Mission Church Toronto

Synod 2009: Mission, Mission, Mission

2009-05-31T10:47:00.001-07:00

There was a LOT of talk about Missional Church at this year's Synod of the Anglican Diocese of Toronto. Phil Potter was here from England to talk about Fresh Expressions and share a Word about how churches can be transformed to reach out the world. This was not the kind of Synod with endless motions and votes. Rather, we would gather with prayer and song, do a little bible study, listen to a presentation, and the go off into smaller Indaba Groups for discussion. The smaller group size of these Indaba groups allowed for everyone to be heard.

I was struck in my group by how many people had yet to hear of Missional Church before this year's Synod. Indeed, one lay person seemed annoyed that her priest had never mentioned the concept. Of course, her church was doing mission, but they weren't using the "mission church" or "fresh expressions" language to do it.

Naturally, everyone thinks this Missional Church stuff sounds great. Yet I think the resistance will arise as soon as anyone tries to actually do such a project! Some parishes, especially, will have a hard time becoming truly missional in the ways that Phil Potter and others have been talking about. It requires a shift in the culture and self-understanding of 90% of the parishes in the Diocese, and I'm not sure that was made clear at the Synod.

Still, it was all energizing and I'm sure more will come from it. As usual, however, structures are lagging behind. We don't have anything like Bishop's Mission Orders or Pioneer Ministers, yet!

-t

Starbucks as Church

2009-04-09T10:54:00.001-07:00

I originally saw this on the Generation Young Canadian Anglican blog--though it was produced by the Beyond Relevance blog. Very amusing.

-t

The Beckoning of Lovely

2009-04-02T08:22:00.000-07:00

This project in collaborative creativity has been gaining momentum for some time. Recently it produced this very cool happening in Chicago near the giant silver bean sculpture.

I think this sort of thing has interesting implications for evangelism and mission. For one thing, it show people's capacity to create meaning and express very profound things given a structure in which to do it! It also shows just how eager people are to participate in these kids of organic flash-mobs of well-meaning strangers.

-t

Geeks for Jesus Wiki Started

2009-03-26T16:44:00.000-07:00

The Geeks for Jesus (it's morphed a bit from 'Christ') group has just started a Wiki. You can find out about our initiative here. Wikis are a style of website that is created collaboratively as a variety of people expand and modify the content. The most famous Wiki, of course, is Wikipedia. Wikis are excellent for accumulating community knowledge. So we started one to begin organizing our thought about technology and the church.

Stay Tuned!

-t

The ARC Gets a Blog

2009-03-25T13:28:00.000-07:00

I set up a new blog for the ARC--The Anglican Resource Centre. Browse over there to see the latest on that project. We just finished a grant application. Cross your fingers...

-t

Christ-Centred Character Initiative

2009-03-24T09:19:00.000-07:00

Here is Catherine Keating (Deacon at St. John's, York Mills) talking about the Christ-Centred Character initiative that we co-founded. Right now I'm polishing up a Grant application due next week. Cross your fingers...

-t

The Jeremiah Project: New Monasticism in Toronto

2009-02-25T08:19:00.000-08:00

One of the most interesting (to me, at least) movements of the Spirit in Toronto Anglican circles is happening around The Jeremiah Project. This is a group of folks interesting in forming a New Monastic (aka "Neo-Monastic") in downtown Toronto. They are deeply committed to monastic principles and also to the health of the city. They are basing themselves at St. Anne's, Gladstone, a parish that has experienced decline for many years. Hopefully the Jeremiah Project will bring new life and mission.

It will be very exciting to see what shape this new community will take!

-t

Notes from The Vital Church Planting Conference

2009-02-19T12:53:00.000-08:00

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

Missional Church Among Torontonian Anglicans

2009-02-13T06:45:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't written in this blog for a while, but not for lack of things happening when it comes to Missional Church and the Holy Spirit's work among us. So I thought I would catch you all up with some observations of things happening right now. This not a comprehensive list of things related to Missional Church in Anglican GTA circles--merely the stuff that I'm connected to in one way or another...

Fresh Expressions
Fresh Expressions, as you probably know if you are reading this, is a movement that started in the UK to create new church communities relevant to a rapidly changing mission context. Fresh Expressions (FX for short) has generated a lot of interest in the Diocese of Toronto, partly because the model fits the Canadian context much better than ones we see looking at the American (Episcopal) Church. Essentially, the UK has already made the transition to a post-Christendom society in a way that Canada is just beginning. Meanwhile, the U.S. is several years behind in terms of this social shift.

So, like I said, there is a lot of energy swirling around this FX stuff. There is even a Fresh Expressions Canada website. Also note Duke Vipperman's blog on the subject. We are bringing lots of guest speakers over from the UK to share their experiences and importing some of their models wholesale (Contemplative Fire, for example). They will also feature prominently at the Vital Church Planting Conference being held next week.

The VCP Conference is one of the main events gathering mission-minded Anglicans in Toronto. Beyond looking at new church plants, there is a ton of material relevant to established congregations looking to grow. I note that this year they have created "tracks" that implicitly acknowledge that some people have different levels of familiarity with the concepts being discussed than others. It's always an interesting and exciting time.

Missional Transformation Process
Alan Roxburgh and his folks are creating a process to help established parishes (i.e. "Inherited Church") become more missional. They are proposing to trial this process in the Diocese of Toronto and currently have a proposal in front of the College of Bishops of the Diocese. I'm hoping that this will be approved at my church will be one of the first to benefit from this work. The upshot is really the way it proposes to change the way leadership is done in our parishes. Once this kicks off, expect much more frequent updating of this blog!

The Christ-Centred Character Team
For about a year now I've been meeting with a group of folks interested in transforming how Christian Education is done in our parishes. Basically, we believe Sunday School initiatives need to align with the dramatic and rapid adoption of Character Education by the public school system. This movement towards teaching virtue and character in school requires a response from the church.

Initially our team focused on gathering and even producing resources to help Sunday School teachers. But we realized that two other major needs exist related to this effort. First, we need to develop a theological position regarding virtue! One critique of secular taxonomies of character being used by the secular school boards is that lack a foundation. Not surprisingly, exactly what constitutes "character" varies from board to board. A thoughtful Anglican approach to this problem could leverage the strengths of the historic church to provide our culture with meaningful guidance. Indeed, the Province has asked faith communities to contribute this sort of guidance to the character education movement.

A second need we identified was for a library or resource centre to support children's ministry in the Diocese. We need a place where educators can go to look at different resources and curriculum and even borrow them. We understand that the Diocese did have such a library at one time, but found it unsustainable for several reasons. We recognize that developing such a resource centre in the current budget climate is problematic, so we've been exploring the ways in which such a centre could be an independent and ultimately self-sustaining project.

The concept evolved into the "ARC"--the Anglican Resource Centre. Imagine a cross between a library, Starbucks, ABC, and the Christian Science Reading Rooms. It's similar to the Paulist Centre for Catholic Evangelization on Bathurst. Such a place would not only hold resources and host training events--it would also form the centre of a spiritual community of educators. In other words, it would be church for teachers. It's a neat concept, of course, the trick is figuring out how to make it self sustaining!

So these conversations are ongoing. If you're interesting in joining our working group, just let me know!

Toward a Theology of Urban Ministry
Rev'd Canon Gerry Loweth is teaching what we believe to be the only seminary course exclusively on Urban Ministry in Canada. We could be wrong about that. If you know of one, do tell!

Anyway, he has been speaking to some of us interested in Urban Ministry about developing this line of enquiry for the Diocese. The fact is, we do not seem to have a very good foundational theology of urban ministry. I remember noting this was a big problem back when I was part of the Parkdale Ministry Development Council and it's associated commissions and committees and meetings. Back then we struggled to find workable models for urban church and build support for them. Foundational theological work on how the urban church is distinct from other mission fields would have gone a long way to help us move beyond old parochial models that are frankly more appropriate for suburban or rural settings. Without such ideas and models to guide the efforts of urban evangelism, we are likely to find ourselves constantly reacting to challenges rather than embracing opportunities.

Again, this is just in discussions, but they are good discussions. At the very least we should publish an annotated bibliography for those interested in reading about urban ministry!

New Workplace Bible Study
When I came to COTM I inherited a workplace bible study held downtown that was clearly loosing steam. At the last meeting it was just me and one other person--not a good use of our time or precious ministry resources. So I suspened it for revision and have since been talking about developing a partnership between several downtown parishes to create a work place bible study that will reach as many people as possible. Stay tuned...

Projects at Church of The Messiah
Missional Church, at it's core, is about the way Christians understand their relationship to the world. Nonetheless, a fruit of this spirit ought to be concrete programmes, projects, and initiatives that are ministries appropriate to the mission of the church. So I'm trying a couple of things at Messiah that I would call "Missional" in that sense.

One is a Mother's Fellowship group that will start meeting in the next week or two. A group of neighbourhood moms getting together to talk, study, pray, and eat while their kids are being taken care of. It's kind of like the MOPS programme, but more homegrown. We discerned a need for this kind of ministry to the community and so we are reaching out to make it happen!

What's Next
More conversations, no doubt, because that's how the Holy Spirit changes things! I expect that enthusiasm for FXC will continue to grow. We are going to hear more about things like the Jeremiah Project and Contemplative Fire Canada and the Missional Transformation Process being designed by Roxburgh. But this is going to bump up against the legacy of inherited church, i.e., the Canons of the Diocese and the various restrictions they present. Note that one of the reasons FX has worked in the U.K. is that it received a lot of support and accommodation from the hierarchy (most famously from Archbishop of Canterbury). They created canonical infrastructure with things like the Bishop Mission Orders. We'll need similar sorts of things here.

Anyway, this is part of why my plate is so full at the moment, but these efforts to reform the church are essential to the calling we receive in the Gospel, so I don't feel like I have a lot of choice about it!

-t

Empirical Indicators of Missional Church

2008-12-02T06:23:00.000-08:00

Andrew Sheldon sent me this in the summer, though it's taken me this long to get to the few HUNDRED e-mails sent to me while I was on vacation in July...

"These empirical indicators were developed by the Gospel and Our Culture Network. I have and do use this as a template of what a mission-shaped congregation should look like...."

1. The missional church proclaims the Gospel.

What it looks like: The story of God's salvation is faithfully repeated in a multitude of different ways.
The community's thought, words, and deeds are being formed into a pattern that proclaims the Gospel of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ. As a result, the Good News of God's reign is publicly announced. The proclamation is a "word and deed" proclamation; it is not only audible but visible as well. It is audible in a proclamation that focuses not solely upon the salvation of persons, or the transformation of individual human lives, but also the transformation of the church, human communities, and the whole human community, history, and creation in the coming and already present reign of God. It is visible in, with, and through the quality of a common life that manifests the unique culture-contrasting good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Church members indicate that they understand that "proclaiming the Gospel" is the responsibility of all Christians; it is more than the vocational option for a selected minority.

Persons are able to point to and articulate "the source" from which the good words and deeds of the church emanate, that is, in their own words, they are able to indicate, "it is because of the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ that you see all these things."

Persons, in their words and actions, express to others what God has done in the world and in their lives through Jesus Christ.

There is evidence that this is a community that can be entered into as a concrete expression of the Gospel's own living story. That is, persons can see a community of people who believe, struggle, doubt, sin, forgive, and praise--together.

The body of people admittedly seeks to believe and behave in ways that conform to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

2. The missional church is a community where all members are involved in learning to become disciples of Jesus.

What it looks like: The disciple identity is held by all; growth in discipleship is expected of all.
Persons are not expected automatically to know the 'way of doing things in the reign of God.' Citizenship in the reign of God is learned. The learned protocol involves primarily those behaviours and processes that witness to the way of Jesus, who is forming his people for life in the reign of God. The community does not simply rely on 'how we've always done things here,' or 'that's how we Baptists/Lutherans/Presbyterians/ Methodists/etc. do it,' or even 'that's how we do it in the company where I work.' Rather, the community seeks critically to integrate already-learned practices with skills and habits of Christian discipleship. This community shows evidence of growing, changing, and deepening the skills and habits of discipleship. Nurturing citizenship in the reign of God is an overall priority of the church for all members of the community of faith.

New participants in the community indicate that they are being helped to integrate their life with the practices and habits of life in the reign of God.

Existing participants in the community indicate that they are engaged in a life-long process of integrating their life with the practices and habits of life in the reign of God.

Illustrations can be given of how people are learning how to pray, and are discovering prayer as a powerful resource for living in the reign of God.
The community demonstrates a variety of ways in which participants train, mentor, or nurture one another as the community seeks to develop, across the entire spectrum of participants, the capabilities (ways of thinking, perceiving, and behaving) required of disciples who are attempting to follow Jesus Christ.

Members can identify several different ways of thinking, perceiving, and behaving that are characteristic of life in Christ which differ significantly from the ways of the culture in which persons find themselves on a daily basis. They can give at least two or three examples of how those differences are being practiced in the life of the congregation. (Examples might include rejection of competitive and coercive ways of interaction, use of language that expresses a Christian worldview, attitude toward money and possessions that reflect God's generosity and abundance, exercise of power through service rather than domination.)

The church organization is characterized by the participants as one that is ever open to change, to new and expansive ways of organizational thinking and behaving that enable rather than block the cultivating of faithful discipleship.

3. The Bible is normative in this church's life.

What it looks like: The church is reading the Bible together to learn what it can learn no where else - God's good and gracious intent for all creation, the salvation mystery, and the identity and purpose of life together.
There are two commonly held expectations: that we will seek to know the Scriptures, and that we will seek to become obedient to the Word which is revealed in the Scriptures. Listening, reading, studying, and obeying the Bible is integral to all of church life, including its worship, spirituality, service, education, stewardship, and witness. The Bible is engaged communally. The overarching approach to Scripture study in the body is not solely 'personal devotion' or merely 'moral guidance,' but is characterized by the question, 'What is the text saying to the church which is attempting to be faithful today?' 'How does the biblical word prepare God's people for their mission in this particular place?'

The community gives visible evidence that its life, work, witness, and worship are influenced and shaped by what the community is learning together from Scripture's revelation of God's claim upon its life.

The community has established processes through which it reflects critically on its hearing of the Gospel, and its obedience to the Gospel's imperatives, in order to become a more faithful disciple community.

The community is becoming "bilingual" as it learns how to translate the biblical message into the language and experience of its immediate context.

4. The church understands itself as different from the world because of its participation in the life, death, and resurrection of its Lord.

What it looks like: In its corporate life and public witness, the church is consciously seeking to conform to its Lord instead of the multitude of cultures in which it finds itself.
Discipleship requires a willingness to follow the way of the cross and share in the sufferings of Christ. The church is not getting its bearings by the world's standard of success-- institutional status, power, or influence. Rather, it witnesses to the truth of the Gospel that the one on the cross is the way, the truth, and the life for the church. Jesus models what the church is called to be. Thus the church is called to show hard evidence that as a body of people it provides a collective witness to its crucified saviour. The church's distinctive conduct, then, is frequently different from and often in opposition to the world's patterns of behaviour. This is particularly evident when the power of love, service, and sacrifice for one another in the community is contrasted with the powers of hate, violence, and domination in the world.

Members can readily give at least two or three instances when the church was willing to take risks, suffer, be looked down on, or be treated unjustly for the sake of the gospel.

The church practices love, sacrifice, and service in such a way that people from both within the church and in the wider community can point to their positive results.

The church is becoming aware of, confessing, and turning away from its patterns of conformity to the world while it learns to follow Jesus Christ.

5. The church seeks to discern God's specific missional vocation for the entire community and for all of its members.

What it looks like: The church has made its 'mission' its priority, and in overt and communal ways is seeking to be and do 'what God is calling us to know, be, and do.'
The goal of decision-making is not simply to discover the will of the community, but to discern together the will of God. Because all participants in the body participate in decisions that affect their life and mission together, shared power and influence (rather than status, position, or 'majority opinion') are the keys of authority. The need for the gifts and insights of all members to shape and guide a faithful and effective ministry is recognized and emphasized. Mentors, teachers, and partners provide intentional support, challenge, and advice to enable one another to extend these skills and habits and deepen their participation in the life of Christ. Members make efforts to set aside the necessary time to listen, study, share, struggle, pray, and plan together as they search for God's will and seek to participate in God's mission. Members pledge to live out together the conclusions they have reached together. Church leadership encourages, guides, teaches, and serves the process of communal discernment through consistently holding the following key questions before the community as they seek together to answer them:

What is God calling us as this church to be and do?

How can we enter more faithfully into the reign of God?

How will we learn from the Bible what it means to be the church?

How will we more faithfully and effectively practice Christian community in our life with one another?

Believing that the Holy Spirit gives gifts to all, the entire community participates in programs and processes for identifying, commissioning, and utilizing the gifts of both new and continuing participants for service in the mission of the church.

The church intentionally develops the skills and habits of listening, praying, studying, thinking, sharing, disagreeing, confronting, planning, working together in ways that build-up one another, discovering and supporting the rich diversity of giftedness within the community.

Leadership teams and groups demonstrate, model, and cultivate in their words and behaviours with one another what the whole community is called to be and to do. They indicate that they recognize that they too are an expression of the church when they gather, and thus are also intentionally learning the practices of the reign of God in their life together.

6. A missional community is indicated by how Christians behave toward one another.

What it looks like: Acts of self-sacrifice on behalf of one another both in the church and in the locale characterize the generosity of the community.
The church exhibits the fruits of the Spirit which include (but are not limited to) not thinking more highly of oneself than one ought; valuing the gifts of others; loving one another with mutual affection; eagerness to show the workings of the Spirit; patience in suffering; hospitality to strangers; blessing those who do not understand, or who persecute; associating with the lowly; not repaying evil for evil, but overcoming evil with good; and living peaceably. Acts of generosity are commonplace and self-giving is a behavioural characteristic of this community.

Congregational life demonstrates a variety of ways for cultivating the attitude and habit of expressing self-sacrificing compassion and concern for one another.
The church exhibits patterns of individual and corporate prayer which seek to promote the welfare of the community as well as the transformation of lives and changed conditions within their locale.

There is indication that the church is changing its expectations about what participation in the Christian community looks like (for example, spending more time with one another, taking their relationships with one another more seriously, providing tangible support for one another).

7. It is a community that practices reconciliation.

What it looks like: The church community is moving beyond homogeneity, toward a more heterogeneous community in its racial, ethnic, age, gender and socio-economic make-up.
The barriers that separate people are identified, addressed, and overcome. Differences and dissension among people are dealt with constructively. Conflict is used to enrich discussion. Evil done within or to the body is overcome by doing good. Healing involves confession to and the forgiveness of one another wherever and whenever wrong exists. This process of healing and reconciliation takes place between individuals and within the body, both of which serve to shape and reform the community as a whole. Society's boundaries are crossed--class, economic status, race, gender, age, occupation, education. Amazingly diverse people allow themselves to be formed by one Lord into one body. Violence is rejected as a method of resolving difference.

Members can give anecdotal evidence from the church community life showing where forgiveness and the healing of relationships occurred -- consistent with the life of Jesus and in contrast to the society's standards of behaviour.

There is evidence that leaders and members expect positive results from expressing differences.

There are norms by which the community abides for the constructive use of conflict. These include informal or formal procedures of which both leaders and members are aware and can make reference to.

There are examples of reconciliation that indicate the community is learning to transcend racial, ethnic, age, gender, socio-economic barriers. The community values and accepts both similarity and difference out of its unity in Christ.

8. People within the community hold themselves accountable to one another in love.

What it looks like: Substantial time is spent with one another for the purpose of watching over one another in love.
They covenant together to uphold and watch over one another in love, praying for one another. They are committed to one another, and that commitment is expressed through collaboration, interdependence of work efforts, and being dependable. People place a high value on sharing a common life and supporting one another.

Participants indicate that a fundamental purpose of the community is the expression of Christ's love -- mutual love and accountability to one another.

Participants indicate that they are accountable to a grouping of people with whom they are learning to live the Christian life more faithfully. (In such a grouping, they are learning to acknowledge their status as forgiven sinners, receiving from and giving both encouragement and admonition to one another, helping one another to live in God's grace, seeking consistently to be restored to right relationships with one another.)

Participants indicate that the community is characterized (i.e. it is the norm rather than the exception) by a life together carried out in a unity of spirit. Consistently, words and actions toward one another indicate mutual respect for one another.

Participants take time to pray for one another. They pray for one another in their varied circumstances, circumstances that are not limited to sickness or death. They pray for those with whom they differ and whom they dislike as they do for those with whom they agree and whom they like. They recognize that prayer is a key aspect of being accountable to one another in this community.

The community reflects on how its structures (meetings, frequency, length, and use of time together, organizational structures, physical arrangements) either hinder or enable the demonstration of mutual love, respect, and accountability to one another.

9. The church practices hospitality.

What it looks like: Welcoming the stranger into the midst of the community plays a central role.
People are reached and invited into new relationships with God and with one another as the community's intent is to welcome as God welcomes. As a result, people are becoming citizens of God's reign. Having heard and received this invitation themselves, they extend the invitation to others to know and experience God's love.
The church demonstrates a sense of urgency about inviting people to enter the reign of God.

Visitors experience welcome, aid, and comfort, thus making wider the circle of the church community to include those who are different from us.

10. Worship is the central act by which the community celebrates with joy and thanksgiving both God's presence and God's promised future.

What it looks like: There is significant and meaningful engagement in communal worship of God, reflecting appropriately and addressing the culture of those who worship together.
Worship is the community's action of publicly giving allegiance to God--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is an act of the whole people of God who remain faithful to tradition while integrating variety which reflects and gives new meaning to the unique cultural context of the congregation. Worship actively engages the community in ways that nurture the dynamic, growing and changing aspects of discipleship in the world. As such, it provides for the incorporation of people into the community of faith, their formation into a new humanity, and their reception of God's gift of sustenance for daily life. Its focus is on celebrating God's presence and promises without seeking or expecting worship to be the occasion for God to meet human needs. The congregation departs from worship, knowing that it is a sent and sending community, and each Christian is conscious of his or her apostolic sentness as light, leaven, and salt in the world.

The organization, structure, content, language, rituals and practices of worship demonstrably focus upon God and give opportunity for human responses to God.

There are aspects of communal worship that reflect the local culture, but also give new meaning to those elements of local culture.

Participants can give anecdotal evidence of how corporate worship enables persons to become incorporated into the life of Christ, and thus the Christian community.

Participants can describe ways in which worship gives expression to and provides the experience of God's sustaining presence in the life of the congregation.

11. This community has a vital public witness.

What it looks like: The church makes an observable impact that contributes to the transformation of life, society, and human relationships.
What the community intends to be and do actually does occur, and is confirmed both by those who participate in the community (e.g. 'I have learned here that I can disagree and I don't have to leave') as well as by those who do not, (e.g.. 'Oh, you're the church that always helps clean up after floods and tornadoes').

Like political ambassadors, persons know and can articulate where their allegiance lies. They know and can articulate the nature and expectations of the mission that has been given to them. Its public deeds do not consist of imposing its moral will on others, but of giving hard evidence of the reign of God that intrudes as an alternative vision and practice.

The community defines itself as "sent" --representative of the reign of God and offering alternative ways of life to the world, where participants know themselves to be accountable to one another and to God for the faithfulness of their witness in daily life.

Members of the local neighbourhood and/or larger church can give examples which illustrate a variety of actions through which the church, over time, has communicated God's love in the immediate locale and elsewhere.

Members can identify examples of actions and activities that have resulted in the transformation of lives, changed conditions, promoted justice and combated evil (i.e., economic injustices, violence, discrimination, addiction, oppression, etc.)

12. There is a recognition that the church itself is an incomplete expression of the reign of God.

What it looks like: There is a widely held perception that this church is going somewhere-and that somewhere is more faithfully lived life in the reign of God.

The church has been given the gift of citizenship in the reign of God which it has received less than perfectly. Knowing that the church is as yet a flawed witness to the reign of God, it is open to its own reformation as it continually seeks to provide a more faithful and more effective witness in its changing context. Therefore, the church is constantly critiquing and intentionally reshaping its vision, common life, teaching, organization, obedience, witness, and ministry on the basis of its hearing of the Word of God.

When people talk about their church, there is evidence of honest review of its ministry and mission, measuring itself against biblical standards of the reign of God, and not culturally established standards of success.

The measure of success used in this church is the quality of Christian love experienced in its common life and ministry.

People who participate indicate that this church is on a journey to the future, that it has not yet arrived.

Participants are able to pray with meaning Jesus' prayer, "Thy kingdom come." This prayer creates for them a sense of expectancy and anticipation of God's fulfillment of all God's promises.

This church demonstrates "faithfulness," while recognizing that it has not yet fulfilled its calling.

Recognizing itself to be a human institution, the church intentionally seeks evaluation, redirection, and renewal through the Holy Spirit.

The Church of Stop Shopping...

2008-11-19T12:14:00.000-08:00

Here's a very amusing interview Rev'd Billy (of the Church of Stop Shopping) did on Fox News...

-t

Missionary Implications of the "Toronto Blessing"

2008-04-25T19:59:00.000-07:00

Lately the "Toronto Blessing" has been coming up in conversations I've been having about Mission in Toronto. This is a reference to a mega church out near the Airport known as the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship (TACF). They claim to have received a special blessing that is transferable via anointing. he blessing manifests in various supernatural ways.

I don't know enough to say much more about this--but it seems like a key point in story of God's work in Toronto. So what are the implications for the Anglican Church of Canada?

-t

MOPS

2008-04-15T10:13:00.000-07:00

One of the Mission Fields I've been thinking about for COTM is parents with young children. To this end, a priest at a local church told me to take a look at the Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) program. Basically, local churches sponsor groups of mothers with preschool aged children to gather and share fellowship, mentoring, and peer-support. Something like that could work very well in our community, as I think there is a huge need for relationship among mothers in this demographic.

Interestingly, I've been told that COTM used to have a program like this for many years--I wonder what happened to it. Perhaps it's time to revive the tradition.

I know that Little Trinity has a MOPS group that meets every week. I'm not aware of any others in the GTA, but it seems likely a fairly straightforward relational evangelism opportunity.

-t

Neo-Monasticism

2008-03-26T12:09:00.001-07:00

Someone was asking me about Neo-Monastic movements. Neo-monasticism is basically a contemporary movement of Christians seeking to live in a way that reflects the values and ideas of traditional monasticism, only interpreted for their context. A good place to start to learn about them is a document produced by a gathering of such communities known as the 12 Marks of Neo-Monasticism. Coming out the Rutba House community, they declared the following:

Moved by God’s Spirit in this time called America to assemble at St. Johns Baptist Church in Durham, NC, we wish to acknowledge a movement of radical rebirth, grounded in God’s love and drawing on the rich tradition of Christian practices that have long formed disciples in the simple Way of Christ. This contemporary school for conversion which we have called a “new monasticism,” is producing a grassroots ecumenism and a prophetic witness within the North American church which is diverse in form, but characterized by the following marks:
Relocation to the abandoned places of Empire.
Sharing economic resources with fellow community members and the needy among us.
Hospitality to the stranger
Lament for racial divisions within the church and our communities combined with the active pursuit of a just reconciliation.
Humble submission to Christ’s body, the church.
Intentional formation in the way of Christ and the rule of the community along the lines of the old novitiate.
Nurturing common life among members of intentional community.
Support for celibate singles alongside monogamous married couples and their children.
Geographical proximity to community members who share a common rule of life.
Care for the plot of God’s earth given to us along with support of our local economies.
Peacemaking in the midst of violence and conflict resolution within communities along the lines of Matthew 18.
Commitment to a disciplined contemplative life.

May God give us grace by the power of the Holy Spirit to discern rules for living that will help us embody these marks in our local contexts as signs of Christ’s kingdom for the sake of God’s world. (source)

Of course, this is just one example of what might be called Neo-Monasticism. Like a lot of the new, fresh, emerging churches (use what terms you will), these trees are known by their fruit. So here's a few examples of such communities.

Monkfish Abbey in Seattle.
The Simple Way Potter Street Community in Philadelphia
The Reba Place Fellowship in Chicago
The Living Stones Monastery in Newport News, Virginia
Communality in Lexington, Kentucky

It's an intriguing development as it connects some very rich and developed traditions with the adaptive energy and authentic discipleship of the emerging church/fresh expressions movement.

Incidentally, I found this article about Neo-Monasticism from Christianity Today. They quote Shane Claiborne, who is a well-known leader in the movement.

-t

Geez Magazine

2008-03-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

Geez Magazine is a great publication for those of interesting in Christian relevancy in the post-Christian, post-modern world. Think of it as a Christian version of Ad Busters. From the Geez Website:

Geez magazine has set up camp in the outback of the spiritual commons. A bustling spot for the over-churched, out-churched, un-churched and maybe even the un-churchable. For wannabe contemplatives, front-line world-changers and restless cranks. (source)

The pure freshness of this witness ought to commend itself to us. Right now they are having a contest for "30 Sermons you'd never hear in church." Awesome.

-t

Two More Presentations by Bishop Cray

2008-03-17T19:00:00.000-07:00

Here are the two slideshows presented by Bishop Cray when he did a talk at St. Paul's, Bloor Street, on March 8th, 2008. The first one is about Fresh Expressions, the second is about some of the underlying theology for the shift towards Mission-based church happening in the U.K.

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I hope those are useful to people. Thanks again to the Bishop for letting me share them!

-t

Bishop Graham's Power Point

2008-03-16T10:17:00.001-07:00

The Bishop of Maidstone kindly gave me permission to publish his slide shows on my blogs. This one is the shorter version of his presentation, which he gave at the Wycliffe Institute of Evangelism Dinner.

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Pretty good, heh?

-t

Institute for Evangelism Dinner

2008-03-14T09:58:00.001-07:00

Last night there was a dinner for the Institute of Evangelism at Wycliffe College. The guest speaker was Bishop Graham Cray, who has been in the Diocese for a week or so now speaking about his experiences with church planting and fresh expressions of church in the U.K. Here's an interview of Bishop Cray by Alan Roxburgh I "borrowed" from the Allelon website...

(source)

BTW, at the dinner they also rolled out the new Institute of Evangelism website. It was (hand) coded by Ryan Sim, a young priest from the Diocese of Ontario. He's the Rector of the Parish of Kitley. Anyway, it's a fabulous looking website!

-t

What This is About

2008-03-13T15:20:00.001-07:00

After attending several events discussing evangelism, church planting, and Missional Church, it has become clear to me that a network it forming within the Anglican Diocese of Toronto of people that are interested in talking about and discussing these issues. So I've decided to start this blog as an experiment to see if this a good format for sharing and discussing ideas and resources....

Come Holy Spirit, breathe life into us as we seek to do your will on earth. Inspire us to grow your church through the love shown in Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.

-t