as a church become a community of communities, where we rely on each other, where we support each other and allow the quietest voices to be as significant as the most powerful ones?

Help, we do not know where this is going! (Jeff Reynolds)

Jeff ReynoldsJeff Reynolds cries 'help, we do not know where this is going!'

It was a cold Thursday evening at the end of January when, rather than putting my feet up in front of the fire to watch some mindless TV, I was setting off for a cup of coffee in Stafford and visiting the newest church in town.

Twilight @ Costa is the name given to a fresh expression of church that has been running for 13 months. It is a monthly gathering with music, DVDs, quizzes, conversation, speakers and copious amount of coffee.

The aim of Twilight, which meets from 7pm, is to try and be a church community outside of the traditional thoughts of church, ie, day, time and building. Over the year we have attracted people from various churches, de-churched people and people who just wander in because they fancy a coffee at Costa. Interestingly, many people with little or no inherited church connection return regularly. That is where the 'problem' is now beginning for us.

Of course, that is what we wanted when we set out on the good ship Twilight. We realised that you can have the best services, welcome, refreshments, buildings, and flower rotas in traditional church but there will still be great swathes of the community who will not darken our doors.

Our desire was not to invite them in to our current set ups but to go out and meet people where they are. We haven`t always got it right and have made changes along the way but at least we are seeing the development of a new kind of church community.

Now that we have made those connections, the challenge really begins. What do we do with them? The temptation to go down the inherited church route is great but one that we are resisting, in favour of a genuine desire to be a new church community. It is at this point that we have to exercise our faith as, if we are honest; we have no idea where this new church will be in 12, 18 or 24 months' time.

The temptation to go down the inherited church route is great but one that we are resisting

I am really excited by that approach as I believe that, in our desire to understand and operate our beloved mixed economy of church, we are discovering the need to exercise our faith in a real 'Help, we don't know where this is going' sort of way. Surely that is a good thing.

As we sit and strategise over our mission opportunities, there has to be room for the element of: 'That's a good idea, but I`ve got no concept of how it will work or end up.' To me, that feels the right thing (and also the brave thing) to do with any new expressions of church we feel led to pioneer. Sometimes we have to just get on with it, and it is within the journey that we find God at work, not necessarily in the arrival.