Notes from The Vital Church Planting Conference

Today was the last day of the Vital Church Planting Conference here in Toronto. I'm very tired and bit brain-fried. Ever heard the expression "going tharn"? But I learned a lot and, just as importantly, made a lot of contacts that will move some these projects I'm involved with forward.

An E-Church Conference?
For instance, several of us more technologically minded folks got together and started talking about having some kind of conference on information technologies and church. That means talking about internet, video, blogging, e-church, etc., etc. There is a lot of work to be done on developing church media rather than merely consuming it. One of the people in that conversation is Imbi Medri, whose company mkpl.tv does media production and design (primarily for secular clients). She is very, very interested in how the church can become more savvy when it comes to new information technologies. She even brought a crew of volunteers with her to the conference to videotape it.

Incidentally, Imbi's husband, Bill Kinnon, is a prolific blogger about missional church issues. I haven't had a chance to really dive into his blog, but it looks pretty interesting at a glance.

ARC - Anglican Resource Centre
Another interest shared by many of us at the conference is the development of an Anglican Resource Centre (ARC) that could create the physical and relational space to support some of the really important conversations happening right now in this period of rapid change. If we want to change church culture around how catechesis is done, for instance, we need to have a sustained conversation as well as bricks-and-mortar resources people can look at. I know the current climate won't support a Diocesan-level ARC (at least, not one that costs them anything). I become increasingly convinced we should just start something. I imagine the ARC will have room enough to also support the conversations happening around Missional Church and e-church. As a precedent I remember the Ministry Resource Center at Yale Divinity School as well as the library/resource centers I encountered in the Diocese of Los Angeles, Newark, Rhode Island, Connecticut, etc. As a first step I'm going to see if I can just find some extra space somewhere to set a library just to start off. We already have plenty of material to begin such a library. After that we can start worrying about finding a volunteer librarian to help organize the material.

Making Room for the Spirit
So those are a few of the things arising from the contacts I made. In terms of the content of the talks and workshops what I came away with was a lot of hopefulness about the power of the Holy Spirit to do what we are unable to do by ourselves. I really need to be intentional about creating more room for the Spirit in these different projects I have going on. That mean, specifically, that I need to do a LOT more praying about it. I need to slow down and pray and let God do what She will.

For instance, at Church of The Messiah we have two of our three Wardens stepping down on Sunday. So far only one new Warden has emerged from the congregation. Rather than feeling anxious about that and desperately trying to convince people to take on the responsibility of leadership, I think I need to lead the congregation into a place of prayer and discernment about it. The fact that we have a hard time finding someone able and willing to serve out to tell us something important about leadership at COTM. We need to listen and learn.

So if that means that the position of Warden remains empty for a few months, so be it. We can function just fine with two Warden, actually! We may end up in a position of having two or three people stepping forward if we are patient and prayerful--or maybe no one wants to be Warden and we come up with some new structure entirely! Realizing that I could relax and put this back on God brought me tremendous relief. Whew!

"Affection will get us there"
Donald Schell said that at the Leadership in Community Conference in San Francisco last year. It stuck with me. I take tremendous encouragement from the love and affection shared by the temporary community formed at events like the Vital Church Planting Conference. There is real love among the happy workers in God's kingdom and this is a sign that we are receiving blessing.

At one of the workshops Pernell Goodyear, an urban church planter associated with the Salvation Army and currently serving a Cafe-based expression of church in Hamilton, said that no amount of demographic analysis or push pins in a map in some back office of careful planning could ever have reached his folks. Rather, it was by living in the community and soliciting his neighbors' stories that mission emerged. The result was The Freeway: a coffee house and community space that spreads the Gospel through service and radically incarnational values. His passion for living with his people and showing them through service what the love of God looks like was incredibly inspiring (and entirely intimidating).

So this will take some time to digest--but well worth the effort to do.

-t