Anglicans to brainstorm church planting strategies
TORONTO, ON—John Bowen sees vitality and growth in Anglican church planting—and it doesn't involve constructing new Gothic buildings for existing church-goers.
Bowen, who teaches evangelism at Wycliffe College, is chair of the Vital Church Planting (VCP) conference. It will be held February 2 to 4 at St. Paul's Bloor Street, with a second conference in Edmonton, May 18 to 20. The conferences are sponsored by the Anglican dioceses of Toronto and Edmonton, the Wycliffe College Institute of Evangelism and Fresh Expressions Canada.
Now in its fourth year, VCP will bring together Anglican bishops, clergy and lay leaders to talk, pray and strategize about creative and innovative new ways of "doing church" for those who have walked away from traditional churches—or who have never been to church at all.
Churches for the "de-churched" and "un-churched" normally start off as small enterprises closely linked to the needs of a local community, says Bowen.
"You start by listening to the community and asking, 'Where is God at work here?' As you listen and look, you make relationships. As you make relationships, a network forms. Out of that network natural evangelism happens. And as the spiritual side of that begins to take root, a worshipping community begins to form."
Pernell Goodyear will be one of the speakers at this year's event. He is pastor of The Freeway, "a funky non-profit coffee shop" in Hamilton, which holds weekly worship gatherings and hosts music, arts and community events.
Goodyear explains that the vision behind the Freeway is to create a holistic Christian community which is an active part of the local neighbourhood.
"What we really want to focus on is the church rel-earning how to be part of God's mission in a local context," Goodyear says. "Our job is to become a loving, tangible expression of God's kingdom, by becoming part of the local culture and understanding it, in order to proclaim and incarnate the gospel within a particular context."
"People in the 'church world' often don't get it. They would say, 'Why would you plant another church when there are so many other churches?' I'd say, because there are hundreds and thousands of people who don't know Jesus in Hamilton.…There should be faith communities in every neighbourhood, every culture in Canada."
Rachel Jordan, who will also speak at the conference, works as an advisor in mission and evangelism to the Church of England, based in London. She will tackle the "historical precedent" for developing innovative new ways of doing church.
"The things we consider 'traditions' in the Anglican church were actually innovative at some point," she says. "Some of the things which are sacred traditions to us were part of cultural revolutions at the time. Once people understand that, they are much more able to accept other innovations coming from current cultural changes."
Bowen hopes the movement will lead to a "culture of innovation" within the Anglican Church of Canada and that people will leave the conference inspired to start new things in their own parishes.
"I think there are a lot of people who will do something new with encouragement and backing if they know they have permission to…step outside of what Anglicans have always done."
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