Transitions in a Dangerous Time

“But nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight

Got to kick at the darkness 'til it bleeds daylight

When you're lovers in a dangerous time.” – Bruce Cockburn, “Lovers In A Dangerous Time.”

These words of Bruce Cockburn acknowledge that there is darkness. This present darkness in which we walk can be characterized by fear, deprivation, danger, psychological and spiritual stress, and relational conflict. Cockburn’s words also acknowledge the need to challenge the darkness and create space for the light to splash into and obliterate the darkness. Indeed, these are the times in which we live.

It has often been noted that no matter how much we try to convince ourselves otherwise, few of us will change our lives, our work, or our organizations without the pressure of significant pain (or as Bruce Cockburn might describe it, darkness). The pain may come from a business that is not sustainable, a lifestyle that is destructive, a career that is waning, or a significant health issue that causes us distress, but it takes a large shove to propel us into change mode. Since March 13^th in Canada, the Church (and many other aspects of life) has experienced discomfort and a big push in a particular direction. Many are reeling from the impact, even as they adjust to new realities.

In 2003, a group of friends joined my wife and I in creating a network of house churches in the city of Calgary. The story of how this came to be is a story of difficulties that built to a change point all of its own, but what I want to focus on today is the fact that once we had made the leap and changed the way we organized a church, we soon found that there were further pressure points involved in the transition. It wasn’t enough to shrink a mega-church or even a midi-church into a living room and kitchen, we had to blast away at the build-up of our collective traditions to find the foundations of our newfound structures.

Jeff Christopherson, in a recent two-part article in Christianity Today, address the topic of the new church planter in an article entitled, “The Road Ahead: 10 Characteristics of a Future Church Planter.”[1] It is an article aimed at church planters and those who oversee the development of new congregations in Canada and the USA, but beyond that, it can be seen as a call to new kinds of churches, new ways of doing ancient traditions, and new ways of being the body of Christ. I will leave it to the reader to search out and read the article and will only list the ten characteristics before extrapolating further thoughts beyond the strict text of the article. The ten transitions that must be made as enumerated by Christopherson are as follows.

1.     From Entrepreneurial Übermensch to Apostolic Catalyst

2.     From Sunday-centric to Christ’s Body

3.     From Ecclesiastical Supremacy to Kingdom Submission

4.     From Drafting Free-Agents to Developing Disciple-Makers

5.     From Replication to Multiplication

6.     From SoloClerics to Co-Vocational Teams

7.     From Christendom to Secularity

8.     From Doctrinal Precision to Spiritual Authority

9.     From Prominent Church to Transformed City

10.   From Underserved Communities to Overlapping Gospel Movements

Back to Cockburn, “nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight.” A vibrant Canadian church that creates meaning for people’s lives, strengthens them in times of darkness, and shares hope for the future is definitely something worth having. In my opinion, Christopherson has identified an accurate set of transitions for which the church is primed. Who will step up, kick at the darkness, and lead toward change? For those who are attentive, the present pain of the church can be a catalyst for transition and increased health. Who wants to talk about the present pain of the church? Who is ready to look toward these transitions? Who wants to see a healthier church and a healthier Canada on the other side of this present crisis? There are many of us who are available to talk more about these things and coach others toward change. Let’s help each other stay on mission.

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[1] “The Road Ahead: 10 Characteristics of a Future Church Planter,” Jeff Christopherson, Christianity Today, October 29, 2019 and November 4, 2019, https://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2019/november/road-ahead-10-characteristics-future-church-planter-part-2.html

The Church Planting Journey

Around 1995, a few pastors, and leaders (including myself) in my city began to meet to discuss church planting. The discussion starter was the resource kit known as The Church Planters’ Toolkit (1991) written by Robert E. Logan. We would read (and at least on one occasion watch a video) and discuss the principles within this remarkable tool. We applied these strategies and principles as we became a Church Planting Management Team and Church Planting Catalyzers. Later I spent time on the national board of Church Planting Canada with Murray Moerman and other national leaders and saw the same principles and strategies employed and encoded in the training manuals we used for planters and catalyzers. I came to realize why people were beginning to call Dr. Bob Logan the father of modern church planting.

In 2003, I left a job as a Lab Scientist to plant a network of house-churches in Calgary where I personally put into practise the strategies and principles to which I had been calling others. Planting two churches in two cities in Western Canada gave me a whole new appreciation of the complexities of planting and the need for a good coach. I took coach training from Dr. Logan and hired him as my personal coach.

Now 25 years after my introduction to Robert E. Logan and his church planting principles, I have just read The Church Planting Journey[1] which Bob says is a translation of the earlier work for a contemporary audience working in a contemporary context. I am happy to say that this pioneer still has much to add to the church planting conversation. His insights from forty years of being a practitioner, planter, teacher, professor, and learner are here in this new work. One of many examples is what Dr. Logan has to say about assessing the original vision in terms of the fit with the planter and alignment with the mission. This section will be a great help to many who wrestle with the tension of adapting as they proceed. The end of each chapter offers a place for the reader to contextualize their own vision, cultural context, and prayer life which I pray planters and catalyzers will patiently use. This book is once again set to reignite the church planting conversation and I congratulate my friend in having the foresight to see the need. May Jesus Christ richly bless the reading of this book.

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[1] The Church Planting Journey, Dr. Robert E. Logan, 2019, Logan Leadership; https://amzn.to/2ZnQIRc

Failure is an Option

"Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough." - Elon Musk

I stared at this quote for the last few minutes as the cursor blinked on and off on my laptop screen. I have been wondering if I agree with the entire quote. Does it represent reality? Should it represent reality? I need to parse it out and dissect it to see if I can acknowledge any truth in its sentiments. Allow me to walk you through my logic.

I can say that I agree with the first sentence. Failure is always an option, a possibility, a reality we will experience. All of us have experienced failure in one form or another. It is the second sentence that, at my first reading, was controversial. The first half of the second sentence suggests that there is a course by which we might not fail. I do not think that is the case. Certainly there are “safe” routes that seek to minimize the risk of failure. Many are prone to pursue this path. They seek to recreate experiences and write policies so that what has worked in the past is repeated and standardized. The “let’s not do anything that might fail” philosophy is almost as well documented as the literature on organisations that failed to accomplish their goals because they were afraid to fail. Ed Catmull does a great job of describing this “fear of failure” as it existed in the Walt Disney Studios before Pixar and the Walt Disney company became intertwined.

“At a certain point at Disney, ‘There seemed to be undue emphasis on preventing errors; even when it came to something as small as office décor, no one dared put themselves out there, or to make a mistake.’”[1]

“. . . the leaders of Disney Animation placed a higher value on error prevention than anything else. The employees knew there would be repercussions if mistakes were made, so the primary goal was never to make any . . . But seeking to eliminate failure was in this instance – and, I would argue, most instances – precisely the wrong thing to do.”[2]

Ed Catmull and Elon Musk are both getting at this attitude which suggests there could be a “non-failure route” to innovation and they indicate that it is a myth. Musk is saying that we must have failures and perhaps lots of them to get to a place of innovation. Catmull says something similar in Creativity Inc. So, why am I still struggling with the overall meaning of what Musk is saying?

The crux of the issue comes down to whether or not we think that innovation is a legitimate goal and a high value. After all, we might well do without some of the innovations our world has achieved. The world was, in some ways, quite satisfactory before the invention of the atomic bomb and was significantly less safe after that particular innovation. Some might say that the innovative development of the internet has had both positive and deleterious impacts upon our world. Was this type of innovation a desirable outcome? What of the invention of the electric lightbulb, an innovation which only followed after a great many failures? Despite the fact that one might be able to point to some negative consequences of the light bulb, it would be hard to argue that this innovation has not been of great benefit to humans around the world.

The kind of innovation to which Elon Musk has been working could conceivably have some negative consequences. It could also offer great benefits to humanity. The reality is that humans have been innovating for a long time and they show no signs of deviating from a trajectory of innovation. If innovation is a worthy goal, then the statement by Musk has a significant chance of being an accurate representation of how one should proceed. If innovation is seen as negative and maintenance of current systems is a greater goal, then Musk’s statement is wrong.

Maintenance of working systems can be a realistic goal; but maintenance tends to only work within closed systems where things do not change. As soon as one introduces external changes, an organisation must adjust to maintain balance within a new state of equilibrium. Whether we like it or not, our world is changing; and right now it is changing rapidly. There is good evidence that the organisations that will continue to work will be those that are nimble and can rapidly change with the surrounding environment. Those that stick to policies written during times of stability will find that they are ill-equipped for the new state of the world and will find themselves falling out of the new equilibrium. Thus, organisations must, at the very least, respond to the innovation which is saturating the present world.

Some companies and organisations will not only survive in an ever-changing world, they will themselves become leaders in innovation and will set the direction of that innovation. These are the ones that shape an environment and shape themselves to fit the environment into which they are metamorphosing.  They are prepared for the world into which they arrive. Such change does not come easy. It takes experimentation, rigorous learning from failures and successes, and innovation that remains true to the original purposes of the organisation. In short, such organisations experience failure, learn from that failure, develop a better experiment, and try again in a reasonably ordered fashion, until they succeed. Success and failure are simply two potential results for the continued experimentation. Success, or failure, will still mean that there is work to be done.

The winking cursor has run its course to the bottom of the page and I find myself staring at it once again. The sobering conclusion of this article is that I have convinced myself that Elon Musk might be right. "Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough." I am willing to innovate and I am willing to fail. I commit to learning as I succeed or fail and, by God’s grace, I choose to innovate and succeed in the mission toward which I am called. Elon Musk may not understand that bit about God’s grace, but I would suggest that it is a vital ingredient in the process. I am thankful for its ever-present illumination upon me.

Works Cited

Catmull, Ed. Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces that Stand in the way of True Inspiration. Toronto: Random House of Canada Limited, 2014.

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[1] (Catmull 2014) Location 3790 in Kindle Version

[2] (Catmull 2014) Location 3961-3965 in Kindle Version

Change

Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future. John F. Kennedy

Kennedy, or JFK, said these words in the middle of the 20^th century when significant change was in the air. The rate at which things change in our current time would be mind-boggling to this former president. We must learn to deal with change and perhaps an ever accelerating pace of change at least for the near future as we stand nearly 16 and a half years into the 21^st century.

Change can of course be good or bad, thrilling or challenging, life enhancing or so difficult we might wonder if we will survive the change. In a culture of change it is only the organizations and companies that are agile and themselves able to change quickly that will survive and thrive. To see the truth of such a statement one has only to look to energy companies in Calgary as they have reacted to a change in world oil prices.

What does this mean when we think of churches? We live in a world where we are all electronically connected and relationally disconnected; a world where people can travel across the city or across the world with ever greater ease; a world where leaders rise and fall on the whim of a local, national, or international following; and a world in which technology and media drive our monetary choices. The implications of these changes are vast, and yet most of our churches continue to function much as they did when JFK uttered his words regarding change. Churches do not tend to change rapidly. They are founded on ancient words that hold principles for all time. There is a tendency toward nostalgia and history. Few other disciplines (perhaps philosophy is another) hold such high regard for old words as opposed to new words on a subject. Certainly the Bible must be used as the founding document and the bedrock for the function of churches today; yet, why should the words of Augustine (354-430 CE) hold more sway than the words of Dallas Willard (1935-2013 CE)?

Are churches in North America (my only frame of reference) ready to embrace change for the sake of the ancient message? Can methodologies and practices change while the ancient work goes on? What new courses need to be charted? What experiments are necessary? What kinds of intentional community need to be fashioned so that the mission of the church survives in a world of change?

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” 
― Barack Obama

“For what it’s worth: it’s never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again.” 
― Eric Roth, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Screenplay

What is Church? Chapter 2

In a blog on January 6th, I suggested that one purpose for gathering as followers of Christ is to search for God and allow others to do the same. Today I want to address another reason why we gather as the Body of Christ: mission.

As most of us will know, Missional Church is very much in vogue these days. We read about it in the primary journals and publications of the church and most of our churches claim to be on a missional path. Many times when hearing someone speak of the “missional” church, I find myself wanting to quote Inigo Montoya from Princess Bride, “You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.” Perhaps none of us has a clear definition of the word “missional.”

However, today, I do want to make some bold statements about mission. One of the reasons God has called us to be the church is that he is continually calling us to mission. The word mission comes from a Latin word, mitterre, which means “to send.” The etymology of the word is also rooted in the Greek word “apostolos, from apostellein to send away, from apo- + stellein to send.”[1] So, a missionary or an apostle is “one who is sent;” in this context, it is one who is sent by God.

Jesus is our perfect example of one who was sent. The Gospel of John, chapter 20, verses 20 and 21 make this clear, ^“As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! Again he said, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.’”[2]

From these words we understand that Jesus was sent into human time and culture by God the Father; and, as his mission was nearing completion, he sent his followers into human time and culture to continue his work. John 20: 20, a verse that I like to call the “20:20 vision verse,” also informs his followers that the task of being sent is not easy and may result in rejection, suffering, and even martyrdom.

Now, as we are sent into this world, what do we understand to be our task? Our task is that of Jesus Christ, the Son. Jesus came to do many things and, as some of the manuscripts of the Gospel of John also say, “If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.” (John 21:25) It is clear that Jesus came to forgive sin (John 20:23), bring Good News to the poor . . . . to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” (Luke 4:18, 19) All of these tasks are also the work of the ones whom Jesus sends into this present time.

I like to describe it in another way; being sent by Jesus means that we are to be the hands, feet, and voice of Jesus. We are to continue his work of releasing people from the chains of oppression (both earthly and spiritual). We are to proclaim the truth of the Gospel and bring this good news to the spiritually poor and the earthly poor. By prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit, we are to bring sight to the spiritually blind and the earthly blind. We are to bring hope and peace that the time of God’s favour upon humans is at hand. Jesus continues to say, “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”

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[1] See the Merriam-Webster online dictionary at http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apostle

[2] I am quoting from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted.

Rising Up on Wings Like Eagles

(Click on the image to enlarge it.)

Twelve years ago I was in the midst of one of the biggest decisions of my life. I was sensing that God was calling me to step out into something new. It was not a demand from God; it was a divine option. God was not forcing me to do anything; but like so many times before, He offered me something more. It was as if God were asking me to consider joining Him in some things He was doing. He could use me on a special team if I was interested. I was already invested in His mission and there would always be a place for me to use the gifts I had been given and the skills I had developed; but there were other options. I could join this specialized division that would focus on another piece of the mission.

I remember my thought processes were captured by lessons the Creator had built into nature. That previous summer, as I sat on the shore of Kootenay Lake, I had watched Osprey teach their young how to fly. It felt like God was offering me a chance to stay in the nest or step out and fly. There were plenty of reasons to stay in the nest. In 2003, I was working at a job with good pay, good benefits, and good prospects for eventual retirement. I was working at the Molecular Diagnostic Lab in Calgary and was part of a team that contributed to an ever greater understanding of genetic mutations and their clinical implications. I had worked hard to get to where I was and so I wrestled with understanding why God might call me out of that place.

If an Osprey chick were capable of abstract thought, they too might wonder why they were being called out of the nest. Nests can be great places: safe and comfortable with daily food deliveries. Why would the chick leave such a secure place? Why risk everything by jumping out into wind currents that could not even be seen? Eventually, all healthy Osprey chicks leave the nest.

I left the comfort of the lab and followed a new path. My family and I spent five years starting a new congregation of faith in Calgary and five years in Vancouver doing similar work before returning to Calgary to help lead an established church. The wind has always been beneath our wings. Through fair skies and storms, not once have we been let down. Have I served as well as I could? I will leave that revelation to God at the end of all time (Matthew 25:14-46). Were there other opportunities and calls to even more that I missed along the way? Possibly. Have I been blessed beyond anything I gave up? Yes, most certainly!

What does 2015 hold for you? Not every call from God will require us to leave our jobs and find other employment. Perhaps your call is to stay right where you are at. I encourage you to spend some time thinking about your call and your place in this world. Make certain you use everything available to discern the next steps in your life. Then, with great joy and confidence, rise up on the winds that God has provided.

Yet those who wait for the Lord
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary. - Isaiah 40:31

People Turn to Religion

John Stackhouse says that "People turn to religion only if they have a good reason. The instrumental reasons are gone with the wind."1 That is, people no longer believe that they must go to church to increase their social standing or to impress their business constituents. He points out that in one particular panel discussion he and other participants

noted how low church attendance is in the one place in Canada most focused on the here and now, on sensual pleasure and self-fulfillment – Vancouver. No wonder church plants come and go here with dismaying rapidity.
Yet it’s also interesting that the churches that thrive here are full of people between 18 and 35. The older demographic (35–60) is much less in evidence. Those older ones are the people who have somehow been able to succeed in Vancouver’s punishing real estate market and construct a lifestyle they like. They don’t go to church. Why should they?
But the younger adults – those the economy is not welcoming, who carry debts they fear they can never pay off, and who are searching for a meaningful life in a world that seems indifferent to their aspirations – they’re in church. Are we church leaders properly addressing their needs? Or just anesthetizing these hungry searchers with an hour or so of lively music, group solidarity and undemanding sermonizing?2

Has he hit upon something novel here? Is there a significant economic unrest among 18 to 35 year olds? Do some long for a meaningful life? What are the needs that older leaders might address? Which ones have we missed? I am certainly interested in creating missional communities of Christ that will generate life-giving space for hungry searchers. Life-giving space must address the economic unrest of our time: the "haves" and the "have-nots" and the increasing gulf between the rich and the poor. It will also include space for serving the least, the lost, and the lonely of the predominant culture. It cannot simply address the self-interest of those who find it hard to pay off the debts they carry. The Gospel in every culture and every time is good news to the poor, the captives, the blind, the oppressed, and all people.

 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
    that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free,
and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.
Luke 4:18, 19, NLT.

1. Faith Today, January/February 2014, "Will Canada Be The Next Sweden?" John G. Stackhouse Jr., http://digital.faithtoday.ca/faithtoday/20140102#pg76
2. Ibid.

Daring Greatly

I do not know much about Theodore Roosevelt but these words of his resonate with me.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.1

I had breakfast this morning with a friend with whom I previously worked very hard. We were involved in an endeavor that was about risk and experiment; great joy and tremendous sorrow. It reminded me that I want to be one who is in the arena; even if it means I make mistakes and have failures. I want to spend myself in the worthiest of causes; even if I might fail while daring greatly. I have known both victory and defeat; I rejoice that I continue to learn from both.

1 Theodore Roosevelt, Citizen of the Republic Speech, April 23, 1910; (http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7-it-is-not-the-critic-who-counts-not-the-man); also quoted in Daring Greatly by Brene Brown.

Leadership Prayer Breakfast

Today, Calgary Mayor, Naheed Nenshi, spoke briefly at the 45th Annual Calgary Leadership Prayer Breakfast. This breakfast started as an opportunity for Christian leaders to come together to pray for the city and our country. Since those early years, Calgary's cultural and religious diversity has increased. Today there were references to Christians, Muslims, and Jews working together for the good of the city in flood rescue and reparations.

Mayor Nenshi said that there are "more things that unite than divide us." He spoke of our common "responsibility to serve others" and our sense that we are "in this together." He inspired the crowd by drawing from his heart and from the words of others. He said that "together we are stronger" and that we are "greatest together." He concluded with a reference to a message written on a sheet of plywood in a flooded community in Calgary. The simple message on the makeshift sign read, "We lost a lot of stuff; we gained a community."

Millennials

A recent conference in Calgary has me dreaming of the kind of church that will thrive in the next generation. James Penner was the guest speaker at the Western Canada Leadership Summit and he challenged us to think about the characteristics of the Millennial Generation (variously defined, but for the purposes of these talks, defined as "young people born in the 80s and 90s and coming into their adult years now, in this new millennium."1). The talks were based on his own research published in a report entitled "Hemorrhaging Faith". The research consisted of 250 hours of literature review, 72 coast to coast interviews, and 2,049 Angus Reid survey responses.

Some of the conclusions of this study are sobering. The surveys and interviews confirmed what some have been saying in the literature: "Many college students take their religious beliefs and practices and put them safely on hold - in an inner 'lockbox' - to be reengaged later in life."2 Penner cites three factors which have the greatest influence on whether or not Millennials engage faith:

* whether or not their parents regularly read the Bible,
* whether or not the Millennials believed their parents prayed outside of table grace,
* whether or not their parents attended religious services.

He also suggested that there are five toxins which Millennials are adept at detecting:

* Hypocrisy (saying one thing and doing another)
* Condemnation (judgementalism as opposed to judgement)
* Exclusivity (this is a club in which I don't belong)
* Failure (lack of grace for those who fail)
* No opportunity (people standing in the way of others taking leadership)

This is not to say that Boomers or Gen Xers like these toxins; but, rather that Millennials have a lower tolerance of them and greater detectors for them. "If these exist in the church, they are not just a little dust in a corner, they are a hairball in the soup!"

The most often quoted statement of the seminar was that of Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann who said, "Worldview hangs on the thin thread of conversation."3 That is, we don't change worldviews through argument but through listening to others and sharing our own perspective. This statement is even more true now than when it was first stated in 1966.

James Penner further suggested that young people have seen the pursuit of perfect bodies but they seldom see anyone pursuing a perfect soul. He believes that they are looking for a church that empties itself in the same way that Christ emptied himself (Philippians 2:5-8): "A self-emptying Christ requires a self-emptying church."4 I think I am beginning to see what this future church might look like.


1 http://larche.ca/a_human_future/ahf_learning_from_millenia_youth_James_Penner.pdf
2 (Clydesdale 2007)
3 (Berger and Luckmann 1966)
4 Adapted from various authors and the concept of kenosis.

Works cited:
Berger, Peter, and Thomas Luckmann. The Social Construction of Reality. New York: Open Road Integrated Media, 1966.
Clydesdale, T. (2007). Abandoned, pursued, or safely stowed? Brooklyn, NY: Social Science
Research Council. Retrieved from http://religion.ssrc.org/reforum/Clydesdale.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenosis

Alone

Two articles published online last week stood in stark contrast to each other. The press release from the Mercer survey reported that Vancouver, British Columbia is once again in the top five most liveable cities in the world.1 Vancouver has ranked as high as number one in previous surveys and is always in the top ten cities of the world. The other article was published in the Globe and Mail and reported the findings of a "Table Discussion" carried out by the Vancouver Foundation.2 They set out to determine the key issues for members of the Vancouver community. One would predict that such concerns as homelessness and affordable housing would be on the list; and indeed they were. But what is surprising is that the survey showed that "the top issue on the minds of the majority of those being interviewed was not one that had been in the headlines: the growing sense of isolation in Metro Vancouver."3


While living in a great city with a large number of people with whom to interact, many people still feel isolated and alone. This is a sad commentary on my city and it is also part of a growing problem in many other cities in Canada and the US. The American author, Robert D. Putnam, in his book, Bowling Alone, suggests that since 1950 there has been a continual decline in the number of in-person social contacts between people in the United States. Furthermore, "Matthew Brashears, a Cornell University sociologist who surveyed more than 2,000 adults from a national database found that from 1985 to 2010, the number of truly close friends people cited has dropped -- even though we're socializing as much as ever."4 The conclusions made by these various authors suggest that we are living in a culture in which people are withdrawing into more technological forms of contact and are investing less in in-person forms of social interaction. The result is a sense of isolation and loneliness.


Much more could be said of this and we could point to other trends in our culture such as how the entertainment we consume is becoming more and more individual (listening to music through our ear-buds; watching movies on our tablets or phones). In future postings we will explore this subject more deeply. For now I leave us all with one suggestion and even a challenge. Take the first step! We know that people around us are lonely and isolated and perhaps we feel a measure of this ourselves. What might happen if we invited that neighbour over for dinner? What if we truly got to know the person living beside us? It might be a risk worth taking.




1 (Mercer: Mags Andersen 2011)
2 The Globe and Mail article suggests that this was a survey but the report itself available at http://www.vancouverfoundationvitalsigns.ca/wp-content/uploads/community-conversations/Vancouver_CC_FINAL.pdf refers to this process as a "Table Discussion."
3 (Mason 2011)
4 (Potter 2011)


Mason, Gary. "Alone, so alone, in Vancouver." The Globe and Mail. November 24, 2011. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/alone-so-alone-in-vancouver/article2246891/ (accessed November 26, 2011).


Mercer: Mags Andersen. "2011 Quality of Living worldwide city rankings – Mercer survey." Mercer. November 29, 2011. http://www.mercer.com/qualityoflivingpr (accessed December 02, 2011).


Potter, Ned. ""More Facebook Friends, Fewer Real Ones, Says Cornell Study"." ABC News. November 8, 2011. http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/facebook-friends-fewer-close-friends-cornell-sociologist/story?id=14896994 (accessed December 2, 2011).


The Vancouver Foundation. "Community Conversations." Vancouver Foundation. 2011. http://www.vancouverfoundationvitalsigns.ca/community-conversations/ (accessed December 3, 2011).

Starting New Things

In early January I attended the National Church Planting Summit of 3streams.ca. At this summit I had the privilege of being on a panel of church planters who were asked to tell three things they had learned from church planting. As one of the three panellists I will summarize the thoughts I shared at the summit. I invite the other panellists to do the same.

It is humbling to realize that after five years of planting in Calgary, and now having moved to Vancouver to start again, I was able to summarize my “learnings” on one side of a 3 inch by 3 inch sticky note. There are several things I did not say in the context of that day because it had already been made clear that planting a church starts with prayer, a call from God, spiritual discipline, proclamation of the good news of the kingdom of God, and relationships with people. Instead I spoke of specific lessons learned by one who has been on the ground involved in the day-to-day efforts of seeing the birth of new communities of faith. This article is aimed at others who are planting or are considering planting.

Number 1: Start with a vision. This needs to be a vision that God has given you that is uniquely suited to who you are. Develop that vision to the point that it is something you must do and you can do nothing else until you do it. Then pursue it; pursue it until you achieve it. To keep you on track, hire a coach. You will need someone who can help you talk through the steps of getting from where you are to where you want to be.

Number 2: Adapt to the context in which you find yourself. Now this may sound like it contradicts number 1. How can I develop a vision and then stick with it until I achieve it while adapting to the context? The point is that we must be smart analysts of the place where we are planting. We must understand what makes that place what it is and become a missionary to that culture. As God declared to His people in the Babylonian captivity, we must "Build homes, and plan to stay” (See Jeremiah 29:4-7). As much as possible, become one with the people of that place; interact with them and work with them for the peace and prosperity of that place.

Number 3: We all need community. We cannot function in isolation. Sometimes a planter may have a ready-made team that is willing to go with him or her as they plant. Other times the team will not be as readily available. We all need to find ways to live in faithful Christian community. There is no such thing as a “lone-ranger planter.” We must learn from others around us, read what others have written, seek out the advice of leaders in the area, and find those with whom we can pray and be supported.

Lastly: If I can ask you to read just a little more, I would add one more thing I have learned. This one is truly counter-cultural. Take a risk! I am a church planter not because I think I am the best person to be planting churches. I am a church planter because I looked around one day and saw that not enough people were taking risks for the Kingdom of God. Our culture has convinced us that one of our highest values should be security. And so we buy insurance, save for the future (the latest market melt-down should convince us that this is fruitless – but it won’t) and work very hard to live a safe life. If Jesus had wanted to model a safe life He would not have left the safety of His Father’s side. If the early church had lived a secure Christian faith there would not have been so many martyrs. As Hugh Halter says in The Tangible Kingdom, “The Celts would have regarded our safe and isolating expressions of the church as aberrant reflections of the risen Christ. Who knows, they may have attacked us with clubs so we wouldn’t water down their expression of faith.” Now I am not going to attack you with a club until you choose to plant a church. But I must ask myself, ‘What risks am I willing to take to plant churches and see new expressions of the Body of Christ bringing the Kingdom of God to the cities, towns, and farms of our country?’ God did not call us into His Kingdom so that we could be safe. He called us so that we could be dangerous. Hey, want to be a church planter?